PlayStation Plus is a subscription service by Sony for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, offered in three tiers: Essential, Extra, and Premium. The service provides access to online multiplayer, 100 GB of cloud saves, up to four monthly free games, and a large on-demand Game Catalog containing hundreds of games for PS4 and PS5, along with Classics Catalog of PlayStation games, limited-time game trials, and cloud streaming for Premium users.
While the increase applied to all tiers — $1/month for Essential, $2/month for Extra, and $2/month for Premium — it was made only to 1-month and 3-month billing cycles, and 12-month (annual) subscriptions have been left at the pre-hike prices at least at the time of this update. Existing subscribers who do not cancel and re-subscribe to the service are usually grandfathered into the old pricing schedule until the end of the next renewal period.
In terms of features provided, Essential tier includes online multiplayer, 100 GB of cloud saves, 3-4 monthly games, and PlayStation Store discounts; Extra tier contains all of that plus the aforementioned Game Catalog; Premium tier also includes all of that plus the Classics Catalog of games, game trials, and cloud streaming (including 4K quality for eligible titles).
Games that become part of the monthly package in Essential must be claimed before the rollover date (usually the end of the month); once they're claimed, however, they remain in your game library forever, as long as your PS Plus subscription of any tier remains active. The games in Extra and Premium tiers act differently, with the rotation taking place on 6, 12, or 18-month cycle and the lack of "forever kept" policy.
If you are halfway through your 12-month Essential subscription and decide to upgrade to Extra or Premium, Sony calculates the cost of the upgrade based on how much time/value you have left on your current plan, rather than prorating it to monthly cost of the other plan; that can make upgrading in some cases more expensive than just canceling the subscription and starting a new one. This should be compared when upgrading.
In May 2026 price increase in PS Plus specifically excluded Turkey and India, where Sony uses separate regional pricing model that has not been changed as a result of the general increase. While this is a normal thing for PlayStation pricing scheme, it is important to note that in these countries the "price went up" story does not really apply.
Apart from games in the catalogs and access to multiplayer, all three tiers of PlayStation Plus provide access to discounts in PlayStation Store for members that are available all-year long, apart from seasonal sales such as Days of Play.
Time-limited trials provided by Premium tier allow playing a part of a game prior to purchasing it outright, making it especially useful for expensive new releases where a demo is unavailable. That is one of the practical features that make higher tier pricing reasonable to some users.
It depends on your subscription billing cycle; if you are subscribed using an annual plan (12 months), your pricing has remained at pre-hike rate. The hike specifically affected 1-month and 3-month billing cycles.
No; all tiers contain all features of all other tiers, just adding extra features to the top of that.
If you miss the claiming period for the game (it usually expires at the end of the month), you lose the opportunity to add it to your collection for free; the difference from Extra and Premium catalog games is that latter rotate every 6/12/18 months, whereas former have to be claimed every month.
Not necessarily; when calculating your upgrade pricing, Sony uses how much time is left on your current plan, rather than just prorating subscription price to monthly value. In some cases, that can make upgrading more expensive than simply allowing current subscription expire and starting a new one at higher tier.
No; subscribers in Turkey and India were specifically exempted from that price hike, due to their separate regional pricing schemes.
While they disappear from catalog, they do not remove the game itself. After its departure from PS Plus Game/Classics Catalog, you can purchase it from the Store, if you are interested. The games are removed from catalog after completing their 6, 12, or 18 months rotation cycle.
No; all three tiers offer discounts in the Store that are available all year long, aside from seasonal promotions such as Days of Play.