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PlayStation Plus EssentialOur score 3,7/5
$79.99/yr

$6.67/mo

Plus sales tax where applicable

Source · Checked

Choose a plan

Billed once for the full year, up front.

Gaming in the US

PlayStation Plus plans compared

PlayStation Plus has three tiers. Essential covers online multiplayer, monthly games, cloud storage for saves and member discounts. Extra adds the Game Catalog — hundreds of games on demand. Premium adds the Classics Catalog, Game Trials and cloud streaming to PS5 and PlayStation Portal. Each tier can be bought for 1, 3 or 12 months.

  • Online multiplayer. Included on every tier.
  • Monthly games. Build a collection while you’re a member.
  • Game Catalog. Hundreds of games on Extra and Premium.
  • Classics and cloud. Premium adds classic games, trials and cloud streaming.
  • 12-month savings. PlayStation lists up to 39% off 12 months versus monthly.

Most important before you pay

Games you got through PlayStation Plus — monthly games and catalog titles — stop being available when the membership ends. The library changes over time and by tier. The subscription renews automatically until you cancel.
Compare gaming subscriptionsHow to cancel

Tomas StankevičiusUpdated 2026-10-14Facts from playstation.com, with dates

At a glance

Tiers
Essential, Extra, Premium
Plan lengths
1, 3 or 12 months
Game Catalog
Extra and Premium
Classics, trials
Premium
Cloud streaming
Premium (PS5, PlayStation Portal)
Online multiplayer
All tiers

Plans and libraries change — check the provider’s own page before you pay.

Prices with dates

Every price has a source and the date it was checked.

From playstation.com

Tiers, catalogs and cancellation as Sony publishes them for the US.

Affiliate links are labeled

If a link is an affiliate link, we say so right next to it.

Short summary

Essential is what most PlayStation owners need for online play. Extra is the sweet spot if you’ll actually play the Game Catalog. Premium is for classics fans and people who want cloud streaming or game trials. Prepaying 12 months saves the most if you’re sure.

Game Catalog on Extra

Hundreds of games for the tier price.

Games leave with you

Plus games stop working when the membership ends.

We recommend first:
PlayStation players who play online or try many games.
With caveats:
Single-player fans who buy one or two games a year.

Who PlayStation Plus is for, and who it isn’t

Choose the tier by how many games you’ll try.

A good choice

  • For online players

    Online multiplayer is on every tier.

  • For game samplers

    The Game Catalog on Extra and Premium.

  • For classics fans

    The Classics Catalog on Premium.

A weaker choice

  • If you want to keep games

    Plus games stop being available when you cancel.

  • If you only play offline single-player

    You may not need it at all.

  • If you want cloud on lower tiers

    Cloud streaming is Premium only.

Three tiers

Prices are in the block above.

Three tiers
EssentialWhat it means in practiceOnline multiplayer, monthly games, cloud storage for saves, exclusive discounts and content packs.
ExtraWhat it means in practiceEverything in Essential plus the Game Catalog — hundreds of games on demand.
PremiumWhat it means in practiceEverything in Extra plus the Classics Catalog, Game Trials and cloud streaming to PS5 and PlayStation Portal.

Online play → Essential; many games → Extra; classics and cloud → Premium.

Our score and what it’s made of

This is our own assessment based on checked facts. It isn’t an average of user reviews or the provider’s claim. Below — every criterion with its weight and source.

3,7

out of 5 · average of 3 plans · 5 of 6 criteria checked

The score is calculated from the criteria you see below: each criterion shows its weight, what exactly we found and where. Where we have the provider’s page, there’s a link with a check date; where the number comes from our catalog, we say so. “Not checked” means we don’t have the data and the criterion isn’t counted. “Provider doesn’t say” means we went through the provider’s pages but the information isn’t there; that criterion isn’t counted either. If you disagree with the weights — in the methodology you’ll see all the parts and can weigh them your own way. We don’t put app store ratings into structured data: they were collected on other websites, so they stay as visible text.

