Become a channel member on YouTube
Through recurring monthly payments, 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, or the platform 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 you'd like to support and see if they've enabled memberships on their channel.
- Click or tap Join.
- Follow the prompts to enter your payment information.
- Click or tap Buy.
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 you want to change and click See perks.
- Select the level you want to join
Change level.
- Click Upgrade.
- You’ll immediately get access to the higher level.
- Pricing note: You’ll only be charged the difference in price in levels, pro rated for how long is left of the month until your next payment date.
To downgrade
Right now, you have to cancel your membership and rejoin the channel at a different level.
- Go to the channel page of the membership you want to change and click See perks.
- Select Settings
click End membership & perks.
- Go to the channel page of the membership you want to change and click See perks.
- Click Join.
- Follow the prompts to enter your payment information.
- Click Buy.
Billing details for downgrades
- You’ll get access to your original level until your next payment 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.
- Visit youtube.com/paid_memberships.
- Tap See past purchases.
- Select Manage purchases and refunds.
- Find the membership you want to cancel
tap End membership.
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.
Canceled 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 as you canceled, 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, or receives multiple Community Guidelines strikes. When “paused mode” happens, it means the channel cannot monetize with memberships -- this is often a temporary state. If a channel is in “paused mode” it means 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 canceled.
How terminated channel memberships impact your payment
Channel membership refunds
Channel membership revenue share with creators
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 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 colored 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 is pinned at the top of chat for 5 minutes
- Access to members-only posts on the channel’s Community tab (if offered by the channel)
- Access to creator perks which 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 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
How your information may be used
- All members have a visible badge that shows up 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 5 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 3rd-party company).
Check & remove 3rd party site or app access
Remove 3rd-party site or app access
- Go to your Google Account.
- On the left navigation panel, select Security.
- On the Third-party apps with account access panel, select Manage third-party access.
- Select the site or app you want to remove.
- Select Remove Access.
Report a 3rd-party site or app
Follow these steps if you believe a site or app is misusing your data, like 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 you want to report
Report this app.
Learn more about account access for 3rd-party sites and apps.