Spotify today announced the launch of a new Basic paid plan that offers a small discount for dropping access to audiobooks. Priced at $10.99 per month, the Basic option includes all of the music benefits of Spotify like ad-free playback, but without added monthly audiobook listening time.
The $11.99 standard Premium Individual plan that Spotify offers includes ad-free playback and 15 hours of audiobook listening time per month from a catalog of more than 250,000 titles. Until now, Spotify did not let customers opt for a cheaper plan that did not include audiobook access, as it was automatically bundled in the lowest-tier plan.
Spotify in June raised its base price from $10.99 to $11.99 to "bring users the best experience," but with the new Basic plan, customers who don't want to use the audiobook feature can get the prior $10.99/month price.
Spotify's new $10.99 per month option is on par with the $10.99 price of Apple Music, so Spotify is no longer $1 more expensive than Apple Music for base music subscription service.
There have been no changes to the prices of other plans. Duo is priced at $16.99, and Family is priced at $19.99. Spotify also has a $9.99 per month plan that offers 15 hours of audiobook listening with ad-supported music.
