PlayStation Plus Essential and What the Base Tier Includes

PlayStation PlusBy Sofia Brandt · Nov 12, 2026Fact-checked by Harriet Vance

Since May 20, 2026, a single month of PlayStation Plus Essential costs $10.99 in the US, but the 12-month plan is still $79.99. That gap matters more than any other detail about the subscription. Essential is Sony’s base tier: it adds online multiplayer, three or so Monthly Games, cloud saves and member discounts to your PS5 or PS4. It doesn’t include the Game Catalog, classics, trials or cloud streaming.

PlayStation Plus Essential at a glance (November 2026)

PlayStation Plus Essential is the cheapest PlayStation Plus tier. It costs $79.99 a year in the US, and you need it to play most paid games online on PS5 and PS4. You also get a set of Monthly Games, cloud backups for your saves and Store discounts for members.

Here’s the short version of what the base tier gets you right now:

• Online multiplayer in paid games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, EA Sports FC or Dead Island 2’s co-op.
• Monthly Games, usually three a month, that you add to your library and keep while you stay subscribed.
• Cloud storage of up to 100GB for PS4 saves plus a separate 100GB for PS5 saves.
• Exclusive discounts on the PlayStation Store, plus PS Plus content packs for some free-to-play games.
• Share Play, which lets a friend watch your game or play it with you even if they don’t own it.
• Game Help on PS5: hints and video tips inside supported games.

November 2026 games: Dead Island 2 (PS5, PS4), Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered (PS5, PS4) and Monster Train 2 (PS5 only). You can claim them from November 3 to November 30, 2026.

Verdict: Essential is worth it if you play online and buy the 12-month plan. Paying month to month is a poor deal, and if you mainly want a big library of games to play, Essential is the wrong tier.

What PS Plus Essential includes

Sony Interactive Entertainment’s PlayStation Store listing for Essential names seven benefits: online multiplayer, Monthly Games, exclusive discounts, Share Play, cloud storage, exclusive content and Game Help (Game Help is PS5-only). Each one has fine print that the marketing pages skip over. Online play and the Monthly Games are where nearly all the value is, so they get the most space below.

Online multiplayer (and which games don’t need it)

Online multiplayer is the main reason people pay for Essential. For most players it’s the only benefit they would really miss. If a game costs money and has online modes, you need an active PlayStation Plus membership to play those modes on PS5 or PS4. That covers ranked Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, online EA Sports FC seasons and drop-in co-op in games like Dead Island 2.

Free-to-play games are the big exception. Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends and Rocket League all work online without PS Plus. If those are the only games you play online, you may not need Essential at all. The money you’d spend on a subscription could go on things like Fortnite V-Bucks instead.

A few more rules are worth knowing:

• Single-player games that need a connection (for login checks or live servers) generally don’t require PS Plus. Only online multiplayer does.
• Remote Play, including on the PlayStation Portal, doesn’t need any PS Plus tier. Cloud streaming does, and that’s Premium only.
• One membership covers the console. On a PS5 set as your primary console, other accounts on that console can use online multiplayer through your subscription. That’s Sony’s official console-sharing feature and it’s within the rules.

A common complaint comes up again and again: “It should be free to play online games, why am I paying more again?” Players on PC can play online without paying a platform fee, and that fuels the frustration. On PlayStation, though, the paywall has been around since the PS4 launched, and Sony shows no sign of removing it. If you play paid games online, Essential is the price you pay to do it on PS5.

Monthly Games: claim, keep, lose

Each month Sony announces the Monthly Games on the PlayStation Blog, usually on the last Wednesday of the month before. The games go live on the first Tuesday of the month, and you have until the Monday before the next batch arrives to add them to your library. Once you’ve added a game, it stays in your library for good.

That word “keep” needs an explanation. You keep access to a claimed game for as long as you hold any PlayStation Plus tier. If your subscription lapses, the games stay in your library but won’t start. When you resubscribe, at any tier, they work again. Your save files don’t depend on the license either, so progress kept locally or in the cloud is still there when you come back.

