Through recurring monthly payments, channel memberships on the main YouTube site and app allow you to purchase public badges, emoji and access to creator perks offered by the channel from time to time.
Memberships may be priced differently depending on your country or region, and the platform that you use.
Join, change levels or cancel a membership
Become a channel member
- Visit youtube.com or open the YouTube app.
- Go to the channel of, or a video uploaded by, the creator that you'd like to support and see if they've enabled memberships on their channel.
- Click Join.
- Follow the prompts to enter your payment information.
- Click Buy.
You'll see a welcome announcement once your transaction is complete.
To purchase a prepaid membership:
- Visit youtube.com or open the YouTube app.
- Go to the channel page of, or a video uploaded by, the channel that you'd like to become a member of. If they have memberships available, see whether they've activated a non-recurring limited-time membership on their channel.
- Click Join.
- Follow the prompts to enter your payment information.
- Click Buy.
Note: If you purchase a non-recurring limited-time membership, you won't be able to change levels.
You'll see a 'welcome' announcement once your transaction is complete.
Change your membership level
To upgrade
- Go to the channel page of the membership that you want to change and click See perks.
- Select the level that you want to join
Change level.
- Select Upgrade.
- You'll immediately get access to the upgraded level upon purchase.
- Pricing note: You'll only be charged the difference in the price of the levels, at a price adjusted depending on the days remaining in your current billing cycle.
- Example: If you're paying £4.99 and you upgrade to the £9.99 level with half a month left until your next payment, you'll be charged (£9.99 - £4.99) x (0.5)= £2.50 for the remainder of the month.
- Your monthly billing date will not change due to a level upgrade.
To downgrade
- Go to the channel page of the membership that you want to change and click See perks.
- Select the level that you want to join
Change level.
Billing and access details for downgrades
- Your monthly billing date will not change due to a level downgrade.
- You'll get access to your original level until your next billing date.
- You'll be charged the new lower price at your next billing date.
- You'll retain any accumulated loyalty reflected in your badge if offered by the creator.
You'll retain any accumulated loyalty reflected in your badge if offered by the creator.
- Sign in to YouTube.
- Go to youtube.com/paid_memberships.
- Find the channel membership that you'd like to cancel and click Manage membership.
- Select See perks.
- Go to Settings.
- Select End membership & perks.
Payment and billing information
Billing information
New and existing members
When you have an active paid membership, you'll automatically be charged at the start of each monthly billing cycle.
Cancelled memberships
When you cancel a paid channel membership, you will not be charged again unless you reactivate it. You'll continue to receive membership perks until the end of that billing period.
Reactivated memberships
You can reactivate your membership at any time. If you reactivate during the same billing cycle in which you cancelled it, you will not be charged until that current billing cycle ends.
Update your payment info
How paused channel memberships impact your payments
'Paused mode' explained
Sometimes, channel memberships are put in 'paused mode'. This may happen if a channel changes MCNs, sets their channel as Made for Kids or is unable to monetise. When 'paused mode' happens, it means that the channel cannot monetise with memberships – this is often a temporary state. If a channel is in 'paused mode', it means that they cannot deliver perks and other benefits.
Payment details
If you're an active paid member of a channel in 'paused mode', your monthly recurring payment, billing cycle and access to memberships will also be paused.
If membership is resumed by the channel, paid members who were active prior to the pause will resume receiving membership perks, and their monthly recurring payment will also be resumed.
Memberships can remain paused on a channel for a maximum of 90 days; after that point, memberships and members' monthly recurring payments will be cancelled.
How terminated channel memberships impact your payment
Channel membership refunds
Channel membership revenue share with creators
YouTube Premium free channel membership (limited-time offer)
Redeem a free channel membership
Eligibility requirements
If you're a paying YouTube Premium member in Brazil, Ireland, Japan, South Korea or the United Kingdom, you may be selected to get an offer of one free non-recurring channel membership per month, until 31 December 2020. You must redeem the offer before it expires on 31 December 2020.
To check if you're eligible for this limited-time offer, visit this link on a computer.
More details:
- You can be randomly selected for the offer if:
- You're a paying YouTube Premium member in Brazil, Ireland, Japan, South Korea or the United Kingdom.
- You're a YouTube Premium member on an individual or student plan, or a manager of a family plan (in countries/regions where student plans and family plans are available).
- This limited-time offer excludes free trial members or members of a family plan that aren't the manager.
Channels that you can redeem a free channel membership on
You can redeem your free channel membership on any channel that has turned on channel memberships for any eligible level.
The value of eligible levels that can be redeemed for the free channel membership depends on where you are. See table below:
Country/Region | Value of highest eligible level that can be redeemed |
---|---|
Brazil | R$7.99 |
Ireland | €4.99 |
Japan | ¥490 |
South Korea | ₩4,990 |
United Kingdom | £4.99 |
Creators will earn the same amount from a free channel membership as they would from one month of a paid channel membership.
How to use a free channel membership
- Visit youtube.com, or open the YouTube app.
- Go to the channel or a video of your favourite creator.
