Elon Musk says X plans to launch two new premium tiers: a lower cost tier with all the features but no reduction in ads, and a more expensive tier with no ads
And It Could Be a Problem for Elon Musk's Subscription Plan Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology : Exclusive Data: Twitter Is Shrinking Under Elon Musk Nadeem Sarwar / SlashGear : Musk Teases Twitter Subscription Tiers That Give More Bang For The Buck, But There's A Catch Arjun Kharpal / CNBC : X, formerly Twitter, will launch two new subscription tiers, Elon Musk says Kevin Hurler / Gizmodo : Musk Yoinks NYTs Gold Checkmark While Threatening Us With Two Subscription Tiers Darren Allan / TweakTown : Elon Musk reveals X will get two new premium subscriptions soon - one of which ditches the ads Thomas Barrabi / New York Post : Elon Musk's X plots two new subscription tiers — as traffic reportedly plunges Joel Loynds / Dexerto : X/Twitter adding even more subscription tiers Elon Musk confirms Gursimran Kaur / Reuters : Social media platform X to launch new premium subscriptions soon, says Musk Richard Currie / The Register : More X subscription tiers could spell doom for free access as biz bleeds cash Joe Wituschek / BGR : Elon Musk says X is getting a more expensive new subscription with no ads Sumit Adhikari / Android Headlines : Elon Musk announces two new subscription tiers for X Premium Marcus Gopolang Moloko / Memeburn : You'll pay for Elon Musk's X, the launch of two subscription tiers Jody Serrano / The Messenger : Elon Musk Announces Two New Tiers for X's Paid Subscription Service Jack Turner / Tech.co : 21 Ways (and Counting) X / Twitter is Worse Under Musk Laurent Giret / Thurrott : Elon Musk Details the Two New X Premium Tiers Coming Soon Andy Sansom / T3 : X confirms new, more expensive Premium tier to get rid of ads Nicola Agius / Search Engine Land : X is launching two new tiers of Premium subscription PYMNTS.com : Musk: Two-Tiered Premium X Subscriptions Coming ‘Soon’ Tom Carter / Insider : Musk adds yet more complexity to X with new paid tiers Sebastian Pier / PhoneArena : Here's Elon's plans for premium X subscriptions: Two new models Business Post : Elon Musk announces X Premium subscription is coming without ads The Irish Times : Elon Musk's X to launch premium subscriptions soon Grace Priscilla Teo / Tech in Asia : Elon Musk reveals premium subscriptions for X James Lee Taylor / Sammy Fans : Elon Musk announces two new X Premium tiers launching soon | Twitter Threads: Tim Chambers / @timothyjchambers : So making X Premium MORE expensive will be the silver bullet. Look, I get the “ad free” sales pitch here, but not at all clear that users will see that as a big enough value-add to deal with even higher than $8 a month for X. But it does show them seeing that advertisers are not coming back and they need more money from somewhere or else. Lucas A. Meyer / @lucas_a_meyer : New X tiers just dropped: X “free”: $1/year, automatically likes, retweets and comments on all Supreme Leader Elon's posts, but you're definitely not a bot. X Premium: $8/mo, current experience, blue checkmark to show your special status. X HH: $88/mo, allows you to change your blue check to a Special Symbol (SS) that kinda looks like a “hooked cross”. … Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : It's a shame Twitter isn't a public company because shorting this stock would have been the easiest money ever made in history. Alex Kantrowitz / @alexkantrowitz : News: In Elon Musk's first year, Twitter lost approximately 13% of its daily active users. The rebrand really hurt, with 5% month-over-month daily user drops in August and September. Comprehensive data via Apptopia. Check it out on Big Technology —> https://www.bigtechnology.com/ ... Matt Navarra / @mattnavarra : NEW DATA: Twitter Is Shrinking Under Elon Musk 📉 Twitter's lost 13% of its daily users X's daily user base has declined from an estimated 140 million users to 121 million And its rebrand from Twitter to X accelerated the decline But those remaining on the app are still engaged Threads … Bluesky: @haskell.bsky.social : accelerates the shift to blue Sky. Good work Elmo Neville Hobson / @nevillehobson.xyz : Desperate times... [embedded post] Dr Emma L Briant / @emmalbriant.bsky.social : Who gives a toss. Boy he's getting desperate. [embedded post] X: Elon Musk / @elonmusk : Two new tiers of X Premium subscriptions launching soon. One is lower cost with all features, but no reduction in ads, and the other is more expensive, but has no ads. Corey Quinn / @quinnypig : As an advertiser I can't wait to spend money on a platform where both the most well-heeled and engaged users will not see any of my ads. Ann Rolle / @annrolle_ : I pay @Youtube $16.99 a month to rid myself of their ads. When I click on a YouTube link on X, I'm subjected to their ads although I am signed in on my device. 