Get YouTube Premium for 80¢ a Month. Here’s how to do it

by Petr Novák, updated May 11, 2023

There are too many ads on YouTube, and they are annoying, whether they are bitcoin scams or whiny computer games. However, you can get rid of them either with Adblock or, better still, with a paid subscription. Thanks to our trick, you can get YouTube Premium for only 80¢ per month instead of the standard $11.99.

YouTube without Ads, with Background Playback and Video Downloads for 80¢

A YouTube Premium subscription will remove all ads, allow you to download videos to your device, play them with your phone screen off and give you access to the YouTube Originals video library.

The secret to saving is the country you activate YouTube Premium from. That is because Google has set different prices for different countries depending on their purchasing power. As a result, the differences in subscription rates are significant.

Does that sound great to you? Furthermore, the reality is even better.

Google offers a YouTube Premium Family subscription that you can use for up to six different devices. The cheapest is in Argentina, where you pay $2.58389 $ per month. Share an account with friends or family, and YouTube Premium will only cost one person $0.4365 $ per month.

A subscription to YouTube Music Premium is similarly convenient. Plus, the first month is always free.

How to Activate YouTube Premium Ad-free for 80¢ Per month

1️⃣ Sign up for a VPN

A VPN is an internet service that lets you pretend you are anywhere in the world. For example, to activate YouTube Premium, you pretend to be in Argentina.

The price of YouTube Premium in India is even lower, but as of 2022, an Indian credit card is required to pay online. We were unable to activate the subscription there.

We activated YouTube Premium through NordVPN, for which you can request a refund within 30 days days of purchase without giving a reason. The alternative is Surfshark, which you can try for free for the first 7 days days. Then, click the link, create an account, and download the VPN app or browser add-on.

How can a VPN change your location? By having your computer connect to websites not directly but through a VPN server. VPN service providers have hundreds of secure servers worldwide; the user can choose the country at will.

Using a VPN also brings additional benefits: Increased security, especially when using unsecured Wi-Fi networks in coffee shops, making it much harder to track you down. As a result, you will become virtually untraceable to website operators.

2️⃣ Connect to Argentina and Activate YouTube Premium

Select Argentina in the VPN settings and connect. If the connection is successful, you will see “AR” in the YouTube Premium logo, and the prices will be in “ARS” currency. You are not connected via an Argentinian VPN if you see prices in dollars, euros, or any other currency. Try connecting again.

Then go to your YouTube account settings. Here, select Profile “Paid Membership” and activate your subscription. You can choose either monthly billing or subscribe to the service for the next three months.

Do not forget to set up a billing address in Argentina. Open Google Maps and select it completely at random.

You can pay for YouTube subscriptions by card, and the money will be in Argentine pesos. Although, according to reader feedback, there may be problems paying with a regular card, we pay with Revolut without any difficulties.

Adding a new family member to the YouTube Family option requires confirmation with an activated Argentinian VPN. You cannot modify the billing address, but that is fine. However, the cheap YouTube Premium will deactivate if you change it from Argentinian to yours.

3️⃣ Use MasterCard to Pay Your Subscription

As of February 2023, you cannot use a Visa credit card issued outside of Argentina to pay for YouTube Premium.

Those who used a Visa card have received an email from YouTube asking them to update their payment details. You can no longer save the same (or any other) Visa card to your payment methods; you will always receive an error message.

According to this guide, the cheap subscription can still be used using a MasterCard. We switched from Visa to Revolut’s MasterCard on 14 February 2023 and have verified that this works. Setting up and maintaining an account from Revolut is free, and registration, including approval, takes just a few minutes.

We also recommend setting one up and always paying for similar services with it. That way, payments are separate from your main account, the Revolut app keeps you informed of each transaction, and you can save on the exchange rate. Revolut’s exchange rate is one of the most advantageous. In addition, setting up and using Revolut is free.

4️⃣ Use YouTube the Way You Used To

Once your subscription activates, you can continue to use YouTube as you are used to. You no longer need to connect via VPN and pretend you are in Argentina.

You will no longer see ads when you play videos, you can watch videos in the background on your phone, and you can even listen to music with the screen off. In addition, there is a button in the app to download videos to your phone’s memory when you do not have internet access.

Unlike using Adblock, this way, you are not robbing the video creators of their money; YouTube cuts them a small portion of your subscription.

The article about YouTube Premium was originally published in Czech by the same author. This post is a translation of it.