If you miss the claim window, the game is gone for that month. It might come back later in Extra’s Game Catalog, but you can’t count on that.

100GB cloud saves for PS4 and 100GB for PS5

Essential comes with up to 100GB of cloud storage for PS4 save data and a separate 100GB for PS5 save data. PlayStation Support says PS4 saves are also capped at 1,000 files. In practice that’s more than enough room. Even long RPGs use only a few megabytes per save.

The real point of cloud saves is protection. If your console dies, you trade it in for a PS5 Pro, or you move from a PS4 to a PS5, your progress goes with you. The catch is that the backup only works if auto-sync is on. On PS5, go to Settings > Saved Data and Game/App Settings > Saved Data (PS5) and turn on syncing. Then check the PS4 section on the same screen for any backward-compatible games.

If your subscription lapses, Sony keeps cloud saves for a limited grace period. Download anything important to the console or a USB drive before you let Essential run out.

Member discounts and exclusive content packs

Essential members get extra discounts in the PlayStation Store. These usually sit on top of the big sales, such as the Black Friday promotion that runs November 4 to 30, 2026, or come as members-only price cuts. How much you save depends completely on what you’d buy anyway. If you buy two or three discounted games a year, the extra savings can cover part of the subscription.

Exclusive content means PS Plus packs in free-to-play games: skins, currency or boosters for titles like Fortnite and Apex Legends. They’re nice to have, but they’re never a reason to subscribe.

Share Play and Game Help (PS5)

Share Play lets you stream your game to a friend in a party. They can watch, take over your controller or play local co-op online with you, even if they don’t own the game. Sessions are time-limited, so this works best for showing someone a game or getting help with a tough boss, not for long co-op runs.

Game Help is PS5-only. In supported games, mostly Sony first-party titles, it shows hint cards and short video clips for the objective you’re on. It’s handy when you’re stuck, but it only works in a small share of the library.

What Essential does NOT include

Essential doesn’t give you the Game Catalog, the Classics Catalog, Game Trials or cloud streaming. Those four features fill most of Sony’s own PlayStation Plus pages, and that’s why so many Essential buyers expect more than they get.

Here’s what you won’t get on the base tier:

• The Game Catalog (Extra and Premium). This is the library of hundreds of PS5 and PS4 games you can download and play, such as Mafia: The Old Country. Sony’s “What’s new” pages promote these games heavily, and none of them are playable on Essential unless they’re also a Monthly Game.
• The Classics Catalog (Premium). Older PlayStation, PS2 and PSP games, such as Dino Crisis 2, are Premium only.
• Game Trials (Premium). Timed trials of new games, such as 007 First Light, are Premium only.
• Cloud Streaming (Premium). Streaming games on PS5, PC or the PlayStation Portal without downloading them needs Premium. Essential won’t stream anything to a Portal, including the newer Midnight Black PlayStation Portal. You can still use free Remote Play from your own console.
• Ubisoft+ Classics. This set of Ubisoft games is part of the Extra and Premium catalog.

If you’re reading a page called “PlayStation Plus games” and the game you want isn’t labelled “Monthly Game”, assume it needs Extra or higher.

PS Plus Essential price in the US after the May 2026 increase

US prices for new subscribers went up on May 20, 2026. Essential is now $10.99 a month and $27.99 for three months, while the 12-month price stayed at $79.99. Push Square reported that Sony’s announcement on May 18 focused on Essential, but the short-term prices for Extra and Premium went up too.

Tier	1 month	3 months	12 months	Change on May 20, 2026
PlayStation Plus Essential	$10.99	$27.99	$79.99	1 month up $1 (was $9.99); 3 months up $3 (was $24.99); 12 months unchanged
PlayStation Plus Extra	$16.99	$43.99	$134.99	1 month up $2 (was $14.99); 3 months up $4 (was $39.99)
PlayStation Plus Premium	$19.99	$54.99	$159.99	1 month up $2 (was $17.99); 3 months up $5 (was $49.99)

How much is 1 month, 3 months and 12 months?