Scores for individual plans: PlayStation Plus Premium 3,7 · PlayStation Plus Essential 3,7 · PlayStation Plus Extra 3,7

The same for all “PlayStation Plus” plans

Criteria that are the same for all of this provider’s plans
CriterionWhat we foundScoreSource
Advertised price is the final price(10 %)sales tax is added at checkout3,0our catalog
Free way to try it(10 %)provider doesn’t say—source
Newest games(25 %)no — older titles only2,0our catalog
Playing online with others(25 %)you can play with others5,0our catalog
Where it works(20 %)console and cloud4,0our catalog

Depends on plan

Criteria that differ between plans
CriterionPlayStation Plus PremiumPlayStation Plus EssentialPlayStation Plus Extra
Price compared with others(10 %)13,33 USD/mo · when paying for 12 months5,06,67 USD/mo · when paying for 12 months5,011,25 USD/mo · when paying for 12 months5,0

Availability in the US

The final price in the US is clear

You pay in dollars, and the price is the one the provider lists — sales tax, where your state charges it, is added at checkout.

  • price in dollars
  • tax terms are known
  • shared international price list — the price depends on your account’s country

Benefits by PlayStation Plus tier

From PlayStation’s US benefits table.

  • Online multiplayer

    Essential
    Yes
    Extra
    Yes
    Premium
    Yes

  • Monthly Games

    Essential
    Yes
    Extra
    Yes
    Premium
    Yes

  • Cloud storage for game saves

    Essential
    Yes
    Extra
    Yes
    Premium
    Yes

  • Share Play

    Essential
    Yes
    Extra
    Yes
    Premium
    Yes

  • Exclusive discounts and content packs

    Essential
    Yes
    Extra
    Yes
    Premium
    Yes

  • Game Catalog (hundreds of games)

    Essential
    No
    Extra
    Yes
    Premium
    Yes

  • Ubisoft+ Classics selection

    Essential
    No
    Extra
    Yes
    Premium
    Yes

  • Classics Catalog

    Classic games from PlayStation history.

    Essential
    No
    Extra
    No
    Premium
    Yes

  • Game Trials

    Essential
    No
    Extra
    No
    Premium
    Yes

  • Cloud streaming

    Select PS5 games to PS5 and PlayStation Portal, plus Game Catalog titles and hundreds of PS3 and PS2 classics.

    Essential
    No
    Extra
    No
    Premium
    Yes

  • Sony Pictures Catalog

    Up to 100 movies on demand.

    Essential
    No
    Extra
    No
    Premium
    Yes

Catalogs change

Games are added monthly across all tiers; Game Catalog and Classics titles leave with advance notice.

Content

What you actually get to watch: catalog, languages, sports and events.

What’s in PlayStation Plus

Monthly games, catalogs and trials, depending on the tier.

  • Monthly Games

    New games every month to add to your collection while you’re a member.

  • Game Catalog

    Hundreds of games on Extra and Premium.

  • Classics and trials

    Classic games and limited-time trials on Premium.

Availability of Classics, Game Trials and the Game Catalog varies over time and plan.

Keeping games, downgrading and vouchers

PlayStation Plus games are yours to play only while your membership is active. Here’s what else PlayStation’s FAQ says about changing plans.

Monthly Games

Stay in your library and playable as long as you remain a member.

Catalog games

Some Game Catalog and Classics games have end dates, publicized ahead of time.

Downgrading

Takes effect at the end of your prepaid (stacked) period; you lose the higher tier’s benefits then. Do it in Account Settings → Subscriptions Management or on the web.

Online play

Most games bought on disc or from PlayStation Store need a membership for online play; most free-to-play games, like Fortnite, Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone, don’t.

Vouchers

Without a membership, a PS Plus voucher gives Essential for its length; on a higher tier, it’s converted to time of equal value.

Renewals are charged at the then-current PlayStation Store price until you cancel.

What US App Store reviewers say about the PlayStation App

The PlayStation App has 4.2 out of 5 stars from 92,000 ratings on the US App Store. We also read the 50 most recent US reviews — 38 of them gave one or two stars. Recent reviews skew toward people with a problem, so read them as a list of what can go wrong, not as a verdict.

What the app is

It’s the companion app used to buy games, chat and manage subscriptions — not PS Plus itself.

Complaints

Recent reviews dislike a redesign that moved social features, and report the app not opening, connection problems on cellular, and difficult account recovery.

Praised

Some like buying and remotely downloading games from the phone.

You can cancel PS Plus in the app, but reviewers find the newest version harder to navigate.

Saved games and cloud storage

Cloud storage is on every tier and is what makes switching consoles or playing elsewhere painless.

