PlayStation Plus vs PlayStation Now – What To Know

If you own a PlayStation console, you’ve probably heard a debate about PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now. Each subscription service has unique perks, but which should you be paying for? Or should you both subscribe? Which is the better value?

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about each subscription service and help you decide which one to put your money on.

What is PlayStation Plus?

PlayStation Plus is a subscription-based service that originally launched in 2010. The original premise has hardly changed. Every month you can download 2 or 3 games for free as long as you are a paying subscriber.

Take a closer look: PlayStation Plus: Everything You Need To Know

In addition to free games, you get exclusive perks such as discounts, early access to betas and demos, 100 GB of cloud storage, share play and much more.

PS Plus also gives players the option to play multiplayer games online with their friends or other people from around the world. Some of the most popular multiplayer online games are FIFA, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Grand Theft Auto, and Monster Hunter World.

If you own a PS5, subscribing to PS Plus also gives you the Classics Collection, which contains 20 game changing games from the PS4 era. You’ll see titles like God of War, Monster Hunter: World, Bloodborne, and more.

What is PlayStation now?

PlayStation Now is a subscription-based service that allows you to stream hundreds of PS2, PS3, and PS4 games on demand and sometimes download them. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “Netflix for video games” this is the one. Or at least one of the video game streaming services out there.

Currently, over 800 video game titles can be instantly streamed and countless other games can be downloaded. As if streaming a variety of games on your console wasn’t enough, you can stream the games on your PC as well. PS Now is the only service that allows gamers to experience PlayStation exclusivity on a PC.

Learn more: PlayStation Now: Everything You Need To Know

While selected games leave the service to make room for new titles, most games will persist for a while. And the games that are supposed to leave PS Now have an alert date next to them so you know when they will expire. So you pretty much always have enough time to play through the titles that catch your eye.

PlayStation Plus vs PlayStation Now games

With a PS Plus subscription, you have 2 to 3 different games to download each month. You’ll need to add all of the available games to your library before they expire. Then the games are yours for as long as you pay for your PS Plus subscription.

In the past few months, free games have included Bugsnax (PS5 exclusive), Concrete Genie, Control, Greedfall, and more. PS Plus games available for March 2021 include Final Fantasy VII Remake, Maquette, Remnant: From the Ashes, and Farpoint.

As already mentioned, with a PS Plus subscription you get access to the Classics collection in conjunction with a PlayStation 5.

Connected: The best PS5 games you can buy

On the other hand, PS Now has a lot more games that you can play as long as you have a subscription and those are still available on the service. Games that are about to expire will let you know, but most games will remain available for quite a while.

Some of the best games currently available on PS Now include Horizon Zero Dawn, Doom, The Last of Us, Uncharted 3, and Bloodborne. Recent games added include Detroit: Become Human, Frostpunk, and Little Nightmares.

PlayStation Plus vs PlayStation Now location availability

PlayStation Plus is currently available in 73 different countries or regions around the world. Occasionally the content differs between different regions, but for the most part it is the same. You can check the full list of regions where PS Plus is available to see if your region is listed.

Also read: The best PlayStation 5 accessories you can buy

PlayStation Now, on the other hand, is only available in 19 different countries. If you don’t live in one of the following countries, unfortunately you will not have access to PS Now.

PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now pricing

Both PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now follow the same pricing model.

If you pay for PS Plus or PS Now monthly, it costs $ 9.99. If you pay every three months, you’ll pay $ 24.99, or about $ 8.33 per month. Or you can pay for $ 59.99 annually.

Annual payments are the best way to go whether you subscribe to PS Plus, PS Now, or both. It comes in at around $ 5 per month, which is really a steal for both services.

Since the prices are the same, it all comes down to which subscription service has more value for the price.

Check: PS5 Buying Guide: Everything You Need To Know About Sony’s PlayStation 5

PlayStation Plus vs PlayStation Now value

Here’s everything you’d get with a $ 59.99 annual PS Plus subscription:

• 2 to 3 free games every month for as long as you are a PS Plus subscriber
• Can play online multiplayer in games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Monster Hunter: World, and more
• 100 GB cloud storage
• Share Play – If a PS Plus subscriber wants to share a game with a friend and that friend doesn’t own the game, Share Play allows them to do so.
• Exclusive offers and discounts
• Early access to betas and demos for selected games
• Special: If you own a PS5, the Classics Collection also includes a PS Plus subscription, which includes 20 classic PS4 hits, including God of War and The Last of Us: Remastered.

See also: Sony PlayStation 5 Review: A nice, quick upgrade from the last generation

And here’s everything you’d get with a $ 59.99 annual PS Now subscription:

• Can stream over 800 games on both your PlayStation console and PC
• Game data is saved and stored so you can easily switch back and forth between your console and PC
• Can download tons of games to your PlayStation console
• Can play online multiplayer in any game included in the service.

So which service should you choose?

If you have the money to spend on both services, they are both worth it. Both PS Plus and PS Now offer amazing benefits that are easy to get your money’s worth.

If you only have enough money to spend on a subscription service, this is what it comes down to. Would you like to download free games every month and have the opportunity to play online multiplayer games with your friends or others around the world? Then buy a PS Plus subscription. Of course, you get exclusive perks with a PS Plus subscription, but the deciding factors are the free games and the ability to play online.

Or would you prefer to have access to a large library of games that you can stream on your console or PC? In that case, you want to purchase a PS Now subscription. When you have access to 800+ great games and new games are added all the time, you will never run out of games to play.

Continue reading: Things we want to see from PlayStation in 2021