In the US, a month of PS Plus Essential costs $10.99, three months costs $27.99 and twelve months costs $79.99. Anything you see quoted at $9.99 a month or $24.99 for three months is out of date. Those were the prices before May 20, 2026, and some gift-card and comparison sites still show them.

The 12-month price is the same $79.99 that Sony set in September 2023. That increase moved the annual plan up from $59.99. Sony has now raised prices twice in under three years, and both times the cheapest way to stay subscribed got relatively more expensive.

Do existing members pay the new price?

No, as long as your subscription doesn’t lapse. According to Wccftech’s report on Sony’s notice, the increase targets new subscribers. Members who keep their current subscription active stay on their old rate.

Cancelling and coming back counts as starting again. So the answer to “If I cancel and resub, do I lose my old price?” is yes: you’ll pay $10.99 or $27.99 from then on. Turkey and India were the exceptions, where existing members were also moved to the new prices.

Monthly vs annual: what you actually save

The 12-month plan saves you $51.89 a year compared with paying monthly, and it beats the monthly plan once you’d subscribe for about eight months of the year. Here’s how the yearly cost of each Essential plan compares at the new prices:

How you pay for Essential	Cost per payment	Payments for a full year	Yearly cost	Extra vs 12-month plan
Monthly	$10.99	12	$131.88	+$51.89
Every 3 months	$27.99	4	$111.96	+$31.97
12 months	$79.99	1	$79.99	Base

Here’s the break-even point: $79.99 divided by $10.99 is about 7.3. If you’d pay for Essential in eight or more months of a year, the annual plan is cheaper. Paying monthly only makes sense if you play online in bursts, for example a few weeks around a new Call of Duty or EA Sports FC launch, and then stop.

PS Plus Essential games for November 2026

The PlayStation Plus Essential games for November 2026 are Dead Island 2, Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered and Monster Train 2. Sony announced them on the PlayStation Blog on October 28. Game Rant puts the claim window at Tuesday, November 3 to Monday, November 30, 2026. Sportskeeda values the three games at about $96.97 together, more than the full annual Essential price.

Game	Platforms	Claim window	Retail value	Our take
Dead Island 2	PS5, PS4	Nov 3 – Nov 30, 2026	Part of the ~$96.97 trio total	The pick of the month for co-op players
Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered	PS5, PS4	Nov 3 – Nov 30, 2026	Part of the ~$96.97 trio total	Best for fans of classic Lara Croft, with patience for tank controls
Monster Train 2	PS5 only	Nov 3 – Nov 30, 2026	$24.99	The one most likely to eat 50+ hours

If you missed last month’s games, F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896 and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 left on November 2. Our PS Plus October 2026 lineup piece covers what that month offered.

Dead Island 2

Dead Island 2 is Dambuster Studios’ first-person zombie game set in a gory, sunny Los Angeles. It’s the best-known of the three, and its melee combat is still some of the most satisfying in the genre. Weapons break, limbs come off and the mod system lets you build electrified machetes that look as silly as they sound.

Its value is tied to Essential itself, because online co-op for up to three players needs PS Plus. If you play it alone, it’s a solid campaign of roughly 20 hours. Claim the PS5 version if you have the hardware, since the faster load times help a lot in a game built on fetch quests across the city.

Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered

This Aspyr collection brings back The Last Revelation, Chronicles and The Angel of Darkness with updated graphics. You can switch between the new and original visuals with one button press. It follows Tomb Raider I–III Remastered, which was an Essential game in April 2026. If you claimed that one, this completes the classic-era set.

Be honest with yourself about the controls. The modern control option helps, but these are late-1990s and early-2000s level designs, and Angel of Darkness was a rough game even when it launched. It’s great value for fans. Newcomers should start with The Last Revelation.

