Many streaming music and video services offer family plans that make it easy to share one account with multiple users. A family plan generally costs more per month than an individual plan, but it is cheaper for each user.
Family plans generally include the following:
You might be thinking, “I could just share my login with family members and we can all listen or watch with one account.”
Actually, many music and video streaming services are way ahead of you. If you try to play music on Spotify on two devices, for example, the first stream will stop automatically. A family plan is often the only way around this restriction.
All major music streaming services offer a family plan.
Spotify's family plan requires members to live at the same address. Each member receives their own unique login, which means they get their own listening recommendations, playlists, and listening history.
Users who sign up for the Spotify Family plan get everything that comes with an individual premium account, including ad-free listening and offline mobile listening.
Apple Music's Family Plan, like Spotify's, gives users personal accounts with their own playlists, recommendations, and more.
The problem with Apple Music is that you have to set up iCloud Family Sharing first, which also allows you to share apps, music, and iTunes purchases. Set up Family Sharing and Share Apps, music, and other iTunes purchases. Set up Family Sharing and Share Apps. , Music, and Other iTunes Purchases You and your family members probably have separate iTunes accounts for your app and music purchases, but there's no reason you need to pay for the same apps multiple times. Read more.
The person who sets up the Family Sharing account is essentially giving other users access to their payment method. If other accounts are set up as secondary accounts, they will need to request permission to make purchases.
With the Apple Music Family Plan, you get everything that comes with individual accounts, including offline listening, ad-free music, and access across multiple devices.
Pandora launched its family plan in May 2018. Pandora family plan users get their own unique logins and access to all premium features:ad-free listening, playlists, and unlimited skips and replays.
The Pandora Family Plan also includes a unique feature called Our Soundtrack. This offers an auto-generated playlist like Spotify's Discovery playlist, but is based on the listening habits of the whole family.
By signing up for the Google Play Music family plan, each user has access to their own personalized Google Play Music account to use on up to ten devices each. Users can also share eligible Google Play purchases in the family library.
They get access to YouTube Red (soon to be YouTube Premium) at no additional cost, as long as they're in a YouTube Red-eligible country. The Google Play Music family plan is only available in 23 countries.
Although Google doesn't specify that family members have to live at the same address, they at least have to live in the same country.
Amazon Music Unlimited is not the same as Amazon Prime Music Amazon Music Unlimited vs. Prime Music:What's the difference? Amazon Music Unlimited vs. Prime Music:What's the difference? In this article, we take a look at Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited to help you determine which one is right for you. Read More
The Amazon Music Unlimited Family Plan gives each member a personalized account with their own playlists, recommendations, and listening history.
Amazon Music Unlimited, as its cheaper alternative, offers unlimited skips and the ability to download songs to the app for offline listening. It also gives users the option to filter out explicit lyrics.
Not all video streaming services offer a family plan, but most offer a way for more than one person to watch their favorite shows at the same time.
Along with two-day shipping and all the other benefits that come with Amazon Prime, users also get access to two million ad-free songs, and Prime Video.
Users can choose to sign up for a monthly or yearly Prime membership, but to share in the benefits of Amazon Prime, users must create an Amazon household. Adult members can share payment methods if they want, and Amazon says members of your household must live at the same address.
The household can consist of two adults, one of whom is the primary account holder, up to four teen profiles (ages 13-17), and up to four child profiles (ages 12 and under). Teen and child profiles have parental controls that include the ability to restrict content viewed through Amazon Prime.
If two-day shipping and access to Amazon Music don't interest you, you can sign up for an "Only on Amazon Prime Video" account for $9/month, but this doesn't technically come with a family plan.
The YouTube Red family plan is available to people who live in the same household, ages 13 and up. To start a family plan, you need to create a Google Play Family Library Google Family Group:Share your paid apps, movies, and more on Android Google Play Family Library:Share your paid apps, movies, and more on Android You can share paid apps, movies, calendars and more with your family using Google's built-in family library feature on Android. Read more and invite other members to use YouTube Red.
Members of the YouTube Red family plan can continue to use their own Google accounts to access the platform and, in doing so, get their own recommendations, history, preferences and playlists.
YouTube Red family plans include all the same features as the individual account:ad-free viewing, offline access and background playback in the mobile apps, and access to YouTube Red originals. YouTube Red members also get full access to Google Play Music!
Netflix family plans allow for simultaneous streaming, rather than creating individual accounts. While all family members share a login, they can create individual profiles with personalized recommendations and view history. (And, of course, anyone with the login can see what you've seen on your profile.)
Users can create up to five profiles on a Netflix account for personalized viewing, ratings and reviews, individual playback settings, and maturity level.
There are two options when it comes to family plans on Netflix:You can go for the Standard Plan which gives you access to two simultaneous HD streams, or you can go for the slightly more expensive Premium Plan which gives you four HD streams in either HD or Ultra HD. .
Hulu doesn't technically have a family plan, just a standard streaming plan for $8/month and a commercial-free plan for $12/month. However, users can create up to six profiles per account with personalized recommendations and view history for each profile.
And while Hulu doesn't technically offer simultaneous streaming, we found that even with the standard plan, we could still watch on two devices at the same time.
For Hulu's live TV deal, users pay $40/month with Hulu explicitly including two simultaneous streams. Users can add unlimited screens to this plan for an additional $15/month.
The availability of a family plan can be an important factor when selecting your music or video streaming service, but there are many other things to consider.
When choosing a movie and TV show with Netflix vs. Hulu vs. Amazon Prime:Which one should you choose? Netflix vs. Hulu vs. Amazon Prime:Which one should you choose? It's been years since we've compared the big-hit streaming services Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. And with changes in pricing, content, quality, and interface, we thought it was time to take a fresh look. Learn more or the right music streaming service How to choose the best music streaming service for you How to choose the best music streaming service for you Do you use a music streaming service? If so, how do you know you're using the best one for you personally? Read More But if you decide to take the plunge and select one of these services, it only takes two people in a household to make it worth signing up for a family plan.