🤬😡 @adam0902731 : Elon Musk's way of saying that advertisers are fleeing twitter. @mirrormanstanly : Just find a way to weed out bots and not even all bots; Just weed out bot's named “Hannah” Sumit Kapoor / @moneygurusumit : At this point I wont be surprised if 𝕏 becomes a pay-per-word app. Cid / @theonecid : Oh boy 😏 What does that mean for Ad revenue sharing? Since the higher premium accounts won't see ads at all, that means less revenue to all 𝕏 creators? 😕 [image] @roadtoserfdom3 : I can't wait for the one that costs more, has more ads, and is directly connected to personal banking, employment, and housing via biometric ID utilizing social credit to coerce strict adherence to state behavioral requirements. Mislead 'em of speech! 🫢 @sakitechonline : Elmo trying every single terrible way to make some revenue, as advertisers continue to flee. One day Elmo is begging for “a $1 a year to tweet” pretending it's to stop the bots (😂) and now these tiers with no value whatsoever. DairoAdeyemi / @oyeking115950 : Soon somebody like me won't be able to access this app again with the way elon is gonna segregate us here. Sha X is for rich folks now. It is well. Na you get your company. Pity those looking for impression sef no go get much again🤣 Charles V Payne / @cvpayne : What about the avalanche of impersonators and fakes? I can't keep up with them and trying to steal money from users of the platform. @kercle : There are people who think Musk is some sort of God!! I just think he's an arsehole. Oliver Alexander / @oalexanderdk : So the more expensive Premium subscription (probably the current “Blue) will show you no ads. At the same time only ads shown to premium subscribers count towards people's ad revenue share. This looks to be as well thought out as every other change and feature. Wesley Yang / @wesyang : I think of Twitter as an ad free platform because I just never notice any ads Aaron / @aaronp613 : Looks like the new X Premium tiers are close to launch? [image] @emeka_khalifa : Elon wan differentiate between the poor and the rich 😂😂 @xdaily : PREVIEW: It looks like the most expensive tier of X Premium will feature: - a stronger boost to visibility in replies compared to lower tiers - access to all Premium features - no ads on the For You timeline (as previously reported) @xupdatesradar : Feature flags change detected (Website). One new feature flag added. [image] Corey Quinn / @quinnypig : I can't wait to run ads on a platform where the most well-heeled / engaged users won't see them. LinkedIn: Daniel Tunkelang : Rearranging the deck chairs on the Twitanic. See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
X had already tied creator payouts to paid-status visibility, first paying eligible Blue creators from reply-ad revenue and later lowering the revenue-share entry threshold. The proposed tier split extends that effort to make subscriptions serve both user monetization and creator incentives.
The plan was subsequently made concrete through a $16 Premium+ ad-free plan and a $3 Basic plan, showing X was testing price and ad-load as separate levers rather than offering one uniform paid product.
First-order effects
- X can segment paying users between feature access with ads and a higher-priced, ad-free experience, while preserving advertising inventory for the lower-priced tier.
- Users face a clearer trade-off: pay less and continue seeing ads, or pay more to remove them; existing Premium benefits become part of a broader price ladder.
Second-order effects
- The tiering creates a cannibalization question: upgrades to ad-free subscriptions raise user revenue but reduce the impressions X can sell, making the mix of subscribers and advertisers more consequential.
- Creator monetization becomes more intertwined with subscription design, since earlier reply-ad revenue sharing for Blue creators made paid verification relevant to who can earn on the platform.
Third-order effects
- If sustained, X’s model would shift the service toward a hybrid of advertising-funded reach and paid experience tiers, with ad load becoming a central pricing variable rather than merely a product attribute.
- The approach illustrates the subscription scale trap: platforms may need several price points to broaden conversion, but each added tier complicates benefits, revenue allocation, and the advertising proposition.
The trend: Social platforms are increasingly unbundling access, visibility, and advertising exposure into tiered monetization products.