Monster Train 2 (PS5 only)

Monster Train 2 is a deckbuilding roguelike from Shiny Shoe. You defend a multi-floor train from waves of enemies, and every run plays out differently. It’s the cheapest of the three at $24.99, and probably the one you’ll spend the most hours on, because roguelike deckbuilders are built for “one more run”.

It’s also the clearest example of Sony’s new approach to PS4. There’s no PS4 version in the PS Plus offer, so PS4-only owners get two games this month, not three.

Every PS Plus Essential game in 2026 so far

Sony has given out 36 Essential Monthly Games across January to November 2026, mostly in batches of three with a few four-game months. The table below lists each month’s announced lineup, the claim window and which games had no PS4 version. That lets you judge the year’s value yourself, not just from a single good or bad month.

Month	Games	PS5-only titles	Claim window
January	Need for Speed Unbound, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, Core Keeper	Need for Speed Unbound	Jan 6 – Feb 2
February	Undisputed, Subnautica: Below Zero, Ultros, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown	Undisputed	Feb 3 – Mar 2
March	PGA Tour 2K25, Monster Hunter Rise, Slime Rancher 2, The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road	PGA Tour 2K25, Slime Rancher 2	Mar 3 – Apr 6
April	Lords of the Fallen, Tomb Raider I–III Remastered, Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream	Lords of the Fallen, Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream	Apr 7 – May 4
May	EA Sports FC 26, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Nine Sols	Wuchang: Fallen Feathers	May 5 – Jun 1
June	Grounded Fully Yoked Edition, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide	Warhammer 40,000: Darktide	Jun 2 – Jul 6
July	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, For the King II, CrossCode	None	Jul 7 – Aug 3
August	Dying Light 2 Stay Human: Reloaded Edition, Big Walk, Signalis	Big Walk	Aug 4 – Aug 31
September	Sniper Elite: Resistance, MLB The Show 26, Wobbly Life, Chained Echoes	MLB The Show 26	Sep 1 – Oct 5
October	F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2	F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896	Oct 6 – Nov 2
November	Dead Island 2, Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered, Monster Train 2	Monster Train 2	Nov 3 – Nov 30

A few patterns stand out:

• Big licensed games turned up regularly. EA Sports FC 26, MLB The Show 26, F1 25, PGA Tour 2K25 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III all arrived within a year or two of release. Sports games are often given out once a newer edition is on the way, so expect the online communities for them to be busy for months, not years.
• There were a lot of acclaimed indies. Nine Sols, Signalis, Chained Echoes, CrossCode and Ultros are the games that keep Essential from feeling like a list of leftovers.
• About 13 of the 36 games had no PS4 version. That’s roughly a third, and only July was a full PS4 month.

Count it up and someone who claimed everything in 2026 has a library worth far more than $79.99 at launch prices. But retail value overstates the real value, because nobody plays everything. A fairer test is whether two or three games a year are ones you’d actually have bought. For most PS5 players, a year with Monster Hunter Rise, Dying Light 2, Lords of the Fallen and Dead Island 2 clears that bar easily.

PS4 owners: what changed in 2026

Since January 2026, PS4 games are no longer a guaranteed part of Essential’s Monthly Games. Push Square reported Sony’s policy change: PS4 titles are now only “occasionally offered”. When a PS5 game also has a PS4 version, you still get both, and PS4 games you’ve already claimed stay playable for as long as you remain a member.

So, to the PS4-only owner asking whether they still get anything from Essential: yes, but less than PS5 owners. Here’s how it works out in practice:

1. Online multiplayer is the same. If you play paid games online on PS4, Essential is still required and works exactly as before.
2. Cross-gen games still include PS4. January’s Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed and Core Keeper, all three July games and both Tomb Raider collections had PS4 versions.
3. PS5-only months hit hardest. In October, only Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 of the three games had a PS4 version. In November it’s two out of three.
4. Old claims are safe. Everything you added on PS4 in earlier years stays in your library under the usual rule: playable while subscribed.

