Pandora Plus vs Premium Which Plan is Better?

Stuck between Pandora Plus and Pandora Premium and not sure which one is actually worth paying for? The gap between them is bigger than the price suggests, and one of them may not do what you think it does.

Here is what each plan costs, what you really get, and how to pick.

How much do Pandora Plus and Premium cost?

Quick answer: Pandora Plus is $4.99 per month and Pandora Premium is $10.99 per month when you subscribe directly through Pandora. Plus is ad-free radio. Premium adds on-demand playback and real playlists.

Plan	Price (direct)	Price (App Store / Google Play)	Best for
Free	$0	$0	Casual station listening with ads
Plus	$4.99/month	$5.99/month	Ad-free radio, no on-demand
Premium	$10.99/month	$12.99/month	Search and play any song, full playlists
Premium Family	$17.99/month	Varies	Up to 6 separate accounts

Prices vary by region and promotion, and app store billing costs more because Apple and Google process the payment. Subscribing on Pandora's website is the cheaper route.

Military Premium is commonly listed around $7.99 per month, and students can get discounted Premium with verification.

What is Pandora?

Pandora is a subsidiary of SiriusXM. It is one of the largest ad-supported audio streaming services and a leading digital audio advertising platform in the US.

What sets Pandora apart is the Music Genome Project, the technology behind its station building. Instead of asking you to build playlists from scratch, Pandora analyzes what you listen to and generates personalized radio stations around a song, artist, or genre. The podcast genome does the same for spoken audio.

You can use Pandora on the web or as a mobile app, plus smart TVs, tablets, desktops, and home audio systems.

There is also a free ad-supported tier, which is a reasonable place to start if you have never used the service. We covered what the free version does and does not include in our guide to the Pandora music app.

What is Pandora Plus?

Pandora Plus costs $4.99 per month, or $54.89 per year if you pay annually.

This is the important thing to understand: Pandora Plus is still radio. It removes ads and loosens the limits, but it does not turn Pandora into an on-demand service. You cannot search for a specific song and play it on request. That is Premium.

What Plus actually gives you:

• Ad-free stations
• More skips and replays, subject to licensing limits
• Offline caching of up to four of your top stations, chosen automatically by Pandora rather than by you
• Higher audio quality than the free tier
• Longer timeout before playback stops

If you press play and let Pandora drive, Plus is likely all you need, and at $4.99 it is one of the cheapest ad-free options in streaming.

What is Pandora Premium?

Pandora Premium costs $10.99 per month. Annual billing is available at a discount.

Premium is where Pandora becomes a conventional streaming service. You get everything in Plus, and then the features that actually change how you use the app:

• On-demand playback. Search any song, album, or podcast and play it immediately.
• Full playlist creation. Build, edit, and share your own playlists rather than relying on stations.
• Flexible offline downloads. Choose exactly which songs, albums, playlists, and stations to download, instead of letting Pandora pick.
• Unlimited skips and replays, subject to licensing restrictions.

Students and military personnel can access discounted Premium pricing, with verification required.

The Premium Family plan

The Premium Family plan is $17.99 per month and covers up to six separate accounts. Each member gets their own playlists, stations, and recommendations rather than sharing one profile.

Family also unlocks Our Soundtrack, a shared playlist that blends every member's taste into one collection and adds it to each account.

The master account holder handles billing and manages who is on the plan.

Difference between Pandora Plus and Premium

The two plans are often described as similar, but the on-demand gap is the whole decision.

Feature	Plus ($4.99)	Premium ($10.99)
Ad-free listening	Yes	Yes
On-demand song search	No	Yes
Create playlists	Very limited	Full creation and editing
Share playlists	No	Yes
Offline downloads	Up to 4 stations, auto-selected	Songs, albums, playlists, stations, your choice
Skips and replays	More than free	Unlimited, licensing permitting
Audio quality	Higher than free	Highest
Family option	No	Yes, $17.99 for 6 accounts

The short version: Plus fixes the annoyances of the free tier. Premium changes what the product is.

Is annual billing cheaper?

Yes. Pandora Plus works out at $54.89 per year, which saves you roughly $5 against paying monthly. Premium and Family also offer annual billing at a discount over the monthly rate.

Annual billing is worth it if you already know you will keep the subscription. If you are still deciding between Plus and Premium, start monthly and switch once you know which features you actually use.

Which Pandora plan should you get?

Get Plus if you:

• Mainly listen to stations and let the algorithm choose
• Just want the ads gone at the lowest possible price
• Rarely need a specific song on demand
• Do not care about building your own playlists

Get Premium if you:

• Want to search and play any track instantly
• Build and share your own playlists
• Need proper control over what downloads for offline listening
• Are sharing with family, since only Premium has a family plan

For most people coming from Spotify or Apple Music, Premium is the honest comparison point, because Plus does not work the way those services do. If you want to see how Pandora stacks up more broadly, we compared it directly in Pandora vs Spotify.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is Pandora Premium?
Pandora Premium is $10.99 per month when purchased directly from Pandora. Through the Apple App Store it has been listed at $12.99, since app store billing adds a markup.

Does Pandora Plus include on-demand music?
No. Pandora Plus is ad-free radio with more skips and replays. On-demand search and playback is a Pandora Premium feature only.

Can I download songs with Pandora Plus?
Not individually. Plus automatically caches up to four of your top stations for offline listening, but you cannot pick specific songs or albums. Premium lets you choose.

Is there a Pandora Plus family plan?
No. The family plan is Premium only, at $17.99 per month for up to six accounts.

Do students get a discount?
Yes. Discounted Premium pricing is available to students with verification, and military personnel can access a reduced Premium rate commonly listed around $7.99 per month.

Can I see my Pandora listening stats?
Yes. You can pull your top artists and songs any time with Free Your Music Stats for Pandora, rather than waiting for an end-of-year recap.

Transfer your music with Free Your Music

Switching plans is one thing. Switching services is another, and you do not have to rebuild your library to do it.

With Free Your Music you can move your playlists across in a few clicks, either from Spotify to Pandora or from Pandora to Spotify, and keep your collections intact.