Gaming
Nintendo Switch Online Price Hikes & Price History (2026)
Updated October 5, 2026 · Researched & fact-checked by Shaheer
Nintendo Switch Online still costs $19.99/year for an Individual membership and $34.99/year for a Family plan in the US, with the Expansion Pack tier at $49.99/year. Those prices have held since the service launched in September 2018, making it by some distance the cheapest of the three major console subscriptions. Nintendo did raise NSO prices in Japan from July 1, 2026, but no US or European increase has been announced.
At a glance
- Current price
- $19.99 (Individual (12 months))
Key takeaways
- US pricing is unchanged: $19.99/year Individual, $34.99/year Family, $49.99/year with the Expansion Pack.
- Nintendo raised NSO prices in Japan on July 1, 2026 (announced May 8), but not in the US or Europe.
- At $19.99/year, NSO costs about $1.67/month — roughly a quarter of PlayStation Plus Essential and a fourteenth of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
- The Family plan covers up to eight accounts for $34.99/year, about $4.37 per person per year.
- Nintendo blamed the Japanese increase on macroeconomic conditions and an AI-driven memory-chip shortage.
Nintendo Switch Online price increase history
What Nintendo Switch Online costs right now
- Individual (12 months): $19.99 (US)
- Family (12 months): $34.99 (US)
- + Expansion Pack, Individual (12 months): $49.99 (US)
Has Nintendo Switch Online raised its price?
Not in the US. Nintendo Switch Online still costs $19.99 a year for an Individual membership, $34.99 for a Family plan covering up to eight accounts, and $49.99 a year with the Expansion Pack. Those figures have held since the service launched in September 2018, which makes NSO one of the most price-stable subscriptions of any kind tracked here, let alone in gaming.
Nintendo did move in 2026, just not here. On May 8 it announced price revisions covering Switch 2 hardware and NSO, and from July 1 the Japanese tiers went up across the board — the 12-month Individual membership from ¥2,400 to ¥3,000 and Family from ¥4,500 to ¥5,800, with the Expansion Pack plans rising to ¥5,900 and ¥9,900. South Korea was flagged to follow. No US or European change has been announced. Nintendo attributed it to macroeconomic conditions and a global shortage of memory chips, which it tied to AI data-centre demand — an unusual reason for a subscription increase, and one that points at hardware costs rather than service costs.
The gap to its rivals is the number that stands out. At $19.99 a year NSO works out to about $1.67 a month. PlayStation Plus Essential is $79.99 a year and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate $275.88 — roughly 4x and 14x respectively. The services are not equivalent, since Game Pass is a large day-one game catalogue and NSO is principally online play plus a retro library, but the price difference is far larger than the feature difference for anyone who mainly wants to play online.
Whether that holds is the open question. Nintendo has now shown it will raise NSO where it judges conditions require it, and the Japanese round was the first movement in the service’s history. If the chip-shortage pressure persists, a US increase becomes more plausible than at any point since 2018 — worth noting the renewal price you actually pay, because an eight-year-flat subscription is exactly the kind people stop checking.
Frequently asked questions
Did Nintendo Switch Online raise its price?
Not in the US. Prices remain $19.99/year for Individual, $34.99/year for Family and $49.99/year with the Expansion Pack, unchanged since the service launched in September 2018. Nintendo did raise NSO prices in Japan from July 1, 2026.
How much does Nintendo Switch Online cost?
In the US, $19.99/year for an Individual membership, $34.99/year for a Family plan covering up to eight accounts, and $49.99/year for Individual with the Expansion Pack, which adds the N64, Mega Drive and GameCube libraries plus DLC for some games.
Why did Nintendo raise Switch Online prices in Japan?
Nintendo announced the Japanese revisions on May 8, 2026, effective July 1, citing macroeconomic conditions and a severe global memory-chip shortage driven by AI data-centre demand. The same announcement covered Switch 2 hardware pricing. South Korea was flagged to follow; the US and Europe were not included.
Is Nintendo Switch Online cheaper than PS Plus or Game Pass?
Considerably. NSO is $19.99/year, about $1.67/month. PlayStation Plus Essential is $79.99/year and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate $22.99/month, or $275.88/year. NSO is roughly a quarter the price of PS Plus Essential and a fourteenth of Game Pass Ultimate, though it offers far less in return.
Is the Nintendo Switch Online Family plan worth it?
For more than one player, almost always. At $34.99/year it covers up to eight Nintendo Accounts — about $4.37 per person annually, against $19.99 each for separate Individual memberships. Two people already make it cheaper.