On Tuesday, Meta officially launched a paid subscription service called Meta One, promising a range of AI-related new features on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.
Unlike some of its past attempts at a paid subscription, like the X-like verification program Meta Verified, the new launch doesn’t only target influencers, celebrities and other creators. Meta is also hoping regular people will start coughing up monthly fees to infuse their social media experience with even more AI.
Meta One will build on the single-app subscription plans the company launched in June. Instagram Plus, Facebook Plus, and WhatsApp Plus offer features such as notifications when specific people view a user’s Instagram Story and the option to keep Stories live for 48 hours instead of the standard 24 hours. When users subscribe to Meta One, they will get all the features from the Plus subscriptions and expanded AI usage.
“This means more media generation with Meta AI, including creating and editing images and generating videos powered by Muse models, and more use of in-app AI tools like Restyle on Instagram,” Meta said in a press release. “We’re launching with more than 50 features on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Meta AI, and will expand to Edits, AI glasses, and more over time.”
So, basically, Meta AI usage on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp will remain free but limited. But if you just can’t get enough of Meta AI and want to generate even more pictures of random people you follow on Instagram, you will have to grab a subscription. That’s worth at least $4 a month more, according to Meta, and perhaps even more. The Instagram Plus plan alone costs $3.99 a month, and the base Meta One subscription called Core costs $7.99. There is also the Premium plan, which has even more expanded AI usage limits than Core and costs $19.99 a month.
That’s all for regular users. For creators and businesses, Meta is rolling out a more comprehensive—and more expensive—four-tier subscription. The entry-level Essential plan starts at $14.99 a month and includes verification badges and access to Meta’s Business Agent, a customer-facing chatbot. The next tier, Advanced, costs $49.99 a month and adds features such as Story scheduling and higher Business Agent usage limits. The last two tiers, Expert at $149 a month and Max at $499 a month, are meant to have the highest “Meta Business Agent capacity for teams managing at scale,” Meta said.
The announcement comes as Meta struggles to show the gains needed to justify its eye-popping AI spending. In its latest earnings report, the tech giant said its quarterly free cash flow had fallen by roughly $8 billion year over year amid heavy AI spending, while full-year revenue appeared likely to miss market expectations.
Spending is a touchy subject across the AI industry right now, but it’s especially tough when it comes to Meta, because the tech giant is still playing catch-up while its rivals make strides in the AI industry. The situation is made even more complicated considering Meta’s reputation and its last big tech bet, the Metaverse. The Reality Labs unit lost $4.62 billion in Meta’s latest quarter, bringing its total operating loss over roughly 6 years to more than $80 billion.
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