Xbox Game Pass now comes in four plans: Essential, Premium, Ultimate and PC Game Pass. They cost £6.99, £10.99, £16.99 and £10.99 a month, or $9.99, $14.99, $22.99 and $13.99 in the US. This guide sets out what each one includes, what you give up by dropping a tier, and how the cloud gaming hours that start in November change the maths.
Last checked: 25 October 2026 (UK time). Prices and perks are read from Xbox.com and the Microsoft Store listings in £ and $. Xbox says features and availability vary by region and that promotional offers vary by account, so always confirm at checkout.
Xbox Game Pass tiers at a glance
Prices are the standard monthly rates shown on the Microsoft Store for Ultimate, Premium, Essential and PC Game Pass in the UK, and the matching US pages. Feature rows come from the official Xbox.com UK and US Game Pass pages.
| Essential | Premium | Ultimate | PC Game Pass | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK price per month | £6.99 | £10.99 | £16.99 | £10.99 |
| US price per month | $9.99 | $14.99 | $22.99 | $13.99 |
| Where you play | Xbox console, Windows PC, supported handhelds and cloud | Xbox console, Windows PC, supported handhelds and cloud | Xbox console, Windows PC, supported handhelds and cloud | Windows PC only |
| Library size (Xbox’s figure) | 50+ games | 200+ games | 400+ games on Xbox.com UK, 500+ on Xbox.com US | 300+ PC games |
| Day-one releases | No new releases on day one | No. New Xbox-published games join within 12 months of launch (excludes Call of Duty) | Yes, select games (excludes Call of Duty titles) | Yes, select games on PC (excludes Call of Duty titles) |
| Cloud playtime (from November) | 5 hours a month | 10 hours a month, with priority access | 15 hours a month, with Xbox’s highest streaming quality and shortest wait times | Not included |
| EA Play | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Ubisoft+ Classics | No | No | Yes | No |
| Fortnite Crew | No | No | Yes | No |
| Online console multiplayer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not included |
| Rewards points | Earn points (up to 25,000 a year) | 2x points (up to 50,000 a year) | 4x points (up to 100,000 a year) | 2x points |
A few notes on the table. The Ultimate library figure differs between Xbox’s own UK and US pages, so treat it as “400 to 500+” rather than an exact count. The “Not included” cloud and multiplayer entries for PC Game Pass reflect the plan not being listed for those perks on Xbox.com: Xbox’s footnote says monthly cloud gaming limits are “not included with PC Game Pass”. Rewards figures are Xbox’s maximums and depend on market and level. Xbox lists cloud hours on all its plan pages already, but as of today it says eligible subscribers can still stream without those limits until the change starts in November.
Tier-by-tier breakdown
Xbox Game Pass Essential (£6.99 / $9.99)
Essential is the entry plan, and it is mostly about multiplayer and a small library. It includes online console multiplayer, a curated library of 50+ games, in-game benefits in titles such as League of Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone, and 5 hours of cloud playtime a month once the new limits start. Xbox says it does not include new release titles on day one.
Who it suits: console players who mainly want online multiplayer in games they own, plus a handful of extras to try.
If you drop to Essential from a higher tier, you lose: much of the library (50+ games rather than 200+), new Xbox-published games within a year of launch, day-one releases, EA Play, Ubisoft+ Classics and Fortnite Crew, half or a third of the cloud hours, and any cloud queue priority. Game Pass library access ends when you cancel or leave a plan, and also when a game leaves the library, so check our games leaving Game Pass tracker before you switch.
Xbox Game Pass Premium (£10.99 / $14.99)
Premium is the middle plan. It has the same online console multiplayer, a library of 200+ games, 10 cloud hours a month with priority access, and 2x Rewards points. The key difference from Ultimate is timing: Xbox says new Xbox-published games arrive within a year of launch, rather than on day one, and that excludes Call of Duty.
Who it suits: players who are happy to wait up to a year for big Xbox first-party games and want a larger back catalogue than Essential offers.
If you drop to Premium from Ultimate, you lose: day-one releases, EA Play, Ubisoft+ Classics, Fortnite Crew, 5 of your 15 monthly cloud hours, and Xbox’s highest streaming quality and shortest wait times. If you drop to Essential from Premium: much of the library (50+ games rather than 200+), the within-a-year Xbox-published games, 5 cloud hours and the priority access.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (£16.99 / $22.99)
Ultimate is the everything plan. It adds day-one releases on select games (not Call of Duty), EA Play, Ubisoft+ Classics, Fortnite Crew, 15 cloud hours a month, and Xbox’s best streaming quality, which Xbox has said goes up to 1440p on select games and devices. In the US, Xbox cut Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 in April and said future Call of Duty games will join Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass during the following holiday season rather than at launch. The Microsoft Store UK listing shows £16.99.
Who it suits: people who play several new games a year at launch, use EA Play or Ubisoft+ Classics, or stream a lot on handhelds, phones and TVs.
If you downgrade, you lose: everything listed under Premium above. If you cancel altogether, you lose access to library games unless you’ve bought them.
PC Game Pass (£10.99 / $13.99)
PC Game Pass is for Windows PC only. It includes day-one releases on select games, 300+ PC games, in-game benefits, 2x Rewards points and an EA Play membership at no extra cost. Xbox’s footnote says cloud gaming limits are “not included with PC Game Pass”, and the plan isn’t listed for online console multiplayer, Ubisoft+ Classics or Fortnite Crew.
