Tech giant Meta has rolled out “Instagram Plus”, a new paid subscription for its popular social media platform Instagram
The new roll out offers users exclusive features focused on deeper engagement, enhanced story controls, and greater profile customisation
In India, Instagram Plus will cost ₹99 per month, with an introductory offer of 50% off for the first six months, bringing the price down to ₹49 per month
Tech giant Meta has rolled out “Instagram Plus”, a new paid subscription for its popular social media platform Instagram that offers users exclusive features focused on deeper engagement, enhanced story controls, and greater profile customisation.
The service is being rolled out globally, with subscription fees varying by region. In India, Instagram Plus will cost ₹99 per month, with an introductory offer of 50% off for the first six months, bringing the price down to ₹49 per month.
The subscription includes tools such as 48-hour stories, multiple story audiences, story rewatch insights, viewer search, custom app icons, custom bio fonts, and additional profile pins.
Here is a list of features available to subscribers of the Instagram Plus version:
- Story spotlight, which prioritises a user’s stories for friends
- Super hearts, allowing users to send animated reactions to other users’ stories
- Multiple story audiences for sharing stories with different custom groups
- Story extend, which increases story visibility from 24 to 48 hours
- Story preview, enabling users to view stories without appearing in the viewer list
- Story rewatch insights, showing how many times a story was rewatched
- Search viewer list, allowing users to find specific viewers of their stories
- Custom app icons and bio fonts for greater profile personalisation
- Support for up to six pinned posts on a profile
- The ability to post directly to a profile or highlights without appearing in followers’ feed
Meta’s Push to Move Beyond Ads Revenue
The launch is part of Meta’s broader “Plus” subscription strategy, which also includes premium offerings for WhatsApp and Facebook in select markets.
However, official pricing for WhatsApp and Facebook subscriptions in India has not yet been confirmed, though both platforms have dedicated FAQ pages outlining the new features.
Internationally, Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus are priced at $3.99 per month each, while WhatsApp Plus is priced at $2.99 per month.
Meta is intensifying efforts to monetise its global user base in addition to the revenue it generates from advertisers. India remains central to this strategy as it is the largest market for Instagram worldwide.
As of May 2026, India accounts for around 545 Mn Instagram users, about 18.17% of the platform’s global audience, making it the biggest contributor to Instagram’s reach, followed by the United States.
Overall, Meta’s ecosystem, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, now reaches about 3.58 Bn daily active users and nearly 4 Bn monthly users, covering close to half of the world’s population. India alone contributes over 1 Bn users across these platforms.
For businesses, Meta is introducing paid AI subscriptions under its Meta One ecosystem. It is testing Meta One Plus at $7.99 per month and Meta One Premium at $19.99 per month, both offering improved image and video generation and higher computing power.
Meta’s product head Naomi Gleit said the company will continue adding “more engaging features” across its subscription offerings.
It is important to note that Meta is not the first to adopt this model, as several major tech companies are already adding premium subscription layers on top of free services.
X (formerly Twitter) offers X Premium and Premium+, which include features such as verification, reduced ads, creator monetisation tools, priority replies, and access to Grok AI, with localised pricing in markets like India.
OpenAI also uses a tiered ChatGPT model, including a budget-friendly ChatGPT Go plan at around ₹399 per month and higher plans like ChatGPT Plus at about ₹1,999 per month, balancing affordability with premium features.
Similarly, platforms such as YouTube Premium, Spotify, and Apple’s subscription services show how optional paid upgrades can generate steady recurring revenue without affecting the core free user experience.
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