Benefits of Snapchat Plus: What You Actually Get with a Paid Subscription
Serena Bloom
June 16, 2026
CONTENTS
Snapchat Plus is a paid subscription that layers exclusive features on top of the free Snapchat app. Benefits of snapchat plus are: for a monthly or annual fee, subscribers get access to personalisation tools, social visibility features, story controls, AI-powered creative tools, and streak management options — none of which are available on the free version.
Is Snapchat Plus Worth It?
It depends entirely on how you use the app. If you're on Snapchat every day — maintaining streaks, posting Stories, keeping up with a close group of friends — several features here will feel genuinely useful. If you check in occasionally, most of what Snapchat+ offers won't move the needle for you.
One thing worth setting straight: Snapchat+ doesn't unlock a better version of the core app. The free app isn't crippled without it. What you're paying for is a layer of extras — customisation options, additional social data, and a few tools that make the experience feel more tailored. Most of the benefits are additive, not transformational.
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What Is Snapchat Plus?
Snapchat launched its paid subscription tier, officially called Snapchat+, in 2022. It sits on top of the free app — you still get everything the free version offers, plus a growing list of exclusive and experimental features.
As reported by TechCrunch, Snapchat+ has surpassed 25 million subscribers globally, making it one of the faster-growing consumer subscription services in the social media space.There's also a higher tier called Snapchat+ Platinum, available in select regions, which adds ad reduction on top of everything in the standard plan. More on that below.
The Main Benefits of Snapchat Plus, Explained
Features are grouped here by what they actually do for you — not just listed by name. That distinction matters when you're trying to decide whether any of this is worth paying for.
1. Personalisation and App Customisation
This is where Snapchat+ spends a lot of its energy. If you like the idea of a Snapchat that looks and feels like yours — rather than everyone else's — this category has the most to offer.
Custom App Icon: You can swap out the default Snapchat icon on your home screen. There are over 30 alternatives to choose from.
Minor? Yes. But genuinely satisfying if you're particular about how your phone looks.Chat Wallpapers: Set a custom background inside individual chats — either from Snap's library or your own camera roll. Useful for distinguishing conversations with different people at a glance.
Custom Notification Sounds: Assign different notification tones to different friends. In practice, this is one of the more functional personalisation features — you can tell who's snapping you without picking up your phone.
Bitmoji Backgrounds: Give your Bitmoji avatar special decorative backgrounds — gold, beach themes, and similar. Cosmetic only, but it's the kind of detail that active Bitmoji users appreciate.
Custom App Themes and Chat Colors: Adjust the colour scheme of your app interface and individual chats. Small change, noticeable difference for people who spend a lot of time in the app.
Worth noting: none of these features change how Snapchat functions. They're aesthetic. If that sounds trivial, they probably won't sway you. If you care about your app feeling personal, this is the most tangible category in the subscription.
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2. Friend and Social Visibility Features
These features give you more data about your social connections — things that were either invisible or inaccessible on the free app.
Friend Solar System: One of the more talked-about Snapchat+ features. It maps your eight closest friends as planets in a solar system, ranked by how frequently you interact. Tap a "Best Friends" badge on someone's profile and you can see which planet you are in their solar system essentially, where you rank among their close contacts.
It's a visual and slightly gamified way of seeing friendship closeness. Interesting to some, irrelevant to others.#1 Best Friend Pin: Pin one specific person to the top of your chat list. Only you can see this — the other person gets no notification. Simple, but useful if you have one contact you always scroll to find.
Extended Best Friends List: Expands visibility beyond the default number of closest friends shown in the app.Peek a Peek: See when a friend is actively looking at your shared chat — a small emoji appears in your chat feed. You only see it in real time, while you're also in the chat feed. It's not a persistent notification.
Friend Snapscore Change: Get notified when a friend's Snapscore goes up, giving you a rough sense of when they're active on the app. Niche, but some users find it useful for knowing who's actually online.
What's often overlooked here is that all of these are one-directional. The other person can't see that you're tracking any of this. That privacy boundary is a fair design choice, but it's worth knowing.
3. Story Controls and Engagement Tools
If you post Stories regularly, this section has the highest practical value in the subscription. Several of these features address real limitations in the free app.Story Rewatch Indicator: See how many friends rewatched your Story.
The number reflects how many unique friends rewatched it — not the total rewatch count. You can't see who specifically rewatched, just the count.Story Boost: Push your Story to the top of friends' feeds for 24 hours. You get one boost per week, and it expires if you don't use it.
For people who post time-sensitive content or want more views on a specific Story, this is one of the more genuinely functional perks in the subscription.Custom Story Expiration: By default, Snapchat Stories last 24 hours. With Snapchat+, you can set a duration anywhere from one hour to one week.
If you post content that's only relevant for a short window — or want something to stay up longer — this gives you that control.Priority Story Replies: When you reply to someone's Story, your reply surfaces more visibly to them. If you're a heavy Story engager, this can increase the chance of actually getting a response.
Story Timestamps: See exactly when each friend viewed your Story — not just that they did.
Story View Notifications: Get notified when specific friends view your Story, rather than having to check manually.
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4. Streak and Snap Management
Streaks are a big part of how a lot of people use Snapchat. These features make streak maintenance less stressful and add some flexibility to how you send and view Snaps.
Streak Restore: If a streak breaks — whether due to a missed day or a technical issue — you can restore it.
Conditions and limits apply, and it's not an unlimited pass, but for anyone who's lost a long streak accidentally, this is probably one of the most valued features in the plan.Instant Streaks: Helps maintain streaks with less friction. Useful for very active streak users.
