Spotify drops Premium Lite in India as subscription prices shift
Spotify has removed its Lite subscription in India, lowered Standard pricing, and reshaped its premium plans.
Spotify is introducing some significant changes to its subscription model in India. The streaming platform has removed its Premium Lite plan, lowered the price of other paid tiers, and reshaped its premium offering in one of the world’s most price-sensitive music markets. This move comes just months after Spotify launched Premium Lite in India in late 2025.
Premium Lite was introduced as a lower-cost option for listeners, much like YouTube’s Premium Lite offering. Priced at Rs139 per month (around $1.45 according to Music Ally’s reporting), the plan offered ad-free listening and full playback control, but with fewer features than Spotify’s higher tiers. Users could choose what they wanted to hear without interruptions, but they missed out on extras such as offline downloads and top audio quality.
Now, that plan has disappeared from Spotify’s website and app in India. Instead, Spotify has reduced the cost of its Premium Standard subscription. The Standard tier has dropped from Rs199 per month (around $2.10) to Rs139 per month, making it the platform’s new entry-level paid option. A lower-priced student version has also returned to Rs69 per month (around $0.70), down from Rs99.
Despite the lower prices, the features remain unchanged. Standard subscribers still get ad-free listening, offline downloads, and streaming quality of up to 320 kbps. According to reports, introductory deals are also available for new subscribers.
Spotify’s top-tier Premium Platinum plan remains unchanged at Rs299 per month (around $3.10). As Music Ally reports, the subscription still includes advanced listening and creator-focused tools, while the Duo and Family versions of the plan have now been removed.
In a statement explaining the changes, Spotify said, “We occasionally adapt the plans we offer, based on market opportunity and to provide choice to and value to users. In India, the Lite plan is no longer available. Spotify Lite users are being offered to move to Spotify Standard at the same price. Users have already been informed about this transition. Check spotify.com/premium for all available plans.”
As Music Ally notes, the changes highlight the challenge of balancing affordable pricing in India with pressure to grow revenues. Gadgets360 adds that Spotify’s Standard tier has now replaced Lite as the platform’s most affordable premium option, while keeping more features. For users, that could mean better value at the same price point.