Pandora Plus vs Premium: Price, Features, and Sound Quality (2026)

Pandora Plus is best for ad-free, radio-style listening with limited offline stations. Pandora Premium costs more but adds full on-demand playback, playlist control, and more flexible offline downloads. Sound quality can appear similar on desktop, but Premium often offers higher-quality options on mobile, depending on your settings and device.

If you’re stuck choosing between Pandora Plus vs. Premium, here’s the simplest way to think about it:

• Pandora Plus upgrades the classic Pandora “radio” experience: no ads, more skipping, and a small amount of offline listening.
• Pandora Premium turns Pandora into an on-demand streaming service: you can search and play what you want, build real playlists, and download music more intentionally.

Key Takeaways

• If your preference is to press "play" and let Pandora simply surprise you, then Plus is typically the best option.
• If you desire Spotify-style control, which allows you to pick any song, build playlists, and download your chosen music, then Premium is the right option for you.
• On mobile, Premium can unlock higher audio quality (up to 192 kbps MP3); Plus often tops out lower depending on device/setting.
• Plus offline is automatic (Pandora chooses), while Premium lets you choose downloads, but they remain in-app.

Below is a clear breakdown of price, feature differences, and sound quality

Pandora Plus vs Premium Overview

Pricing and availability can vary by where you subscribe (Pandora website vs. App Store/Google Play) and taxes.

Pandora Plus vs Premium Price

Pandora’s pricing can differ depending on whether you subscribe on the web or through Apple/Google billing, but Pandora’s help center lists these common headline prices:

• Pandora Plus: $4.99/month
• Pandora Premium: $10.99/month
• Pandora Premium Family: $17.99/month

Discount plans:

• Student Premium is listed at $5.99/month
• Military Premium is commonly listed around $8.99/month, though you may also see promotional pricing depending on offer/verification flows.

If you subscribe inside the iPhone/Android app:

• App stores may show higher prices because the purchase is processed through Apple/Google. For example, the iOS App Store listing has shown Plus at $5.99/month and Premium at $12.99/month (at least at the time it was crawled).
• Google Play listings can also show different in-app pricing.

If you care about cost, check the price right before checkout on your device and on the Pandora website.

Pandora Plus vs Premium: Features Differences

The key differences between Pandora Plus and Premium are as follows:

1. Control: radio-style vs on-demand

This is the biggest difference.

• Pandora Plus is still Pandora radio. You pick a station (artist/song/genre), give thumbs up/down, and skip and replay more freely—but you don’t get full on-demand searching and playback.
• Pandora Premium adds search and on-demand play, so you can pull up a specific song, album, or playlist and hit play immediately.

If you like leaning back and letting Pandora surprise you, Plus can be enough. If you want to control exactly what plays next, Premium is the upgrade you’re paying for.

2. Offline listening: Pandora chooses vs you choose

Offline is where many people get disappointed, mostly because they assume Plus works like Spotify/Apple Music downloads.

With Pandora Plus, offline is limited and largely automatic:

• Pandora will automatically download up to three of your top stations, along with Thumbprint Radio, and will refresh these selections over time.
• You can’t manually choose what gets saved offline.

Related reading:learn how to download Pandora stations here.

With Pandora Premium, offline is more intentional:

• You can download specific stations, songs, albums, or playlists for offline listening.

Whatever plan you choose, remember: Pandora offline content is designed to play inside the Pandora app

3. Playlists: limited vs fully customizable

• Plus focuses on stations. You can shape them, but you’re not building a true on-demand playlist library. 
• Premium lets you create and customize playlists much more like other streaming services.

Pandora Plus vs Premium Sound Quality

Desktop/web can look similar; mobile is where Premium tends to matter more. If you mostly listen on your phone (AirPods, CarPlay, Bluetooth speakers), Premium’s mobile audio controls and high-quality availability can be a real upgrade, especially if you set Wi-Fi/downloads to High.

Note: Premium is the tier more consistently associated with high-quality (192 kbps) on iOS/Android, while free/Plus can be lower depending on device, connection, and settings.

Pandora Plus vs. Premium: Which plan should you choose?

Choose Pandora Plus if you:

• Mostly listen to stations (commute, work, background)
• Want a low-cost upgrade and fewer interruptions
• Want a cheaper upgrade and you’re okay with limited, automatic offline

Choose Pandora Premium if you:

• Build playlists and want on-demand control
• Need to choose offline downloads.
• Care about high-quality audio on mobile

If you’re paying Premium mainly hoping for audiophile sound, compare it against services that offer lossless options at similar prices first. Related reading: Spotify vs. Pandora.

Keeping Pandora Music Playable Everywhere: MusicFab

Pandora's offline downloads stay inside the app and can stop working after cancellation. If your goal is to build a permanent music library, MusicFab Pandora Converter helps you manage your personal archiving workflow. It downloads music from Pandora to multiple formats and preserves ID3 tags.

MusicFab Pandora Converter

•   Save Pandora music as MP3, FLAC, WAV, M4A or OPUS format
•   Download Pandora stations/songs/playlists/albums/podcasts
•   Support both Free and Premium account
•  Built-in browser & batch download