You can use Facebook and Instagram without seeing ads, as long as you have a paid subscription. This subscription is only available in Europe, and Meta isn’t keen on promoting it or expanding its reach. Meta introduced the option in late 2023. Today, subscribing costs 6 euros per month for your first account and removes ads from Facebook and Instagram. There are no other perks, but in theory, seeing no ads should save data and use less battery power, even if you have one of the best phones for battery life.
I subscribed when Meta added unskippable advertisements to both platforms. Since then, I haven’t seen a single ad on Facebook or Instagram, and I am thrilled to tell you what that is like.
Where’s the Subscribe button, Facebook?
Meta doesn’t want your money
From the start, I sensed that Meta’s ad-free subscription is not like others I have, such as YouTube Premium. On the one hand, I get what I pay for without Meta increasing the tier’s perceived value by throwing in extra features users may not need. On the other hand, the option to subscribe is anything but obvious. It is buried under four layers of menus in Settings, and Facebook or Instagram do not actively promote the subscription. Why doesn’t Meta want my money?
The ad-free subscription is a response to European laws and regulations, and Meta prefers to show ads to its users. This feature was not intended to make money or please the company’s most loyal users. Personalized ads are the most profitable, but serving precisely targeted ads requires the collection of user data. The more, the better. Meta does not collect the data of users who subscribe to see no ads.
What does an ad-free Facebook and Instagram cost?
When Meta announced the ad-free subscription option in 2023, it priced it at 10 euros per month, the equivalent of $10.60 at the time. The company charged four euros for each additional account. Today, it costs 6 euros (about $6.18) to subscribe, plus 4 euros per additional account.
I paid 18 euros to subscribe with my Facebook and Instagram accounts because Meta would not accept the three valid credit and debit cards I tried. As a result, I subscribed via Google Play, where prices were higher to compensate for Google’s cut from the transaction. Despite this initial disappointment with the payment process, what followed was a pleasant surprise.
What is Facebook without ads like?
The difference amazed me
Browsing Facebook without ads was an eye-opening experience that made me realize how cluttered my feed was. I no longer saw the countless dropshipper “sales” and scams Facebook used to serve me, even after I had reported them. As importantly, the irrelevant suggestions and the sponsored AI-generated clickbait posts were gone. I only saw content from friends, family, brands, and groups I chose to follow.
It felt like 2010, and I was using Facebook for the first time. It was exhilarating. Without the noise of Facebook’s ads and promotions, I noticed posts from accounts I forgot I followed. Since I wasn’t getting unskippable ads (you only get those in Europe), I had more time to spend on the content I wanted to interact with.
It’s not all perfect. An ad-free subscription won’t hide the occasional carousels with reels that pop up. It also won’t block friends from spamming your feed with reposts you may not be interested in. Muting someone on Facebook is still something you have to do yourself. Still, without ads, Facebook feels like a new app to me.
Related
Facebook Marketplace’s dirty dozen: The 15 most common scams and how to avoid them
Be careful before hitting the buy button on Facebook Marketplace
What is ad-free Instagram like?
Not as different as I expected
In contrast, I did not find Instagram much different without the ads. That’s likely due to Facebook’s ads being more aggressive, in my experience. Even before I subscribed to the ad-free plan, Instagram showed me fewer ads, and even fewer would bother me enough to consider the subscription. For reference, I counted the number of sponsored posts I saw on both platforms before subscribing. Instagram showed me two ads for 10 minutes of scrolling. Facebook served me 40.
I was underwhelmed not only because I paid for a subscription I didn’t need. Even after I paid, Instagram kept suggesting content from accounts I wasn’t following, a feature that, at best, I can disable for 30 days. Some may find these suggestions helpful, but I don’t, and it’s frustrating I can’t turn them off.
Don’t forget: Your mileage may vary
Your ad-free experience may be different
The Facebook app detailing what you will and won’t see after subscribing.
Not everyone uses Facebook and Instagram the way I do. Therefore, your ad-supported and ad-free experiences may differ from mine. The number and variety of ads may depend on where you live, your interests, and how much you use each app. Whether you mostly interact with your feed, reels, or stories may also be a factor. Additionally, some people are more tolerant of seeing the occasional advertisement as they swipe.
If you’re mildly annoyed by the type or number of advertisements and sponsored posts you have to see, consider subscribing if you have the option. Meta does not plan to make its ad-free subscription available anywhere outside Europe. I doubt the company will do so unless regulators pressure it to do so to moderate Meta’s practices around collecting user data.
Is paying for Facebook or Instagram worth it?
Will I keep my Facebook and Instagram subscriptions?
It should be clear by now that Facebook looks great without the ads, at least from my point of view. However, I don’t think I’ll keep my subscription. The reason is simple. I don’t use it enough to justify the cost, whether it’s 6 euros or 60 cents per month. My peers and I have mostly moved away from Facebook as a social network of choice. It’s still the biggest social media platform, but data shows Facebook’s growth has plateaued, as users are likely moving elsewhere to interact with friends and explore their interests.
Meanwhile, I spend a lot of time on Instagram. So much so that I set up a screen time limit. It’s where I follow people and brands I’m interested in and watch content related to my hobbies. I post regularly, and my follower count is in the tens of thousands. If ads on Instagram were as aggressive and distracting as they are on Facebook for me, I’d be happy to pay to block them. But (and I hope Meta isn’t reading this) with ads showing up rarely, I have zero incentive to subscribe. Your experience may be different or change with time as Meta explores new ways to make money from its platforms.
I’m glad optional ad-free subscriptions exist
Advertisements allow the modern internet to function. They allow everyone to access valuable content and services regardless of economic status. However, ads eat up our time and attention, and these are assets. I’m glad the option to drop the ads is available on many platforms. While I doubt it will happen, I hope Meta makes its ad-free tier more broadly available, even though I don’t plan on sticking with it.
That is not to say all subscriptions are equal or worth the money. Spotify, Netflix, and YouTube are among the services that raised prices over the past year, and companies make unsubscribing more difficult. But having options is important, and it’s up to us to decide which one serves them better.
