If you’re a Pandora fan already, you probably know all about the audio streaming service’s best features. But if you’re new to music streaming, you may not know that Pandora has a free tier to enjoy, as well as a paid Premium tier packed with features unavailable to free users.

But what are the specific differences between these plans, and which is best suited for your needs? We’ll break it all down below to help you decide if you can get by with a Pandora Free account, or if you’re better off taking the plunge and subscribing to Pandora Premium instead.

Pandora Free vs Premium: what you need to know

What is Pandora Free?

Pandora’s Free tier allows listeners to create personalized streaming “radio” stations built around a particular artist, title, or genre. Listeners can enjoy access to Pandora’s podcast library, and can activate additional features by viewing an ad, including unlimited skips and the ability to search for specific tracks.

The real drawback to the Pandora Free plan is that you’ll have to put up with ads. Commercials will be included in any music or podcast streams, and if you want to search for a title on demand or unlock unlimited skips, you’ll have to deal with yet another ad.

What is Pandora Plus?

Pandora Plus is the next step up, costing $5 to unlock some of Pandora’s most popular features. This includes ad-free listening to personalized radio stations, as well as the ability to download stations for listening offline.

The best way to think of Pandora Plus is an ad-lite experience, as opposed to truly ad-free. While radio station playback is ad-free with a Plus account, listeners will still have to view an ad if they want to search for a specific song and listen to it on demand. Pandora Plus costs $5 per month, with a 30-day free trial

What is Pandora Premium?

Pandora Premium is the highest service tier offered by the streaming service. It includes everything in the Pandora Plus plan, as well as the ability to create and share playlists, unlimited offline listening, and no ads during music playback or before searching for a particular song.

There are also Family, Student, and Military discounts available with the Pandora Premium plan. For individual subscribers, Pandora Premium costs $11 per month, but it comes with the company’s longest free trial offer: 60 days for new customers.

Compare Pandora Free, Pandora Plus, and Pandora Premium

How to sign up for Pandora

You will have to make an account to use Pandora, even the service’s free tier. If you’re ready to sign up for a Pandora subscription, but need a little help getting started with your account, no worries! We’ve written a step-by-step guide to help get you started on your Pandora journey.

Which Pandora plan is right for you?

By offering three subscription tiers, Pandora ensures that it has an offering for any budget. If you really need to save on entertainment, and don’t mind putting up with ads in exchange for personalized radio stations that you can listen to at home or on the go, a free Pandora account will probably serve you just fine.

Pandora Plus is a bit of a unique product. Most music streamers don’t offer an ad-lite experience that cuts out commercials in some instances and leaves them in place in others. Pandora Plus is a great choice for listeners who don’t mind an ad here or there, but generally prefer an ad-free session, and can afford the $5 monthly price.

If you’re looking for the most feature-rich experience possible and detest ads, Pandora Premium is the right pick for you. Pandora Premium is especially handy if you qualify for a family, student, or military discount, as well, since you get all the best features of a Pandora plan at a lower price.

Whichever you choose, you’ll be able to listen to pre-mixed radio stations built from your favorite songs and artists any time you visit Pandora. Now, you’ll be ready to choose between a Free, Plus, and Premium account the next time you fire up the Pandora app!