Channel memberships let you join a Creator’s channel membership program through monthly payments and get exclusive perks that may include badges, emoji, community posts, content and more.
If you’re in one of the available countries/regions you can become a member of participating channels. Channel memberships may be priced differently depending on your country/region, and the platform you use to sign up.
Once you’re a channel member, explore how to use and manage your membership benefits.
Become a channel member
Become a channel member
To join a channel’s membership program:
- Use a computer to sign in to YouTube.
- Go to the channel of, or a video uploaded by, the creator you'd like to support. Check if they've turned on memberships for their channel.
- Click Join.
- Follow the instructions to enter your payment info.
- Click Buy.
You’ll get a welcome announcement when your transaction is complete.
Troubleshoot issues joining a channel
There could be various reasons you can’t find the JOIN button for a channel, including:
- Purchasing memberships on iOS is not available on all channels, but we are continuously rolling out this option to more channels.
- The creator hasn’t turned on memberships for their channel.
- You or the creator are not in a country/region where memberships are available.
- The "Join" button isn’t available on all platforms yet. The "Join" button only appears on eligible watch pages. For example, watch pages of videos claimed by certain music partners are not eligible.
Here are some solutions if the issue is platform-related:
- You can click the Join button on the channel homepage.
- You can add /join to the end of the channel URL to link directly to their membership window.
- You can join the channel using a computer, and still have access to perks on all available platforms.
Change your membership level
Upgrade your membership level for a channel
To upgrade your membership level:
- Go to the channel homepage of the membership that you want to change.
- Click See perks.
- Select the level you want to join
Change level.
- Select Upgrade.
- You immediately get access to the higher level upon purchase.
- Pricing note: You’re only charged the difference in price in levels, at an adjusted price, for the days remaining in your current billing cycle.
- Example: If you’re paying $4.99 and you upgrade to the $9.99 level with half a month left until your next payment, you’re charged ($9.99-$4.99) X (0.5)= $2.50.
Learn more about how changing channel membership levels affect your billing.
Downgrade your membership level for a channel
To downgrade your membership level:
- Go to the channel homepage of the membership that you want to change.
- Click See perks.
- Select the level that you want to join
Learn more about how changing channel membership levels affect your billing.
Cancel a channel membership
Cancel a channel membership
You can cancel a channel membership at any time. Once you cancel, you won’t be charged again. You have access to creator perks, including the badge, until the end of your billing cycle.
To cancel a channel membership:
- Use a computer to sign in to YouTube.
- Go to youtube.com/paid_memberships.
- Find the channel membership that you'd like to cancel and click Manage membership.
- Select DEACTIVATE.
- Select END MEMBERSHIP.
- You'll get a cancellation confirmation screen.
If you're having trouble canceling your paid channel membership, learn how to troubleshoot issues.
Note: You don’t get a refund for the time between when you cancel and when your channel membership officially ends.
Gift memberships
Gift memberships let the creator or viewers buy the opportunity for others to access the perks of a channel membership for one month. Viewers must opt-in to be eligible for gifted memberships from a channel. Once you opt-in, you’re eligible to receive gift memberships from eligible channels that you’ve interacted with recently.
Note: If you’ve opted-in to allow gift memberships from a specific channel in the past, you may need to opt-in globally to be eligible for gift memberships on other channels.
Gift a membership
Gift memberships are offered at the closest highest price level available up to and including $5. To gift a membership, you have to watch a live stream or Premiere on a channel with gift memberships turned on. If gift memberships are available for the channel, you can gift memberships to others during the live stream or Premiere:
- Use a computer to sign in to YouTube.
- Go to the eligible channel that you want to gift memberships on.
- Join the channel’s live stream or Premiere.
- Within the Live chat, click
.
- Click Membership gifting
.
- Select the number of viewers that you want to gift memberships.
- Complete the transaction.
Once you gift memberships, a countdown ticker will highlight your purchase in live chat for a limited amount of time. The amount of time depends on your purchase amount. The creator may end the live chat or live stream before your gift is announced, but it will still be distributed.
Note: The number of gifted memberships, your channel name, and your profile picture are visible to the public. This info may also be available to the channel through our YouTube Data API Service and the channel may share this info with third-party services. Your purchase is considered fulfilled once YouTube gifts the first membership to a viewer.
Opt-in or out of gift memberships
To opt in for gifted memberships, you must be signed in with a YouTube channel that isn’t a Brand Account. Check if you’re on a Brand Account. Right now, channel members aren’t eligible to receive gifted memberships.
Opt-in through live chat
- Go to an eligible channel’s live stream or Premiere.
- Within the Live chat:
- Click ALLOW GIFTS, or
- Click the pinned Membership gifting
- Confirm you’d like to opt in by turning on the “Allow gifts” switch.
Opt-in through a channel or watch page
- Go to an eligible channel's page or the watch page of a video.
- Click JOIN
- Confirm you’d like to opt in by turning on the “Allow gifts” switch.
Note: If you’re selected for a gift membership, your channel name is visible to the public. This info may also be available to the channel through our YouTube Data API Service and the channel may share this info with third-party services.
Opt-out of gift memberships
To opt-out of receiving gift memberships from any channel:
- Open “Gift Settings” by clicking JOIN on any channel or watch page with memberships turned on.
- Toggle “Allow gifts” off.
You will no longer be eligible to get gifted memberships from any channel.
Get a gift membership
When a creator or viewer gifts memberships to others, it’s announced in the live chat. If you’ve been selected for a 1-month membership, a notification will surface in the live chat and we’ll send you an email notification.
Gift memberships are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for cash value. All gift memberships give up to 1 month of access to channel membership perks and expire thereafter.
To view your membership benefits and access perks:
- Click the ‘Memberships’ tab on the channel that you have become a member of, OR
- Click SEE PERKS on any video page of that channel.
Gift memberships are non-recurring and you will not be charged after it ends. If you wish to end your membership early, contact support. You will lose access to the membership benefits.
Troubleshoot issues joining, changing, or canceling a membership
I get an error message that my YouTube couldn’t verify my country when I try to join a channel. How do I fix this?
If you get an error message that says, “We couldn’t verify your country” then we need to verify your country before we can show you the plans and levels available to you. To fix this issue, you can try to:
- Connect to a different network.
- Use a different device.
- Join the channel through the YouTube mobile app.
Note: If you’re actively using a VPN or proxy service, refer to the service’s website for info on how to turn off the service.