Replay Again: Replay a received Snap more than once — something that's limited on the free app.Replay Your Own Snaps: Review your own sent Snaps after they've been viewed by the recipient.
Lightning Snaps: A faster capture-and-send experience for when you want to snap quickly.
In practice, users who report the most satisfaction with Snapchat+ often cite Streak Restore as the single feature that makes the subscription feel worth it — particularly for younger users who have long-running streaks they don't want to lose.
5. AI and Creative Features
Snapchat has been expanding its AI-powered tools, and several of them are gated behind the Snapchat+ subscription.
AI Captions: Automatically generate captions for your Snaps. Useful for accessibility or for adding text without typing.AI Creative Tools: Access additional AI-powered editing options when creating Snaps.Generative Chat Wallpapers: Instead of choosing a preset or photo for your chat background,
you can generate an AI-created one. A small but genuinely novel feature.Generative Profile Backgrounds: AI-generated backgrounds for your profile page.My AI Customisation: Set a custom bio for Snapchat's built-in AI assistant, giving it a slightly more personalised feel in conversations.
These features are clearly experimental in nature — Snapchat is transparent about the fact that Snapchat+ serves partly as an early-access programme for things that may eventually roll out more broadly.
6. Subscriber Perks and Identity Features
Snapchat+ Badge: A small black star (✪) displayed next to your display name. It's turned off by default — you have to manually enable it. Optional, visible to others, and largely a status indicator.
Gift Snapchat+: Buy a 12-month Snapchat+ subscription for a friend who isn't currently subscribed. The gift activates after their current plan ends if they're already on one.
Post View Emoji: Choose a specific emoji your friends see after viewing your Snap. A small personalisation touch.Custom Ringtone Sounds: Set unique ringtone sounds within the app itself.
Snapchat Plus vs Snapchat Plus Platinum — What's the Difference?
The standard Snapchat+ plan still includes ads — this surprises some subscribers who assume paying removes them. It doesn't. As noted by The Verge, Snap's own leadership has been clear that advertising remains the core of its business model, which explains why ad removal is reserved for the higher Platinum tier rather than included in the base subscription.
Snapchat+ Platinum is a higher-priced tier available in select regions that removes Sponsored Snaps and most Story and Lens ads. If ads are your primary frustration with the free app, the standard plan won't solve that. Platinum will, where available.
|
Feature |
Free Snapchat |
Snapchat+ Standard |
Snapchat+ Platinum |
|
Core Snapchat features |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
Exclusive/experimental features |
✗ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
Ads in Stories and Lenses |
✓ |
✓ |
Reduced/Removed |
|
Sponsored Snaps |
✓ |
✓ |
Removed |
|
App customisation tools |
✗ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
Snapchat+ Badge |
✗ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
AI creative features |
✗ |
✓ |
✓ |
|
Pricing |
Free |
Paid (varies by region) |
Higher tier (varies) |
Availability of the Platinum tier varies by country. Check inside the app — Profile → Settings → Snapchat+ — to see which plans are available in your region.
How Much Does Snapchat Plus Cost?
Pricing is not fixed — it varies by country and by device (iOS vs Android). Rather than anchoring to a figure that may have changed, the most reliable approach is to check directly: open Snapchat, go to your Profile, tap Settings, then Snapchat+.
The current price for your region will be shown there.A 7-day free trial is typically available for new subscribers, which is the most practical way to test whether the features actually fit your usage habits before committing.
Annual plans generally work out cheaper per month than monthly billing — the difference is meaningful if you plan to stay subscribed long-term.
Who Should — and Shouldn't — Subscribe
Snapchat+ Makes Sense If You:
- Use Snapchat daily and care about maintaining streaks
- Post Stories regularly and want more control over how they perform
- Value app personalisation — icons, themes, sounds
- Want early access to experimental Snapchat features before general release
- Have experienced streak losses and want the safety net of Streak Restore
Snapchat+ Probably Isn't Worth It If You:
- Open Snapchat a few times a week without much engagement
- Don't use Stories or streaks as part of how you communicate
- Subscribed specifically to remove ads — the standard plan doesn't do that
- Are looking for features that meaningfully change what Snapchat can do at a functional level
Conclusion
The benefits of Snapchat Plus are real but specific. They're built for engaged, daily users — not casual ones. Story tools, Streak Restore, Solar System, and personalisation options deliver the clearest value. If ads are the issue, look at the Platinum tier. The free trial is there — use it before deciding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Snapchat Plus remove ads?
Standard Snapchat+ does not remove ads. The Platinum plan, available in select regions, removes Sponsored Snaps and most Story and Lens ads. Check your in-app settings to see if Platinum is available in your country.
Can I try Snapchat Plus before paying?
A 7-day free trial is typically offered to new subscribers. Availability may vary by region. You can check this inside the app under Profile → Settings → Snapchat+.
What happens to my streaks if I cancel?
Your streaks continue as normal after cancellation. However, the Streak Restore feature is exclusive to Snapchat+ subscribers and will no longer be accessible once your subscription ends.
Is Snapchat Plus available everywhere?
No. Snapchat+ is available in a number of countries but not globally. To confirm availability in your region, go to Profile → Settings → Snapchat+ inside the app.
What's the difference between Snapchat+ and Snapchat Premium?
There is no official product called Snapchat Premium. The paid subscription is officially named Snapchat+ (or Snapchat Plus). Any reference to "Snapchat Premium" is informal and not an actual product name.
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