If you’re in the US and paying for Spotify, your next bill might look a little different. The streaming giant has announced another price increase, bumping its Individual plan from $11.99 to $12.99 a month. That makes this the third price hike in just three years.
Spotify has already begun notifying subscribers by email, saying the new price will take effect in their next billing cycle. In a blog post, the company said the increase reflects “the value Spotify delivers,” while helping it continue to improve the platform and better support artists.
Why Spotify keeps raising prices
This move didn’t come out of nowhere. Back in November 2025, Techloy reported that Spotify was preparing another US price hike in early 2026, and analysts at JPMorgan estimated the change could add roughly $500 million in additional revenue.
Spotify first raised US prices in 2023, moving its Individual plan from $9.99 to $10.99. In June 2024, it added another dollar, bringing the price to $11.99. With the jump to $12.99, Spotify is now clearly testing how much users are willing to pay for streaming, especially as competition heats up and content costs continue to rise.
The company has already rolled out similar increases in markets like the UK and Switzerland. Alongside the US, Spotify is also raising prices in Estonia and Latvia, suggesting this is part of a broader global recalibration rather than a one-off move.
Emmanuel Umahi
What this means for listeners and Spotify
Spotify now has more than 281 million paying subscribers worldwide, with roughly a quarter of them based in North America. That makes the US market especially important and especially risky when it comes to repeated price hikes.
For Spotify, higher subscription fees mean stronger margins and more room to invest in podcasts, audiobooks, creator tools, and platform features. For listeners, though, it brings back a familiar question: is the experience improving fast enough to justify the extra cost?
With Apple Music, YouTube Music, and other alternatives still competing for attention, Spotify is walking a careful line. Push prices too far and risk churn, or hold steady and limit growth.
The takeaway
Spotify isn’t just nudging prices upward, it’s quietly redefining what “normal” streaming costs look like. As music platforms invest more heavily in creators, podcasts, and discovery tools, subscription fees across the industry keep climbing. For listeners, this latest increase may be the moment to reassess where their monthly music budget goes. For Spotify, it’s a bet that enough users will decide the service is still worth $12.99 a month.
Emmanuel Umahi