Space

Up to 100 GB of PS5 saves and 100 GB of PS4 saves – PS4 is capped at 1,000 files.

Auto-upload

From your primary PS4 when it stays connected in rest mode and auto-upload is on.

Streamed vs downloaded

Saves from streamed games live with PlayStation; downloaded games save on the console. Move them through cloud storage.

At a friend’s

Sign in and pick up from the cloud – but upload manually before you leave.

Download your saves to the console before your membership lapses – cloud storage is a PS Plus benefit.

Consoles and devices

Where it works and what you need to play.

Where you can play

Where you can play
ConsolesExamplesPlayStation consolesCaveatCatalog availability varies over time and by tier.
Cloud streamingExamplesPS5 console, PlayStation Portal remote playerCaveatPremium only.

Account and terms

Sharing, access to games after you cancel, and refund rules.

What you keep and lose

  • Benefits continue until the end of the period you already paid for.
  • Afterwards you lose monthly games, online storage and online multiplayer.
  • Redeemed packs, avatars and discounted purchases are yours to keep.

Changed your mind?

You can reactivate before the next payment date to keep the subscription.

Plan lengths

Plan lengths
OptionsHow it works1, 3 or 12 months
12-month savingHow it worksUp to 39% vs 1 month (per PlayStation)
RenewalHow it worksAutomatic until you cancel
Longer plans are paid up front.

Canceling

On the web, sign in to Account Management, choose Subscription, then select Cancel below PlayStation Plus. PlayStation says the subscription is deactivated from the next payment date.

1, 3 or 12 months

Renews automatically; cancel any time before the next payment date.

Plus games stop working

Games you downloaded at no cost through PlayStation Plus are no longer available after the membership ends.

Separate page: how to cancel this subscription →

What we don’t claim

Common claims about PlayStation Plus, next to what playstation.com says.

  • Monthly games are yours forever.

    They’re available while you’re a member; packs, avatars and discounted purchases are yours to keep.

  • Every tier has cloud streaming.

    Cloud streaming is Premium only.

  • The Game Catalog never changes.

    Availability varies over time and by tier.

  • If there’s no price on the page, the service isn’t available in the US.

    Not necessarily. More often it means the provider doesn’t publish a fixed price or shows it only at checkout. Availability and a published price are two different things.

  • An annual plan always works out cheaper.

    Cheaper than the monthly plan only if you use the whole period. You pay for the whole year up front, and when you cancel you usually don’t get the unused part back — so it’s a saving for people who already know they’ll stay all year.

  • Deleting the app cancels the subscription.

    No. Deleting the app doesn’t stop the payments — only canceling in the account where you bought the subscription does. The app disappears, the bill stays.

  • Every plan looks the same in every country.

    No. The list of plans, the features in the same plan and the available languages can differ. That’s why we don’t carry data from another country over to the US page.

  • The price on the pricing page is exactly what you’ll be charged.

    Not always. US providers list prices before sales tax, and whether tax is added at checkout — and how much — depends on your state. On one VPN order page we saw a 6.25% sales tax added on top of the listed monthly price.

This list isn’t an accusation against the service. If you find something on our page that doesn’t match the official source, write to us.

When PlayStation Plus is a good choice

  • Online multiplayer

    Essential.

    Compromise: No catalog.

  • Trying many games

    Extra.

    Compromise: Games leave when you cancel.

  • Classics and cloud

    Premium.

    Compromise: Highest tier.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Online play on every tier

    Starting with Essential.

  • Big catalog on Extra

    Hundreds of games.

  • 12-month savings

    Cheapest per month.

  • Free PS Direct shipping

    On every tier in the US.

Cons

  • Games aren’t kept

    After the membership ends.

  • Cloud only on Premium

    PS5 and PlayStation Portal.

  • Library rotates

    Varies over time.

PlayStation Plus compared with Game Pass and Nintendo Switch Online

Based on each provider’s US pages.

Online multiplayer
All tiers
Game library
Hundreds (Extra, Premium)
Cloud
Premium
Plan lengths
1, 3, 12 months

If you play on PlayStation — PlayStation Plus

Extra for the catalog.

If you play on Xbox or PC — Xbox Game Pass

Day-one games on Ultimate.

If you play on Switch — Nintendo Switch Online

Family plan for up to 8.

Final verdict

PlayStation Plus Essential covers online play; Extra is the best value if you’ll use the Game Catalog; Premium is for classics, trials and cloud streaming. Prepay 12 months only for the tier you’re sure about.

