YouTube Premium is a fantastic service if you’re tired of ads interrupting your favorite videos, want to enjoy background play while multitasking, or crave offline downloads for those times without internet. But here’s the best part-you don’t have to keep all those benefits to yourself.
YouTube offers ways to share your Premium subscription with others, making it more affordable and convenient. Whether you want to share with your entire household or just one other person, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know about sharing YouTube Premium in 2025.
YouTube premium family plan
The YouTube Premium Family Plan is the classic way to share your subscription. It allows you to include up to five additional people, making six users in total, including yourself as the family manager. Everyone in the group enjoys the full suite of Premium features: ad-free videos, the ability to play videos in the background while using other apps, offline downloads for watching without internet, and access to YouTube Music Premium for streaming music without ads.
To qualify for the Family Plan, the primary account holder must be at least 18 years old and have a standard Google Account (Google Workspace accounts aren’t eligible). Additionally, you must reside in a country where YouTube Premium is available. It’s important to note that you cannot be part of another Google family group or have switched family groups within the last 12 months.
For the people you invite, they need to be at least 13 years old or have a supervised Google Account if they are younger. Everyone in the family group must live at the same household address because YouTube periodically verifies this to prevent misuse.
Setting up the Family Plan begins with purchasing or upgrading your current YouTube Premium subscription to the family tier. You can do this either through the YouTube website or the mobile app. When upgrading, you will be guided through entering your payment details and confirming eligibility. If you currently have an individual Premium plan, you may need to cancel it or wait for it to expire before upgrading, especially if you are on an annual plan.
Once you have the family plan, you can create or manage your Google family group. If you don’t already have one, the setup process will prompt you to create it. As the family manager, you have the ability to invite up to five other members by entering their email addresses or phone numbers. Invited members will receive a message with a link to accept the invitation, which they must do within 14 days. They will need to sign in with their Google Account and confirm that they live in the same household.
After everyone accepts the invitation, each member can enjoy YouTube Premium benefits using their own Google accounts. This means that while you share the subscription, your watch histories, playlists, and personalized recommendations remain private and separate. Additionally, being part of a Google family group can unlock other shared services like Google Play Family Library and shared calendars.
Managing your Family Plan is straightforward. You can add or remove members at any time through your account settings. Removing a member immediately revokes their Premium access, but their Google Account remains unaffected. If you decide to cancel the entire plan, only the family manager can do so, and all members will lose access once the current billing cycle ends.
It’s important to remember that YouTube enforces the household requirement strictly. All members must live at the same address, and YouTube may periodically ask for verification. Sharing with friends or family members who live elsewhere can lead to access issues, including removal from the family group.
Also, the Family Plan limits streaming to four devices simultaneously, so if your household has many users watching at once, you may encounter restrictions.
The two-person YouTube premium plan
In 2025, YouTube began testing a new two-person Premium plan in select regions such as India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and France. This plan is designed for smaller households or couples who want to share the benefits of Premium without committing to a full family plan.
To be eligible for the two-person plan, both users must be at least 13 years old and have their own Google Accounts. Like the Family Plan, both members need to live in the same household and be part of the same Google family group. However, this plan is currently only available in the pilot regions and has not yet been rolled out globally.
Setting up the two-person plan is very similar to the Family Plan process. You begin by signing into your Google Account in a supported region and selecting the two-person plan option either on the YouTube website or app. You then create or join a Google family group and invite the other member by email or phone number. Once the invitation is accepted, both users gain access to the full Premium benefits.
The cost of this plan is notably lower than paying for two individual subscriptions or even the Family Plan.
While this plan offers the same advantages as the Family Plan-ad-free videos, background play, offline downloads, and YouTube Music access-it is limited to just two users and is only available in certain countries during this experimental phase.
The same household and family group restrictions apply. Pricing for the United States and other countries has not been announced yet, but if the plan is expanded globally, it is expected to be a cost-effective option for two-person households.
Comparing your options
When deciding which plan to share, consider how many people will be using YouTube Premium and where you live. The individual plan is perfect if you’re flying solo, but sharing with one other person might make the new two-person plan a better fit if it’s available in your region. For larger households, the Family Plan remains the most economical and feature-rich choice.
Important considerations before sharing
While sharing YouTube Premium can save money and enhance your viewing experience, there are some important things to keep in mind. YouTube requires all members of a shared plan to live at the same physical address, and it may ask for verification from time to time. This means sharing with friends or relatives who live elsewhere is generally not supported and could result in losing access.
Only the family manager has control over the subscription, including adding or removing members and managing payments. Other members cannot purchase their own Premium subscriptions while part of the family group.
Privacy is respected in terms of your viewing habits-each member’s watch history, playlists, and recommendations are private. However, names, profile pictures, and email addresses are visible to all members of the family group.
There is also a limit on simultaneous streaming devices. The Family Plan allows up to four devices to stream content at the same time, so if your household is large and everyone is watching different videos simultaneously, you might hit this limit.
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