As a rough guide, about two-thirds of 2026’s Monthly Games had a PS4 version. For a PS4 owner, the value of Essential has shrunk by about a third compared with a PS5 owner, at the same $79.99 price. If you plan to upgrade to a PS5 at some point, claim the PS5-only games now anyway. Adding a PS5 game to your library from the PlayStation App works without a PS5, and the game will be there when you upgrade.

Essential vs Extra vs Premium

Essential covers online play and Monthly Games. Extra ($134.99 a year) adds the Game Catalog of hundreds of downloadable PS5 and PS4 games. Premium ($159.99 a year) adds classics, Game Trials and cloud streaming on top of that. Every tier includes everything in the tier below it.

Benefit	Essential	Extra	Premium
Online multiplayer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Monthly Games	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cloud storage (100GB PS4 + 100GB PS5)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Exclusive discounts and content	Yes	Yes	Yes
Share Play	Yes	Yes	Yes
Game Help (PS5)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Game Catalog (PS5 and PS4 games)	No	Yes	Yes
Ubisoft+ Classics	No	Yes	Yes
Classics Catalog (PS1, PS2, PSP)	No	No	Yes
Game Trials	No	No	Yes
Cloud Streaming (incl. PlayStation Portal)	No	No	Yes
US price, 12 months	$79.99	$134.99	$159.99
US price, 1 month	$10.99	$16.99	$19.99

Is Extra worth $55 more a year than Essential?

Extra costs $55 more than Essential each year ($134.99 vs $79.99). It’s worth that if you’d play at least one or two Catalog games a year that you’d otherwise buy. One full-price new game costs around $70, so a single Catalog game you’d have bought nearly covers the difference.

That’s the honest answer to “Is Extra so much more worth it than Essential?” It depends less on how big the catalog is and more on how you buy games. If you mostly play one live-service game, or you buy new games at launch and play them for months, Extra’s catalog will mostly go unplayed. If you try lots of games, finish them and move on, Extra is the better deal.

There’s a middle route: take a single month of Extra at $16.99 when the Catalog adds something you want, play it, then go back to Essential. The catch is the price-lock rule. Switching tiers mid-subscription works differently from cancelling, so check the upgrade price shown in your account before you commit.

Premium’s extra $25 over Extra pays for classics, trials and streaming. It’s mainly worth it for PlayStation Portal owners who want to stream away from home, and for fans of retro games.

Is PS Plus Essential worth it in 2026?

PS Plus Essential is worth it in 2026 if you play paid games online and buy the 12-month plan for $79.99. If you only play offline or only play free-to-play games online, it isn’t. Paying $10.99 a month all year is the worst way to buy it.

Players don’t all agree. A Push Square reader survey in May 2026 found that just 18% think Essential is good value for money. That’s a clear sign of frustration after the price rise, although a poll of enthusiast readers isn’t the same as a study of all players.

How the recommendations below were weighed: the deciding factor is whether you need online multiplayer, since nothing else in Essential is required to play your games. Next comes the value of the Monthly Games, based on the 2026 lineup above. Then cost per month on each plan. Cloud saves, discounts, Share Play and Game Help count as extras.

Player type	Should you get Essential?	Best plan	Why
Online-only player (Call of Duty, EA Sports FC, co-op)	Yes	12 months, $79.99	Required for online play; monthly billing costs $51.89 more a year
Free-to-play only (Fortnite, Warzone, Apex)	No	None	These games don’t need PS Plus to play online
Monthly Games collector on PS5	Yes	12 months, $79.99	2026’s lineup clearly beat the annual price in launch value
PS4-only owner	Maybe	12 months if you play online	About a third of 2026’s games had no PS4 version
Catalog binger	Upgrade	Extra, $134.99	Essential has no Game Catalog
Occasional seasonal player	Maybe	1 or 3 months	Short bursts can beat a full year if you play fewer than 8 months
PlayStation Portal streamer	Upgrade	Premium, $159.99	Cloud streaming is Premium-only

Worth it if…

• You play any paid game online on PS5 or PS4 for most of the year.
• You claim the Monthly Games and would genuinely play two or three of them a year.
• You want cloud backups of your saves before a console upgrade or repair.
• You’re already subscribed from before May 20, 2026 on a short-term plan, because keeping your old rate has value.

