YouTube Premium vs. YouTube Premium Lite: Are the upgrades worth the $6 difference?

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET

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If you're tired of YouTube ads, you might be inclined to purchase YouTube Premium to circumvent them. YouTube Premium includes other perks, such as picture-in-picture streaming and a unified membership with YouTube Music for $14/month. However, YouTube offers a mid-tier YouTube Premium Lite membership that limits ads and also offers picture-in-picture streaming.

Also: YouTube launches cheaper Premium Lite plan - but are the trade-offs worth it?

You might choose the YouTube Premium membership if you want a completely ad-free experience and all of the premium benefits. Still, you might choose the Lite membership to avoid the drawbacks of the free tier at a lower cost.

Here's everything you should know before making a decision.

Specifications

You should choose YouTube Premium if…

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET

1. You want to bundle videos and music

A YouTube Premium subscription includes ad-free video-watching and a YouTube Music subscription. If you're willing to cancel an $11/month Apple Music or $13/month Spotify subscription, you can switch to YouTube Premium for $14/month.

Unlike Apple Music, YouTube Music lacks lossless audio and Dolby Atmos, and unlike Spotify, it lacks a comprehensive audiobook library. However, with a subscription, you can access music videos on YouTube ad-free, and YouTube Music offers several popular podcasts ad-free. 

2. You can't stand ads - period

If you can't stand these ads, especially if you watch YouTube more than you watch Netflix or Hulu, you'd benefit greatly from a YouTube Premium subscription. With a subscription, all videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids are ad-free, you can download videos to play offline, and you can continue playing a video even with your screen locked.

Also: How to download YouTube videos for free - 2 easy and reliable methods I always use

YouTube ads range from political ads and local business messaging to obscure mobile games and AI-generated ads. If you're lucky, you can skip them in 30 seconds or less, while other times, the ads run for 60+ seconds. On mobile, you'll often encounter two unskippable ads throughout your video.

You should choose YouTube Premium Lite if…

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1. You can't justify $14/month

Although you hate YouTube ads, you can't bring yourself to pay $14/month to eradicate them. Fortunately, a Lite subscription is $8/month, but not all videos are ad-free. According to YouTube, ad-free content is available only for gaming, fashion, beauty, and news videos. Music content and YouTube Shorts may still contain ads. 

A Lite subscription also lets you download videos to play offline and continue playing videos with your screen locked, but these features are limited. YouTube Shorts, official music videos, and user-generated content featuring songs from YouTube's partners are excluded from download and background play within this subscription tier. 

2. You don't want to switch from Spotify or Apple Music

If you aren't ready to part ways with Spotify or Apple Music, YouTube Premium Lite is the best middle ground to upgrade your YouTube account without overpaying for unused features. 

Also: Spotify vs. YouTube Music: I paid for both services, and this one was more worth it

Although a YouTube Premium and YouTube Music subscription bundle is more cost-effective than a Spotify or Apple Music subscription plus YouTube Premium Lite, you might forego your favorite features to save a few bucks a month.

If you watch a lot of YouTube, chances are your preferred videos are compatible with the Lite subscription's ad-free parameters. And now, you can even watch videos in picture-in-picture mode with only a Lite subscription, making the pricier Premium tier hardware to justify.

Writer's choice

I watch a lot of YouTube and have never been able to bring myself to pay for YouTube Premium, despite my frustration with persistent ads. I'd be much more willing to pay for YouTube Premium Lite, since most videos will be ad-free, I wouldn't overpay for a YouTube Music subscription I wouldn't use (I am loyal to Apple Music), and it's only $8/month.