Short answer: Only if — you watch YouTube daily on mobile and hate ads. Desktop users can skip it.
Worth it for: Heavy mobile viewers, people who hate mid-roll ads Skip if: Desktop viewers with ad blockers, casual viewers Better alternative: N/A : YouTube Premium exists because ads are annoying and ad blockers don't work on phones. That's the entire value proposition.
When It IS Worth It
You watch 1+ hours of YouTube daily on mobile. Background play, no ads, downloads — these features matter on phones where ad blockers don't work.
You'd pay for YouTube Music anyway. Premium includes YouTube Music ($11 value). If you want both services, Premium is the bundle.
Mid-roll ads genuinely ruin your experience. Some people can't tolerate interruptions. If that's you, $14/month buys peace.
You watch on TV apps. Smart TVs and consoles can't run ad blockers. Premium removes ads everywhere.
When It Is NOT Worth It
:
You mainly watch on desktop. uBlock Origin is free and blocks YouTube ads completely. You're paying for what you can get free.
You watch YouTube twice a week. At $14/month, you're paying $1.75+ per viewing session. That's expensive for casual use.
You already have Spotify. YouTube Music is fine, but not worth switching for. Don't pay for two music services.
You can tolerate a few ads. Not everyone needs an ad-free experience. If you can wait 5 seconds to skip, save your money.
Who Should NOT Buy This
- Desktop-primary viewers — Ad blockers exist. Use them
- Casual viewers — $168/year for occasional YouTube is absurd
- Spotify subscribers — YouTube Music isn't worth switching for
- People who mostly watch short videos — Ads on 2-minute videos are less painful
- Anyone on a tight budget — This is a luxury, not a necessity
The Ad Blocker Elephant in the Room
Let's talk about what everyone's thinking:
Desktop: uBlock Origin blocks YouTube ads. Free. Legal. Works perfectly.
Mobile: Ad blockers don't work in the YouTube app. This is where Premium has real value.
TV apps: No ad blockers. Premium is the only option.
If you're 80% desktop viewing, Premium's value proposition is weak. If you're 80% mobile/TV, it makes more sense.
The Real Math
YouTube Premium: $14/month = $168/year
Value calculation:
- If you watch 30 hours/month and save ~1.5 hours of ads
- You're paying ~$9/hour to skip ads
- Is your time worth $9/hour? For most people, yes
- But only if you're actually watching that much on devices where ad blockers don't work
Family Plan Is the Real Value
| Plan | Per Person (6 people) |
|---|---|
| Individual | $14/mo |
| Family | $3.83/mo |
At $3.83/person, Family Premium is much easier to justify. If you have 3+ people who watch YouTube, the family plan makes sense.
Cheaper or Better Alternatives
| Option | Price | My Take |
|---|---|---|
| Free + uBlock Origin | $0 | Works on desktop. Use this first |
| Brave Browser | $0 | Blocks ads including on mobile browser (not app) |
| YouTube in Safari (iPhone) | $0 | Add to reading list for background play hack |
| Spotify + Free YouTube | $11/mo | Music covered, tolerate YouTube ads |
What Annoys Me About Premium
- Price keeps increasing. Was $12, now $14. Google knows you're hooked and can't go back to ads after months without them. That's the trap — once you experience ad-free YouTube, ads feel ten times worse than before you subscribed. Google is betting on your inability to downgrade.
- YouTube Music is just okay. It's not as good as Spotify. The algorithm is weaker, the library organization is clunky, and the social features are nonexistent. Feels like a forced bundle designed to inflate Premium's perceived value rather than a genuine competitor.
- No family plan sharing outside household. They verify addresses now. Google cracked down hard on friend groups splitting the plan. If your "family" doesn't live together, you'll get kicked off.
- Originals are mostly dead. Remember YouTube Originals? Yeah, that's not a selling point anymore. Google spent millions on exclusive content, then quietly made most of it free. Premium subscribers subsidized content that's now available to everyone.
- Background play should be free. Locking background playback behind a paywall is one of the most cynical product decisions in tech. Every other media app plays in the background by default. YouTube deliberately disables a basic feature to create an artificial reason to subscribe.
- Download quality is inconsistent. Offline downloads sometimes switch to lower resolution without warning. You think you saved a 1080p video for your flight, and you're watching 480p at 35,000 feet.
FAQ
Is YouTube Premium worth it just for no ads?
If you watch more than an hour of YouTube daily, the math works out — you're paying roughly $0.50/hour for an ad-free experience. If you watch less than 30 minutes a day, a browser ad-blocker on desktop handles most of it for free.
Is YouTube Music included with YouTube Premium?
Yes. YouTube Premium includes YouTube Music Premium at no extra cost. If you're currently paying for both Spotify ($11) and considering YouTube Premium ($14), switching to YouTube Premium for both saves you money — but only if YouTube Music's library and recommendations work for you.
Is there a cheaper way to get YouTube Premium?
The Family plan at $23/month for 5 accounts is the best deal ($4.60/person). Student pricing is $8/month with verification. Beyond official plans, some users use VPNs to subscribe through cheaper regions, but YouTube has been cracking down on this.
The algorithm behaves noticeably differently when you're a paying subscriber. Recommendations feel slightly less desperate for attention — fewer clickbait thumbnails, more content that matches your actual watching history. Whether that's real or confirmation bias is debatable, but the experience does feel different.
Final Verdict
YouTube Premium is worth it if YouTube is your primary entertainment platform and you watch daily. The included YouTube Music sweetens the deal if you'd otherwise pay for a separate music service. But if you can tolerate ads or use an ad-blocker on desktop, save the $14/month.