• by Colin Kirkland , October 27, 2023

After weeks of teasing new subscription tiers, X finally launched a new Premium+ tier and a Basic tier on Friday afternoon.

Premium+ costs $16 per month and removes ads from the For You and Following feeds, while Basic allows users to edit posts and post longer texts and videos for $3 per month.

Compared to other Premium tiers, X's Premium+ tier also includes the “largest boost for your replies” and access to the platform's full suite of creator tools, whereas Basic promises users a “small reply boost” and encrypted direct messages, but forgoes a verified checkmark and revenue-sharing.

Both tiers are available on the web only, likely due to the avoidance of additional fees implemented by Apple and Google's app stores.

During the first week of October, X user @aaronp613 shared a screenshot of X's code, which highlighted three premium tiers in testing, offering what seemed to be ad-free, half-ads, and full-ads options.

The test has now come to fruition, showcasing another step in X owner Elon Musk's push for subscription-based revenue streams, despite the company's major loss in advertising dollars since Musk's takeover last fall -- a year-over-year decline of at least 60%.

Despite Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino claiming that these subscription tiers are not intended to be a “profit driver,” the company’s actions say otherwise, with a recent test of a $1-per-year plan for users in New Zealand and the Philippines that could result in every new user having to pay a basic fee to use the historically free platform.

In addition to new reports showing X's ad rates plummeting since Musk’s takeover, the app also faces a steep drop in user engagement and app downloads, according to another recent report.

Premium+ and Basic are launching alongside the default standard Premium verified offering, which still costs $8 per month and claims to show subscribers half the amount of ads.