Who it suits: people who only play on a Windows PC and want day-one releases and EA Play without paying for console features.
If you move from Ultimate to PC Game Pass, you lose: console games, cloud gaming, online console multiplayer, Ubisoft+ Classics and Fortnite Crew. You keep day-one releases and EA Play on PC. Xbox’s plan page describes PC Game Pass as PC-only and doesn’t spell out Windows handhelds, so confirm at checkout if you play on a handheld, rather than assuming it works there.
Cloud gaming and Play Anywhere: how the tiers connect
Xbox Cloud Gaming monthly hours
Xbox announced on 3 September that from November Game Pass plans will include a set number of cloud hours each month: 15 on Ultimate, 10 on Premium and 5 on Essential. Xbox says that today eligible subscribers can stream without those limits, and that it expects the change to affect 4% of subscribers. Once you use up your hours you can buy more through the Xbox Store. Xbox says it will share details on pricing, extra hours, eligible games, market availability and how to check your remaining time in November. The hours from different subscriptions do not stack: if you have Game Pass through a partner offer and Ultimate, the plan with more hours applies.
Fifteen hours a month works out at roughly half an hour a day. That is plenty for streaming the odd game on a phone or at a friend’s house, and tight if the cloud is how you play most evenings.
The UK and US difference
Xbox’s own announcement says hours, purchasing options and features “may vary by market”. Reports say Xbox emailed existing subscribers in Australia, Brazil, Poland and Germany to say the new caps won’t apply to their current auto-renewing plans, while T3 reports UK subscribers were told the limits do apply and VGC says the exemption emails weren’t sent in the US, Canada or the UK. We haven’t seen Xbox publish this country list itself, so treat it as reported rather than confirmed.
For buying extra time without a subscription, Xbox has shown US introductory pricing for Insiders of $3.99 for 10 hours, $7.99 for 25 hours and $11.99 for 50 hours, with hours that stay available until they’re used. One outlet reports UK prices of £2.99, £5.99 and £8.99, but we couldn’t find those in Xbox’s own post, so we’re treating the UK figures as unconfirmed. Our Xbox Cloud Gaming and playtime guide will track the details once Xbox publishes them, and we’ve covered the first announcement in Xbox Cloud Playtime Prices Revealed.
Play Anywhere and cross-saves
Xbox Play Anywhere is separate from Game Pass. Xbox says that when you own a supported digital game, it plays on Xbox console, Windows PC and supported handhelds at no extra cost, with saves, add-ons and achievements following your account. That ownership is what carries your progress between devices, not the tier you pay for. Game Pass lets you play a game while you subscribe; Play Anywhere is about games you’ve bought. Some Game Pass games also carry the Play Anywhere badge, so check the store listing for each game rather than assuming. Our Xbox Play Anywhere guide covers how it works in detail.
The tiers matter here in two ways. PC Game Pass is PC-only, so it can’t give you the console side of a game. And if you stream a game you own through the cloud, Xbox says select games you own can be streamed, including most Play Anywhere games. We expect that streaming counts towards your monthly hours, but Xbox hasn’t spelled that out yet.
My Take: which tier is worth the money
This is our opinion, built on the facts above, and it depends on how you play. We’d be wary of paying for any tier on autopilot, because Game Pass access ends when you cancel and games leave the library over time.
Console-only players
If you play on an Xbox console and mostly want online multiplayer in games you already own, Essential at £6.99 / $9.99 covers that cheapest. If you want a large library and don’t mind waiting up to a year for big Xbox-published games, Premium looks the sensible middle at £10.99 / $14.99. We’d only step up to Ultimate if you reliably play new games at launch, because the extra £6.00 / $8.00 a month over Premium mainly buys day-one access, EA Play, Ubisoft+ Classics and Fortnite Crew. If you won’t use those, you’re paying for them anyway.
PC and handheld players
If you only play on a Windows PC, PC Game Pass at £10.99 / $13.99 gives you day-one releases and EA Play for less than Ultimate, though you don’t get console games, cloud gaming or the console multiplayer. If you also play on a console, Ultimate is the only plan that covers both with day-one releases. For handhelds, Xbox lists supported handhelds under Essential, Premium and Ultimate, but doesn’t spell it out for PC Game Pass, so check before you subscribe. If you stream on a handheld a lot, remember the 15-hour Ultimate cap from November.
Busy adults who play one or two games a month
If you only finish one or two games a month, a rolling subscription can cost more than it earns. Our suggestion is to check whether the game you want is in the library, pick the cheapest plan that carries it, and cancel when you’ve finished. Xbox’s own FAQ says you can cancel at any time to stop future charges, and Microsoft Store listings showed introductory offers of £1 for 14 days when we checked, for eligible new subscribers. If you mostly buy games and only occasionally stream, the Play Anywhere route plus prepaid cloud hours may suit you better than a subscription, once UK pricing is confirmed.
Xbox has said it is still listening to feedback on Game Pass, and there are reports that it is considering an à la carte structure, which we’ve covered in Game Pass Could Go à la Carte. Until Xbox says otherwise, the four plans above are what’s on sale.
If you’ve changed tier recently, or think we’ve missed something, tell us on X or Facebook. We’ll update this guide as Xbox publishes more detail. See also: games leaving Xbox Game Pass.