Choose it if

You play online or try many games on PlayStation.

Think twice if

You want to keep the games — they leave when you cancel.

Skip it if

You only play offline single-player games you buy.

Xbox Game Pass is the equivalent on Xbox and PC; Nintendo Switch Online on Switch.

PlayStation Plus prices

Three tiers as playstation.com lists them for the US.

Compare tiers

Each tier is sold for 1, 3 or 12 months; the 12-month plan is the cheapest per month. The subscription fee is taken automatically until you cancel.

How to cancel

PlayStation Plus deals and discounts

We have no confirmed deals or promo codes for PlayStation Plus right now. When the provider publishes one and we have checked it, the dates and terms will appear here — we never list made-up promo codes.

Track price and deals

PlayStation Plus free trial

We found no free trial for PlayStation Plus on the provider’s website right now. If one appears, we will mark it here and in the free trials list.

All free trials

How to pay less for PlayStation Plus

  • Annual billing for “PlayStation Plus Premium”: $159.99 for 12 months instead of $239.88 if you pay monthly — you save 33%.
  • Annual billing for “PlayStation Plus Essential”: $79.99 for 12 months instead of $131.88 if you pay monthly — you save 39%.
  • Annual billing for “PlayStation Plus Extra”: $134.99 for 12 months instead of $203.88 if you pay monthly — you save 34%.

Compare the price with alternatives: Nintendo Switch Online price · EA Play price · Xbox Game Pass price

We only show the provider’s official options — no shared accounts and no region switching.

Customer support

The help center is available in English.

Contact options the provider lists:

  • email or form

„For online support (help pages and an online contact form): www.playstation.com/support/contact-us/. To write to us the old-fashioned way use: Sony Interactive Entertainment Network Europe Limited, 10 Great Marlborough Street, London, W1F 7LP, UK."

Source: www.playstation.com/en-gb/legal/psn-terms-of-service/

FAQ

Essential covers online play, monthly games, cloud storage and discounts; Extra adds the Game Catalog; Premium adds Classics, Game Trials and cloud streaming.

Yes, every tier is sold for 1, 3 or 12 months; 12 months is the cheapest per month.

No. Games downloaded at no cost through PlayStation Plus stop being available; redeemed packs, avatars and discounted purchases are yours to keep.

Premium, to PS5 and PlayStation Portal.

On the web: your account → Subscription → Cancel Subscription. Benefits continue until the end of the paid period.

Yes, select Reactivate Subscription before the next payment date.

Start by checking who charges you — that decides where you cancel. If you signed up in an app, the payment usually goes through your Google or Apple account, outside the service’s own website. Check your subscriptions in Google Play, and on iPhone: Settings → your name → Subscriptions, signed in to the account you paid with. If you can’t find it, Apple suggests searching your email for “receipt from Apple” or “invoice from Apple”: the receipt shows which account paid. If there’s no receipt at all, you probably bought it on the service’s website or in a bundle from your wireless carrier, internet or TV provider — your bank or card statement shows which company bills you.

On a computer, open your subscriptions in Google Play, click Manage next to the one you want to cancel, then Cancel subscription, pick a reason and confirm with Continue. Some apps on Google Play also let you pause a subscription instead of canceling — that’s not the same thing as canceling.

On iPhone: Settings → your name → Subscriptions → choose the subscription → Cancel Subscription; you may need to scroll down to see the button. If there’s no Cancel button, or you see an expiration message in red text, the subscription is already canceled. For a free trial, Apple asks you to cancel at least 24 hours before it ends.

No. Google says it in a separate warning: when you uninstall an app, your subscription won’t cancel. Payments continue until you cancel in the account where you bought the subscription. It’s an easy trap: the app disappears from your phone, but the bill stays.

Then you cancel with that provider. Apple says it plainly: if you got the subscription through your wireless carrier or another provider, contact them. In the US this is common for streaming — services are often bundled with phone, internet or TV plans. If your plan has a minimum term or the subscription is part of a bundle discount, check the terms before you cancel.

No. Apple is clear about it: you can’t cancel a family member’s subscription. If the receipt shows a family member’s Apple Account, ask them to cancel it themselves. If it shows another account you use yourself, sign in to that one and cancel there.

