How much does Apple Music cost around the world?

Apple Music is one of the top Spotify alternatives for lovers of good songs and podcasts, especially the more iOS-inclined. But it isn’t a more affordable option — the Individual plan of both streaming services costs $10.99 per month in the US. What you might not know is that the monthly subscription price of Apple Music is different in every country, and those differences can be quite stark. We’ve looked into how much Apple Music costs around the world and whether you can take advantage of these disparities.

We’ve looked into the price of Apple Music in 50 countries for the purpose of this comparison. The service is available in many other regions, but we’ve covered all of the major markets from every continent. We’re also fairly certain that we know the cheapest and most expensive countries for Apple Music.

We’ve only compared the cost of the Apple Music Individual plan in compiling this analysis. The reason is that every country has this plan, and it’s both the most common for subscribers and the most straightforward. If we started looking at Family or Student plans, 12-month deals, and so on, we’d be here all day. Besides, the price structures for each country are proportionate, so a country that is the cheapest for the Individual plan is likely to be amongst the cheapest for all other types of plan.

Check out how much Apple Music costs around the world in the table below. We looked up the price of the service in the local currency of each country and then converted it to the equivalent in USD on the date of publishing this article. We’ve also put them in order of cheapest to most expensive so that you can easily see how the deal in your country compares with others.

India is the cheapest country in the world for an Apple Music Individual plan, with subscribers there paying the equivalent of just $1.19 per month. Turkey is the next cheapest at $1.37 per month, and then China at $1.55 per month. Spending power in each nation will be a major driver in determining this pricing — Apple will have considered the best way to maximize profit and so won’t want to price out the majority of interested customers. Many other market forces will also be at play. These will include exchange rate fluctuations since we’re comparing the price differences in US dollar terms.

Denmark and Switzerland are the countries that pay the most for Apple Music. Subscribers in both countries pay the equivalent of over $16 per month for the Individual plan, which is over $5 more than consumers in the United States.

VPNs have a number of great features. The encryption of your connection and the worldwide nodes mean that you can spoof your online location and make it appear that you’re in a different country. Those in the know about VPNs may be reading this post and already wondering if they could use a VPN to sign up for Apple Music in a different country and save a heap of cash.

We haven’t attempted this, but it may be theoretically possible. We suspect, however, it wouldn’t be as easy as just flicking on your VPN and signing up. Most streaming services have filters that attempt to detect which apparent IP addresses are coming from a VPN node, so you may fall at the first hurdle. But even being able to represent yourself in a different country may not be sufficient to sign up. Your payment method, such as the bank account you attempt to use for regular payments, may also need to be from the country in question.

Even if you think you’re able to use a VPN to sign up for Apple Music in a different country, we would advise against it. It’s possible that you could be breaking the law of that nation in some way, either via consumer laws or fraud. In any event, you’ll almost certainly be in violation of Apple Music’s terms and conditions. As and when you’re discovered, your account will likely be banned.