Skip it if…

• Everything you play online is free-to-play.
• You play single-player games and finish them before buying the next one.
• You only own a PS4 and rarely play online, since the shrinking PS4 share of Monthly Games weakens the main reason to subscribe.
• You’d rather have a library: go straight to Extra.

The case against Essential, put fairly: you’re paying $80 a year for permission to use your own internet connection with games you already bought, plus a library you lose access to the moment you stop paying. That’s a fair criticism. For people who play online, though, there’s no other option on PlayStation, so the useful question is how to pay as little as possible for it.

Why people are cancelling PS Plus

People are cancelling PS Plus for three main reasons: repeated price increases, resentment at paying to play online, and fewer PS4 games. Sony has made changes on all three fronts since 2023.

Two price increases in under three years. In September 2023 the 12-month Essential price rose from $59.99 to $79.99. In May 2026 the monthly and 3-month prices went up for new subscribers. Each increase makes cancelling and coming back more expensive, so people who were already unhappy decided to leave for good.

Paying for online play. The “PS5 is for the payers” line in Push Square’s survey coverage sums it up. Many players accept paying for a game library, but resent paying just to use online modes in games they already own.

PS4 being sidelined. PS4 is still one of the most-owned consoles, and the January 2026 policy made many owners feel they were paying the same price for less.

The other side of the story deserves a mention too. The 2026 Monthly Games have been strong. Players who claim everything got Monster Hunter Rise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Dying Light 2, EA Sports FC 26 and now Dead Island 2 for the price of one year. So the cancellations reflect anger about the business model more than the quality of the games.

How to pay less for PS Plus Essential

The cheapest way to have Essential is to buy 12 months at once, ideally during a sale, and never let an older subscription lapse. Here are the steps in order of how much they save:

1. Buy 12 months, not 1. $79.99 a year beats $131.88 a year on the monthly plan. This is the biggest saving available and it’s always on offer.
2. Check the Black Friday window. PlatPrices notes that PlayStation’s Black Friday sale is expected to run November 4 to 30, 2026. As of its latest update, no PS Plus discount had been announced. In Black Friday 2025, Tom’s Guide reported Sony cut 12-month PS Plus by 25% across tiers, though reports conflict on whether Essential was included in every region.
3. Don’t let an older subscription lapse. If you’ve been paying since before May 20, 2026, keep auto-renew on and your payment method up to date to hold on to your old rate.
4. Stack time with PlayStation Store cards from authorized retailers. 12-month PS Plus cards and PSN wallet cards from big retailers sometimes sell at small discounts. Avoid grey-market key sellers: a code bought from an unauthorized reseller can be revoked, and regional codes may not work on a US account.
5. Turn off auto-renew on purpose, not by accident. On PS5, go to Settings > Users and Accounts > Account > Payment and Subscriptions > Subscriptions to manage renewal. Turning it off when you’re done keeps you from being charged a monthly price you didn’t plan on.

“Should I wait for Black Friday to renew my 12 months?” If your subscription runs out after November 30, there’s no harm in checking the PlayStation Store before the sale window ends. If it runs out now and you’re on an older rate, renew on time. Saving a possible $20 isn’t worth losing a price lock.

What to do before November 30

You have one deadline this month. Claim Dead Island 2, Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered and Monster Train 2 by Monday, November 30, 2026, even if you’re not sure you’ll keep Essential. If your renewal is coming up, check the 12-month price during the Black Friday window before the sale ends. For a look at what December might bring, Sony usually announces the next lineup on the PlayStation Blog in the last week of the month.

