How Much Is SoundCloud Go? 2026 Price Breakdown

SoundCloud Go costs $4.99 a month. Go+ costs $10.99 a month. Students pay about $5.49 a month for Go+, and the free ad-supported tier costs nothing at all. Those are the US prices when you subscribe on the web at soundcloud.com/go, and they can change and vary by country and by where you sign up.

That is the short answer. The longer answer matters, because SoundCloud has two paid tiers that are easy to confuse, an April 2026 price change that hit existing Go+ subscribers, and a roughly 30% markup if you subscribe through the iPhone app instead of the website. Here is the full picture so you pay the least and pick the right plan.

SoundCloud Go pricing at a glance

The gap between the two paid plans is the part most people miss. Go is the cheaper plan at $4.99, but it does not unlock SoundCloud’s full library. It gives you ad-free and offline listening on a limited, mobile-focused catalog. Go+ at $10.99 is the real premium tier: the complete catalog that SoundCloud describes as “over 135 million tracks in full,” ad-free listening, offline downloads on both mobile and desktop, higher-quality audio up to 256 kbps AAC, and DJ app integrations like Serato and rekordbox. If you are weighing the two, the full SoundCloud Go vs Go+ breakdown lays out exactly what the extra $6 buys.

For a plain overview of what the paid service is and what it includes, start with our SoundCloud Go guide.

Do you have to pay for SoundCloud Go?

No. You do not have to pay anything to use SoundCloud. The default account is free, and it stays free for as long as you want. You get an ad-supported experience with a limited catalog and no offline downloads, but you can stream, follow artists, like tracks, and build playlists without entering a card.

Paying only makes sense if you want to remove ads, download tracks for offline play, or reach the full catalog. If you are not sure the paid features are worth it yet, the smarter move is to test them for free first. Go includes a 7-day free trial and Go+ includes a 30-day free trial. Our guide to the SoundCloud free trial and free tier covers how to start a trial and what the free plan actually gives you.

One thing to watch with any trial: you need a valid payment method to start it, and it auto-renews into a paid plan unless you cancel before the trial window ends. Trials are generally for new subscribers only. If you subscribed before, SoundCloud usually will not offer you another free run.

How much is SoundCloud Go a month vs a year

The prices above are the month-to-month rates. Go+ is also available on annual billing, and annual works out cheaper per month than paying month by month. Think of it as a discount for committing to a year up front rather than a fixed headline number, since the exact annual figure moves around and varies by region. If you already know you will keep Go+ for the long haul, the yearly option is the cheaper way to hold it.

Go itself is priced month to month at $4.99. The annual discount is the lever that mainly applies to Go+, so if saving a few dollars a month matters to you, Go+ annual is where the built-in savings sit.

Why SoundCloud Go costs more on iPhone

Here is the trap that catches a lot of new subscribers. If you subscribe through the Apple App Store, you pay roughly 30% more than you would on the web. That surcharge exists because Apple takes a cut of in-app purchases, and SoundCloud passes the cost on to App Store buyers. Google Play can be priced higher too.

The fix is simple. Open a browser, go to soundcloud.com/go, and subscribe there instead of tapping “subscribe” inside the iPhone app. You get the exact same Go or Go+ features at the lower web price. This one choice is the single biggest way to cut your SoundCloud Go cost, and it is why a $10.99 Go+ plan can quietly show up as roughly $14 on an iPhone. The industry has seen this pattern for years; a plain explainer of why the in-app price is higher walks through the mechanics.

There is a downside worth knowing before you commit through Apple. If you ever want to stop the plan, you have to manage it through Apple rather than SoundCloud, which trips people up. Our how to cancel SoundCloud Go guide covers where to cancel based on where you subscribed, because SoundCloud cannot cancel or refund a subscription you bought in the App Store.

The April 2026 Go+ price increase

SoundCloud announced a Go+ price increase that took effect in April 2026. It was applied to existing subscribers on their next billing date, so if you were already paying $10.99, your charge went up on your following cycle rather than immediately.

SoundCloud did not publish exact new figures, and reporting estimated the change at roughly $1 to $2 a month. So treat $10.99 as the standard recent monthly price and expect to see something a little higher on your statement. Before you subscribe or renew, confirm the current number at soundcloud.com/go, since that page always shows the live price for your country.

This was not the first bump. Go+ moved from $9.99 to $10.99 in 2024, and that increase drew a class action lawsuit alleging the company charged some subscribers improperly. The April 2026 change was the second increase in under two years, which is exactly why so many listeners now double-check the price before renewing.

Is SoundCloud Go+ worth the price?

This is where opinion splits, and it splits along one line: what you actually listen to.

If you mostly stream independent artists, remixes, DJ mixes, early demos, and the kind of tracks that live nowhere else, SoundCloud Go+ is genuinely worth it. That catalog is SoundCloud’s whole reason to exist, and no other service replicates it. DJs in particular lean on Go+ because it is required to stream SoundCloud tracks inside Serato DJ Pro, rekordbox, and Traktor.

If you mostly listen to mainstream, major-label music, the value case gets weaker. Coverage and reviews of SoundCloud pricing repeatedly point out that at around $11 a month, Go+ sits right next to Spotify Premium and Apple Music, and for straightforward pop and hip-hop those services offer a broader mainstream library. A pricing breakdown from LowerMySubs makes the same point bluntly: many Go+ subscribers do not use the premium features that justify the price gap, and the plan mainly earns its keep for people who specifically need SoundCloud’s catalog. The backlash around the repeated price increases tells you a lot of listeners feel the same way.

The middle path a lot of people land on: keep the free tier for casual listening, and only pay for Go+ during a stretch when you are actively downloading sets or DJing. If you are an artist rather than a listener, your money question runs the other direction, and you can estimate what your plays might pay out with our SoundCloud earnings calculator.

How to pay the lowest price

Three moves cover almost everyone:

• Subscribe on the web at soundcloud.com/go, never inside the iPhone app, to skip the roughly 30% Apple surcharge.
• If you are enrolled in college, take the student rate. Go+ for students runs about $5.49 a month, roughly half the standard price, and you can read the eligibility rules and sign-up steps in our SoundCloud Go student discount guide. Note that student pricing is only available directly through SoundCloud, not through Apple or Google.
• Start with a free trial before you commit, so you are only paying once you know you will use it. Go gives 7 days and Go+ gives 30. See the free trial guide for the details.

FAQ

Sources

• Choosing the Right Subscription, SoundCloud Help Center
• Get Started with SoundCloud Go+, SoundCloud Help Center
• SoundCloud Go+ for Students, SoundCloud Help Center
• SoundCloud Go+ Price Increase and How to Pay Less, LowerMySubs
• SoundCloud class action over price increases, Top Class Actions
• SoundCloud subscribe page