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X Premium+ rose to $40 per month or $395 per year in the United States on February 18, 2025, shortly after xAI announced Grok 3. That was an 81.8% increase from the then-reported $22 monthly price—and the plan had already risen from $16 to $22 in December 2024.
X said the higher price reflected expanded Grok access, an ad-free X experience, and creator support. But Premium+ was never simply a $40 Grok subscription: it bundled AI access with X-specific features. That distinction matters when deciding whether the plan is worth paying for.
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What changed?
New U.S. Premium+ subscribers were charged $40 per month or $395 per year beginning February 18, 2025. X’s official announcement is available in its Premium+ price update.
| Market | New monthly price | New annual price |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $40 | $395 |
| United Kingdom | £31 | £313 |
| Canada | C$56 | C$560 |
| France/Germany | €38 | €377 |
| Australia | A$62 | A$621 |
| Japan | ¥6,080 | ¥60,040 |
Regional totals can vary with taxes, currency, payment method, and whether the subscription is purchased through the web or an app store. The final checkout screen—not an old article or cached price page—is the amount to verify.
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How large was the increase?
- $22 to $40: $18 more per month, or approximately 81.8% higher.
- $16 to $40: $24 more per month, making the new price 2.5 times the earlier reported rate, or 150% higher.
- Annual billing: $395 works out to about $32.92 per month when averaged across a year.
- Annual savings: Paying monthly for 12 months would cost $480, so the annual plan saves about $85 before taxes and fees.
The earlier $16-to-$22 increase was reported by TechCrunch. Calling the later increase “absurd” is a judgment, not an objective measurement, but the scale and timing explain the reaction: X nearly doubled the price only a few months after its previous increase.
Why did X raise the price?
X gave three reasons:
- Expanded Grok 3 access: Premium+ subscribers received higher usage limits and early access to new features.
- An ad-free X experience: X marketed the plan as having no ads across the platform, while also warning that occasional promoted content may still appear.
- Creator support: X said the subscription helped support its creator revenue-sharing program.
The timing clearly connected the price change to xAI’s February 17, 2025 Grok 3 announcement. It is reasonable to infer that X was trying to monetize demand for a more capable model while bundling it into its most expensive social-network tier. However, X did not publish a cost breakdown showing that Grok 3 alone required the additional $18 per month.
What did Premium+ include?
Grok was only one part of the bundle. X’s current Premium feature page describes Premium+ as including benefits such as:
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- No ads across X, subject to the promoted-content qualification.
- Early access to new features.
- Radar Search and Articles.
- Largest reply prioritization.
- Post editing, longer posts and videos, and other Premium tools.
- A checkmark, subject to X’s eligibility and verification rules.
- Creator-related and publishing features.
Feature names, limits, eligibility rules, and model access can change. The price therefore buys a changing bundle rather than a permanent promise of one particular AI model.
Premium+ did not make Grok 3 exclusive
Premium+ offered expanded access and higher limits; it was not necessarily the only way to use Grok 3. X had already expanded Grok to Premium subscribers in April 2024, and in December 2024 it began offering limited Grok access to some non-paying users. Those free users faced usage restrictions.
Contemporaneous coverage associated some reasoning and deep-search capabilities with higher-paid access, while xAI separately promoted SuperGrok, its standalone subscription. In other words, “Premium+ is the only way to get Grok” was too broad. The relevant question was how much access a user needed and whether that user also valued X’s non-AI features.
What happened to existing subscribers?
X’s transition terms said that new subscribers paid the new rate from February 18, 2025. Existing subscribers whose next billing cycle began before March 22, 2025 remained on their current rate for that cycle; the higher rate applied to the first billing cycle beginning after that date.
Your actual renewal amount can still differ because of:
- Web, iOS, or Android billing.
- Local taxes and app-store fees.
- Annual versus monthly billing.
- Promotional or legacy pricing.
- Regional currency and payment rules.
Check the billing details in your X account and the renewal notice before assuming the support-page price is your exact total.
The rollout was confusing
During the February 2025 rollout, TechCrunch found inconsistent figures across X’s support, signup, and checkout pages, including amounts around $40, $48.40, and $50 per month and differing annual totals. Those were reported rollout discrepancies, not a reason to assume that every subscriber was charged the same amount.
For a purchase or renewal, rely on the final checkout amount and your account billing record. X’s Premium FAQ provides additional billing and tier information.
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What happened after Grok 3?
Grok 3 is the historical reason for the 2025 price story, not the current model label. X’s support materials still list U.S. Premium+ at $40 monthly or $395 annually as of August 18, 2026, and describe the benefit more generally as higher Grok limits. Meanwhile, xAI’s current Grok documentation refers to newer models, including Grok 4.5, and its pricing page lists standalone SuperGrok access.
That separation is important: X Premium+ and SuperGrok are different products governed by different services. See xAI’s terms for the distinction between xAI services and charges made through X.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is X Premium+ worth $40?
It may be worth considering if you:
- Use X heavily and want an ad-reduced or largely ad-free experience.
- Need the highest available X-based Grok limits.
- Use Radar Search, Articles, long-form publishing, or creator tools.
- Value priority, longer posts, and other X-native features.
- Would otherwise pay for separate AI access and would genuinely use X’s bundle.
It is probably a poor fit if you:
- Use X only occasionally.
- Want an AI assistant for occasional questions.
- Prefer a general-purpose AI product independent of a social network.
- Do not use X’s publishing, creator, or trend-monitoring tools.
- Can get sufficient Grok access through a cheaper tier or limited free access.
- Want stable AI limits and features that are not tied to X’s changing subscription policies.
Premium+ versus standalone AI access
The practical buying choice is simple:
- Want Grok only? Compare SuperGrok, which xAI currently lists separately and positions around newer Grok access.
- Want X features plus Grok? Premium+ may make sense if you use the platform enough to benefit from ad removal, publishing tools, Radar Search, and higher limits.
- Want a general-purpose assistant? Compare products directly through the official ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini sites rather than treating Premium+ as an AI-only plan.
Do not divide the full $40 by “Grok” and assume the result is its standalone price. X did not identify how much of the subscription represented AI access, advertising removal, creator support, or other features.
The bottom line
X Premium+ did not exactly double from $22 to $40, but an 81.8% increase came close—and the plan had already climbed from a reported $16 just months earlier. Grok 3 was central to the timing and X’s explanation, but it was not the whole product.
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At $40 per month, Premium+ is most defensible as a bundle for heavy X users who also want expanded Grok access. It is difficult to justify as a Grok-only purchase, particularly because Grok has had limited free access and xAI offers a separate standalone subscription.
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