Meta is doubling down on its subscription offerings. On Wednesday, the social networking giant announced that it is now rolling out consumer subscription plans globally for its flagship apps Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and is starting trials of new subscriptions for businesses, creators and Meta AI users.
For a few dollars a month, consumers who sign up for Instagram Plus ($3.99/month), Facebook Plus ($3.99/month), or WhatsApp Plus ($2.99/month) will gain access to additional features such as profile customization, super reactions, and story information, among others.
In one communicationMeta’s head of product Naomi Gleit noted that “more fun features” will be added in the future.
Meanwhile, Meta will begin testing other offerings, including professional plans for creators and businesses, as well as AI-focused plans for all users. These new tests will be called “Meta One,” which will serve as the company’s home for its subscription offerings going forward.
Meta confirmed it was planning a subscription offering earlier this year, with its initial tests rolling out in the spring. The idea behind the consumer-facing plans is to provide additional features for power users who want more from their social apps. It also allows Meta to diversify its revenue streams beyond advertising, extracting more value from its existing audience of billions given the limited growth opportunities for these apps, which are already globally saturated.
The new “Plus” plans are tailored to each individual app, with Facebook Plus and Instagram Plus focusing more on social expression, while WhatsApp Plus focuses on personalization and messaging.
However, the company tells us that the new plans do not replace its existing offering, Meta Verifiedwhich focuses on verification, impersonation protection and extra support. (This could change over time, but for now, Meta doesn’t remove older designs.)
For starters, the new Instagram Plus plan gives subscribers access to extra features like the ability to see how many people have rewatched your Story in aggregate, as well as the ability to create unlimited audience lists for Stories beyond the Close Friends option. Users will also be able to tag a story once a week for additional views, extend a story beyond 24 hours, preview a story without appearing as a viewer, search their story’s viewer list to see who’s watching, and more. Users will also be able to post directly to their profile and tag without appearing in their followers’ feeds.
There are also other features like animated Super Heart reactions for Stories, custom app icons, custom fonts for your profile bio, and access to additional pins for your profile.
These features are designed to better serve creators and those looking to grow their following and understand their audience, but could also appeal to heavy users.
Facebook Plus offers a similar set of features to Instagram Plus. WhatsApp Plus, however, offers other features such as app themes, custom ringtones, additional pinned conversations, list customization, high-quality stickers, and more.
AI designs and more, including those for creators and businesses
Alongside the launch, Meta says it will start testing even more subscription plans, which is where things start to get messy.
For Meta AI users, it will test two packages — Meta One Plus ($7.99/month) and Meta One Premium ($19.99/month) with the same features, but the Premium plan unlocks more capacity at higher compute queries. This means that the Premium plan will offer deeper reasoning for complex tasks (ie, more “thinking functionality” in the Meta AI app or on the web). It will also bring video and motion picture creation capabilities to Meta’s apps.
Meta AI will remain free for more casual users, but these plans follow the same path as other AI model providers that charge for additional computation and heavier usage. The plans will be expanded later in the coming weeks with more benefits for those using AI glasses, Meta says.
The AI plans will begin testing next month, initially in Singapore, Guatemala and Bolivia.
Two other plans for creators and businesses will begin testing later this week, in markets including Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Thailand and Bangladesh.
The Meta One Essential plan ($14.99/month) will offer the Verified badge, impersonation protection, and an enhanced link sheet where users can link to their online presence on social channels and the web, similar to Meta Verified.
The more expensive Meta One Advanced plan ($49.99/month) will include the benefits of the basic plan, plus the ability to appear in your Facebook feed, appear higher in Facebook and Instagram search results, grab attention with a bold “Follow” button on your reels, and automatically send “follow” invites to people who engage with your content.
It can also help creators and businesses drive people to their website or make purchases through links in Instagram posts, Instagram Reels, and through enhanced Facebook and Instagram profiles with their extensive link sheets. These plans, not surprisingly, include better analytics, including deeper, competitive insights on Instagram and custom audience insights on Facebook.
Advanced plan subscribers will have access to optimized scheduling tools, tools to share access with other account moderators (no password sharing), and notifications that alert you when others on Facebook or Instagram reuse your content so you can request a tag crediting your original wheel.
Gleit acknowledged that Meta is still experimenting with these AIs and career plans for now, but aims to bring them all together in Meta One, where they will then continue to be updated and expanded over time.
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