Not as a general rule. Unlike the European Union, the US has no general 14-day right to withdraw from online purchases. Rules on automatic renewal and how easy canceling must be are set mostly by individual states and differ between them. In practice, check the provider’s own terms: some offer a money-back guarantee (common for VPNs and antivirus software), others don’t refund at all.

Usually not. Access typically lasts until the end of the period you’ve already paid for, and only then does the subscription expire. It works the other way too: canceling right after a payment usually doesn’t refund that period — it only stops the next charge.

Don’t rely on the confirmation pop-up — check the list. On iPhone, open Settings → your name → Subscriptions: if there’s no Cancel button anymore, or there’s an expiration message in red text, the subscription is canceled. In Google Play, a canceled subscription can be restarted with Resubscribe, so you can see the difference there too. If the subscription isn’t on either list, you bought it somewhere else, and that’s where you have to cancel it.

Sometimes, but it’s not guaranteed, and it’s not always the service whose logo you see that decides. Google says most apps on the Play Store are made by third-party developers, who can process refunds under their own policies and applicable laws; according to Google, contacting the developer directly is often the quickest way. If you paid on the service’s website, send the request there. For a charge that neither you nor anyone you know made, Google asks you to report it within 120 days of the transaction.

No — they’re two separate things that are easy to mix up. Deleting the account erases the data but doesn’t stop payments if you bought the subscription in an app store: there the subscription lives independently of the account. So the right order is the reverse — first cancel the subscription where you pay, check that it has really ended, and only then delete the account.

Usually only access to the content ends, while the account remains: history, settings and saved items stay, so you don’t start from zero if you come back. No law requires that, though — it’s the service’s own decision, so the data may be deleted after some time. If something matters to you, export it before the subscription ends.

Often yes, but in the US it depends on where you live. There’s no single federal law for this; several states give their residents the right to know what data a company holds, to get a copy and to have it deleted, and some providers offer the same tools to all users. Send the request to the provider itself — its privacy policy explains how. We don’t promise on the provider’s behalf that a request will be handled quickly or well.

On your card or bank statement. The amount there can differ from the price on the website for two common reasons: a promo price has ended, or sales tax was added at checkout. US providers list prices before sales tax, and whether it’s added — and how much — depends on your state. That’s why the same subscription can show up on your statement as a slightly higher amount than the price you saw on the pricing page.

How we work

This page is a comparison, and for every claim we say where it comes from.

The provider’s sources

The facts come from playstation.com/en-us (PS Plus and Support).

We don’t write prices into the text

Prices are in the price block, in the price list’s currency, with a source and a date.

Product facts are shared, market facts aren’t

How many screens a plan allows, how many devices an account works on, how many servers a network has — that doesn’t depend on the country, and on our pages those numbers are the same in every language; a separate tool watches over that. Price, promotions, availability and app language belong to the market, and we never carry them over from another country.

The provider’s list is the same for everyone

If a service publishes a list of countries or languages, we can say whether the US is on it — that list looks the same for everyone. Checkout, however, can look different for every account, so for amounts a provider shows only at checkout we write: check before you pay.

A shorter section doesn’t mean something is missing from the product

If a section here is shorter than for another service, it’s because the provider publishes less about it. We don’t fill the gap with generic wording just to make the page look more complete.

Three different answers

We distinguish between “none”, “the provider doesn’t say” and “we didn’t find it”. They’re three different situations — mixing them up would turn our own limitation into a flaw in the product.

A price without a source isn’t shown

If an amount has no source and date, we don’t show it. An empty spot is more honest than a number that only looks right — and prices change more often than articles get updated.

Data from the US market

This page isn’t a translation of another language version. Numbers from other countries don’t end up here: markets differ, and that’s exactly why this page exists.

Affiliate links are labeled at the link

If a link is an affiliate link, we say so right next to it. The commission doesn’t affect what we write — and you know about it before you click.

We fix errors openly

If we got something wrong, we fix it and note what changed. A silent correction would mean you never find out you once relied on wrong information.

How we check the data

If anything on this page has gone out of date, write to us — we’ll fix it and note the date.

The order in the comparison is decided by the type of service; commission size doesn’t affect it.

Some links to providers are affiliate links: if you subscribe through them, we may earn a commission. It affects neither the price nor the placement in the comparison. Affiliate links are always labeled next to the link itself.

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Who wins, and when the cheaper one is worth choosing.