You may soon be asked to pay for Snapchat content. Here’s how it works

Snap is hoping to snap up another revenue stream in its quest to reduce its dependency on advertising. The social media company announced on Tuesday that it will begin offering subscriptions to select creators so they can earn income from their most engaged fans.

In a move that supports both creators and its bottom line, Snap will begin testing “Creator Subscriptions” next week with a group of 15 Snapchat creators that includes Jeremiah Brown, Harry Jowsey, and Skai Jackson. Combined, these three creators have more than 3 million followers on Snap, and the company is betting that some portion of those followers will convert to paid subscribers to receive exclusive content, priority replies, and an ad-free experience.

Creators will have the ability to set the monthly pricing for their subscriptions within Snap-recommended tiers that range from $4.99 to $19.99 per month, according to reporting by CNBC, and creators will receive approximately 60% of subscription revenue. Starting next Monday, Snapchatters will be able to subscribe to participating subscribers so long as they have Apple devices; the company hasn’t said when the feature will be available for Android users.

“This launch builds on our continued investment in a creator-first monetization ecosystem–one designed to help creators strengthen relationships with their communities and build sustainable, scalable businesses on Snapchat,” the company said in a statement.

MOVING BEYOND ADVERTISING

By embracing the creator-to-consumer subscription model, Snapchat is hoping to build on the success of longer-running monetization offerings like the “Unified Monetization Program” and the “Snap Star Collab Studio,” both designed for creators.

Snap is focused on “revenue diversification,” as CEO Evan Spiegel has repeatedly emphasized in recent quarters. 

That’s seen the Santa Monica, California-based company test the waters to gauge what (and how much) Snapchatters are willing to pay for social media content. The company launched Snapchat+ in 2022 for $3.99 per month, which unclocks some exclusive features, and about four months ago, it announced it would begin charging for storage plans for Memories on the platform.

Both Snapchat+ and the Memories Storage Plans have proven successful, even if there’s been some grumbling among users. Thanks to those subscription offerings, and others, Snap ended 2025 with 24 million subscribers, a 71% increase from the same period in 2024, according to the company’s fourth-quarter results released earlier this month. 

CAN SUBSCRIPTIONS REVIVE THE STOCK?

By looping in creators with the newest monetization features, Snapchat wants to give them the freedom to experiment while fostering connections on the platform. 

“We want the next step in our long-term creator monetization journey to be one that’s really rooted in real relationships,” Jim Shepherd, Snap’s head of content partnerships, said in an interview with CNBC. 

But the social media platform arrives late to what’s already become a crowded market for subscriptions—and at a time when subscription creep is becoming a more vexing issue. What’s more, a recent survey found that Gen Z, a core demographic for Snap, is feeling the subscription fatigue with respect to streaming services—a sentiment that might extend elsewhere.

And investors remain skeptical about Snap’s recent efforts to diversify its revenue stream. The stock fell nearly 2% in mid-day trading on Tuesday, extending a year-to-date selloff of more than 41%.

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