- If they've turned on memberships on their channel, click JOIN.
- Select JOIN FOR FREE.
More about the free channel membership
The final day to redeem the last free channel membership is 31 December 2020.
A redeemed free channel membership is non-recurring, and will last for 1 month from the date of redemption. Once it expires, you may get an offer for another free non-recurring channel membership. You can redeem this offer on the same channel or on another channel with channel memberships turned on.
If they aren't redeemed, these free channel memberships don't add up and will expire.
Cancel your free channel membership
Once you've redeemed your free channel membership, you can't cancel the free channel membership.
If you receive another offer for a free non-recurring channel membership, you can redeem it on a different channel.
Change from a free to a paid channel membership
If you change your free non-recurring channel membership to a paid recurring channel membership at a higher level on the same channel:
- Immediately: You'll be immediately charged the difference in price between the higher and current level, proportional to the time left on your free channel membership. You'll get access to perks from the higher level immediately.
- On the next billing date: You'll be charged the full price of the higher-level channel membership on the next billing date, which is 1 month from the date on which you redeemed the free channel membership.
- On following billing dates: You'll be enrolled in a recurring payment, so you'll be charged the full price of the higher-level channel membership for following billing dates.
If you change your free non-recurring channel membership to a paid recurring channel membership at the same level on the same channel:
- Immediately: You won't be charged for the paid channel membership until your next billing date. You'll continue to get access to perks from the same level.
- On the next billing date: You'll be charged the full price of the channel membership on the next billing date, which is 1 month from the date on which you redeemed the free channel membership.
- On following billing dates: You'll be enrolled in a recurring payment, so you'll be charged the full price of the channel membership for following billing dates.
If you change a free non-recurring channel membership to a paid recurring channel membership at a lower level on the same channel:
- Immediately: You won't be charged for the paid channel membership until your next billing date. You'll continue to get access to perks from the level of the free channel membership.
- On the next billing date: You'll be charged the full price of the lower-level channel membership on the next billing date, which is 1 month from the date on which you redeemed the free channel membership.
- On following billing dates: You'll be enrolled in a recurring payment, so you'll be charged the full price of the lower-level channel membership for following billing dates.
Change from a paid to a free channel membership
If you want to replace a paid recurring channel membership with a free non-recurring channel membership, you'll need to cancel the paid channel membership and wait for it to end.
Once the paid channel membership has ended, you can follow the steps to redeem a free non-recurring channel membership, if you're eligible.
Use and manage your memberships benefits
Channel membership benefits for all members
- Exclusive public-facing membership badge next to your channel name in all comments and live chats that you make on the channel that you're a member of
- On some channels, the badge will reflect how long you've been a member of a channel, either through different coloured default badges or through different badges uploaded by the channel
- If you become a channel member during a live stream on that channel, a bright green 'New Member' message will be sent in live chat and your profile picture will be pinned at the top of chat for five minutes
- Access to members-only posts on the channel's Community tab (if offered by the channel)
- Access to creator perks that may be offered by the channel and are subject to change
- Exclusive access to members-only live chat (if offered by the channel)
- Exclusive access to a channel's public-facing custom emoji in live chat (if offered by the channel)
- 'Slow mode' – which limits how frequently you can comment in live chat – does not apply to active paid members
By becoming a channel member, your exclusive membership badge will appear in all comments and live chats that you make on that channel.
Creator perks for different levels
What do I get for each level and how do I join?
This varies from channel to channel. You can see the different perks when you click Join.
I'm already a member, so how do I see the different perks available?
Go to the channel page which you've already joined Select See perks.
Subscribe to a channel that you've joined
Turn channel membership notifications on or off
Turn off notifications
If you don't want to know about new members-only posts, you can:
- Opt out of notifications for individual channels that you're a member of.
- Turn off all notifications on your account.
See exclusive content in the Community tab
Report inappropriate perks
Privacy information
Visible membership status
- Your channel URL
- The name of your YouTube channel
- A link to your profile picture
- When you joined the channel as a member
- The level that you're a member of
How your information may be used
- All members have a visible badge that appears next to your channel name in comments and chat.
- If you become a channel member during a live stream on that channel, a bright green 'New Member' message will be sent in live chat and your profile picture will be pinned at the top of live chat for five minutes which shows your channel name when hovered upon.
- Some channels may add your information above to a list of 'thank yous' in their videos.
- Some channels may share your information above to provide a service (for example, member-only access to a chatroom hosted by a third-party company).
Check and remove third-party site or app access
Remove third-party site or app access
- Go to your Google Account.
- On the left-hand navigation panel, select Security.
- On the Third-party apps with account access panel, select Manage third-party access.
- Select the site or app that you want to remove.
- Select Remove Access.
Report a third-party site or app
Follow these steps if you believe that a site or app is misusing your data, for example, by creating spam, impersonating you or using your data in harmful ways.
- Go to the Apps with access to your account section of your Google Account. You might need to sign in.
- Select the app that you want to report
Report this app.
Learn more about account access for third-party sites and apps.