Apple Music Raised Its Price to $11.99/mo — Here's How to Listen Free (2026)
Apple Music now costs $11.99/month for an individual plan after its 2026 price increase — and the family and student plans went up too. Here's the full new price list, why streaming keeps getting more expensive, and how to get music videos, offline downloads, synced lyrics and an AI DJ completely free on iPhone instead.
The Short Version
Apple Music's individual plan is now $11.99/month — another price bump in 2026, on top of the one before it. The family and student plans went up alongside it. That's roughly $144 a year for one person to stream music.
Here's the part nobody advertises: you don't have to pay any of it. You can get music videos, synced lyrics, offline downloads, unlimited skips, live radio, podcasts, an AI DJ, and Shazam-style song ID — for free — in Trending Music on iPhone. This guide breaks down exactly what Apple Music costs now, why the price keeps climbing, and how the free route actually compares.
Get it free on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trending-music-player/id1139055265
What Apple Music Costs Now (2026)
After the latest increase, here's roughly what you're looking at in the US:
- Individual — $11.99/month (was $10.99). About $144/year. - Family — around $17.99/month for up to six people. - Student — around $5.99/month, and only while you can prove you're enrolled. - Apple One bundles it with iCloud+, TV and Arcade, but that total climbed too.
Prices vary a little by country and change over time, so check the App Store for your exact number — but the direction is the only thing that's ever consistent: up. Spotify Premium sits in the same ballpark at about $11.99–$12.99/month, so switching between the two paid apps doesn't save you anything.
Try Trending Music on your iPhone
Free download with offline playback, music alarm clock, Apple Watch & CarPlay support.
Why Streaming Prices Keep Going Up
This isn't a one-off. Every major music service has raised prices multiple times in the last few years, and the reasons don't get better for you:
- Licensing costs rise and get passed straight to subscribers. - The 'add more stuff' treadmill — spatial audio, lossless, audiobooks — becomes the justification for the next hike, whether you use those features or not. - Once you're locked in, your library and playlists live inside their app, so a couple of dollars a month feels easier to swallow than the hassle of leaving. That's the whole strategy.
The result: a service that was ~$9.99 not long ago is $11.99 today, and there's no reason to expect it stops there.
You Don't Actually Have to Pay for Any of It
The thing paid apps count on you forgetting: the core experience — playing the music you want, when you want — doesn't have to cost anything. Trending Music is free on iPhone and includes the things people actually open a music app for:
- Music videos, not just audio — watch the official video or listen with the screen off. Here's how free music videos work. - Synced, word-by-word lyrics you can sing along to. - Offline downloads so you can listen with no wifi or data — normally a paywalled feature (how offline works without premium). - Unlimited skips — no 'six skips an hour' cap. - An AI DJ that builds a personal station and talks you through it (how AI DJs compare). - Live radio, podcasts, and free audiobooks, plus built-in song ID to name whatever's playing around you.
No credit card, no trial countdown, no 'six months then we charge you.'
Free vs $11.99/mo — What You Actually Get
Put side by side, the value gap is hard to argue with:
- Apple Music — $11.99/mo (~$144/yr): huge catalog, lossless/spatial audio, deep Apple ecosystem integration. But you're paying every month, forever, and the price only goes one direction. - Trending Music — $0: music videos, synced lyrics, offline downloads, unlimited skips, AI DJ, live radio, podcasts, audiobooks, song ID, CarPlay and an Apple Watch app. Supported by ads instead of a subscription — with an optional cheap Premium tier ($5.99/mo, *half* of Apple Music) if you want it ad-free.
For a full breakdown, see Spotify vs Apple Music vs Trending Music and our roundup of the best free music apps with no ads.
What's the Catch? (An Honest Look)
No app is magic, so here's the straight version:
- It's ad-supported. Free listening includes ads. If they bug you, the optional Premium is $5.99/mo — still *half* what Apple Music now charges — and removes them. - The catalog is sourced differently. Trending pulls from a massive pool of music videos and streams rather than a traditional label-licensed locker, so a few ultra-exclusive releases may not match Apple Music one-for-one. In practice, the songs you're searching for are there. - It's iPhone-first. The polished experience — CarPlay, Apple Watch, widgets — is built for Apple devices.
For most people, 'free with occasional ads' beats '$144 a year, rising,' comfortably.
How to Switch in About 5 Minutes
You don't have to abandon Apple Music to try this — just stop paying to find out if you'll miss it:
1. Download Trending Music free: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trending-music-player/id1139055265 2. Search a few playlists you love and recreate them, or bring your playlists over from Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube. 3. Download them for offline so you're covered with no connection. 4. Live on it for a couple of weeks. If you genuinely don't miss the $11.99/mo, cancel Apple Music from Settings → your name → Subscriptions and keep the $144 a year.
The next Apple Music price increase is a question of *when*, not *if*. This is the free exit — take it today: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trending-music-player/id1139055265
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Trending Music — free on iPhone
Music videos, synced lyrics, and offline playback — no subscription required. 4.8 stars from 406k+ ratings.