PS Plus Essential FAQ

What does PlayStation Plus Essential include?

Online multiplayer in paid games, Monthly Games (usually three a month), up to 100GB of PS4 and 100GB of PS5 cloud save storage, exclusive PlayStation Store discounts and content, Share Play, and Game Help on PS5. It doesn’t include the Game Catalog, Classics Catalog, Game Trials or cloud streaming.

Is PS Plus Essential worth it?

Yes, if you play paid games online and buy the $79.99 annual plan. No, if you only play offline or only play free-to-play games online. For PS4-only owners it’s weaker in 2026, because about a third of the year’s Monthly Games had no PS4 version.

Is Essential actually good this year?

On the games alone, 2026 has been a strong year. Monster Hunter Rise, Lords of the Fallen, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Dying Light 2 and Dead Island 2 all arrived as Monthly Games. The weak spots are the higher monthly price and the drop in PS4 games, not the lineup.

Why is everyone cancelling their PlayStation Plus subscription?

Mostly because of the price increases in September 2023 and May 2026, frustration at paying just to play online, and Sony’s January 2026 shift away from PS4 Monthly Games. A Push Square survey found only 18% of its readers think Essential is good value.

How much does a 12-month PlayStation Plus Essential subscription cost?

$79.99 in the US. The May 2026 increase didn’t change the 12-month price, which has been $79.99 since September 2023.

How much is PS Plus Essential for 1 month?

$10.99 in the US for new subscribers since May 20, 2026, up from $9.99. Three months costs $27.99, up from $24.99.

What are the PS Plus Essential games for November 2026?

Dead Island 2 (PS5, PS4), Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered (PS5, PS4) and Monster Train 2 (PS5 only). They’re available to claim from November 3 to November 30, 2026.

Do I keep PS Plus games if I cancel?

They stay in your library, but you can’t play them until you subscribe again, at any tier. Your saves aren’t deleted, so you pick up where you left off when you come back.

Do I need PS Plus Essential to play online?

For paid games, yes, on both PS5 and PS4. Free-to-play games like Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends work online without any PS Plus tier.

Does PS Plus Essential include the Game Catalog?

No. The Game Catalog needs Extra ($134.99 a year) or Premium ($159.99 a year). On Essential, you can only play the Monthly Games you’ve claimed.

Will existing members pay the new PS Plus price?

Not while their subscription stays active. The May 20, 2026 increase applies to new subscribers, but cancelling and resubscribing puts you on the new price. Existing members in Turkey and India were moved to the new prices as well.

Is Essential worth it just for online?

If you play paid games online for eight or more months of the year, the $79.99 annual plan works out to about $6.67 a month, and the Monthly Games come on top. If you only play online for a few weeks a year, buy a single month or a 3-month plan around those weeks.

About this piece

SB

Written by Sofia Brandt

Sofia writes about PS5 games, new releases and PlayStation Plus: what is coming out this week, what joins and leaves the catalog, and which PlayStation Store deals are worth a look. She is happiest with a long story game and a full backlog.

• Fact-checked by Harriet Vance against the sources listed below before publication.
• Published November 12, 2026

Sources (8)

1. PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for November: Dead Island 2, Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered, Monster Train 2 (blog.playstation.com)
2. PS Plus free games November 2026 (Game Rant) (gamerant.com)
3. All PlayStation Plus games November 2026 (Sportskeeda) (sportskeeda.com)
4. PS Plus Monthly Games (GamerGuru) (gamerguru.net)
5. PS Plus price increase announced by Sony for new members (Push Square) (pushsquare.com)
6. PS Plus price increases also hit Extra, Premium tiers (Push Square) (pushsquare.com)
7. PS Plus price increase 2026 (Tech Insider) (tech-insider.org)
8. PS Plus Premium worth it: $159.99 vs $134.99 (Tech Insider) (tech-insider.org)