Elon Musk’s X Increases Premium-Plus Subscription Pricing to Boost Creator Payments

Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has increased the cost of its premium-plus subscription tier in several markets starting December 21, aiming to enhance payouts for content creators. The price for this top-tier plan has risen from $16 to $22 per month in the United States, as announced in a recent blog post. Meanwhile, the pricing for the basic tier and premium subscriptions remains unchanged at $3 and $8, respectively.

In October, X revised its revenue-sharing practices to ensure that subscription fees more effectively benefit creators. The updated model emphasizes content quality and user engagement, rather than relying primarily on ad views, to determine creator compensation.

The new pricing applies only to new subscribers, while existing members will continue to pay the previous rate until January 20. Premium-plus subscribers gain benefits such as ad-free browsing, enhanced access to the Grok AI chatbot, and Radar—a feature offering real-time analytics on trending topics through keyword tracking.

This move underscores Musk’s broader strategy to diversify X’s revenue streams. The platform, historically dependent on advertising revenue, is now focusing on subscriptions as a key growth driver. Since acquiring Twitter and rebranding it to X, Musk has been working to reshape the platform’s business model to better align with the demands of both creators and subscribers.