Become a Medium Member

Medium Member

$5/month or $50/year

  • Get unlimited, ad-free access to every story
    Read any article in our entire library across all your devices — with no paywalls, story limits or ads. Learn more.
  • Support the voices you want to hear more from
    When you read a members-only story, a portion of your membership fee goes directly to the author through the Partner Program. This way, Medium membership lets you support your favorite writers and helps them earn money. Learn more.
  • Listen to stories
    Use Medium's text-to-speech audio capabilities on website and mobile apps. Learn more.
  • Read stories offline
    Download your lists of stories for offline reading on iOS and Android. Learn more.
  • Join me.dm, Medium's Mastodon instance
    Join fellow Medium writers and readers and share your own Medium stories or short-form thoughts to millions of potential readers on the Mastodon network. Learn more.
  • Set up a custom domain for your profile or publication
    Bring your own custom domain to Medium. Learn more.
  • Create your own publication
    Create a shared space for stories written around a common theme and collaborate with other writers. Learn more.

Friend of Medium

$15/month or $150/year

  • Give 4x more to the writers you read
    As a Friend of Medium, you'll directly support the writers you read most — and with more impact than a regular Medium membership. When you spend time reading member-only stories, you'll generate four times more earnings for those writers compared to a regular membership. This revenue share is calculated in the same way as our standard Medium membership: it’s based on a combination of read and listen time, claps, highlights, replies, and follows. The difference is that it’s multiplied by a factor of four. Learn more
  • Support a healthy, open future for online publishing
    We’re building a publishing model that rewards great writing with real money. Medium is the place where ideas are shared, communities are built, and intellectual wellness is cultivated. We don’t need to tell you about how writing online has become flawed — full of distracting ads, impersonal AI-generated content, and noisy design. We’re creating an alternative to that world: A platform singularly focused on providing the best reading and writing experience on the internet. When you become a Friend of Medium, you’re investing in this mission to create a better future for online publishing. Learn more
  • Share “Friend Links” to let your friends bypass the paywall
    Friend Links used to be a writer-only feature, allowing authors to share links to member-only content to whoever they wanted, and allowing anyone to bypass the paywall. Now, we’re opening this up to Friend members. Friends of Medium can create and share Friend Links for any paywalled story. When non-members follow these links and bypass the paywall, their read time is factored into the writer’s earnings. This means you can drive more earnings and reach for writers you love by sharing Friend Links to their stories. 
  • Plus: All Medium Member benefits Being a Friend of Medium grants you all the Medium Member benefits. Learn more

Subscribe

Web App
  1. Go to medium.com/membership and click Upgrade (if you already have a Medium account), or Get Started (to create one).
  2. Choose your membership plan.
  3. Choose the payment method. You can use your credit card or PayPal.
  4. Enter your credit card details and click Start my membership or click PayPal Checkout to become a member with PayPal.

Want to gift a membership to friends or family? Click here to learn more.

Common questions

How easy is it to cancel my membership?

Medium membership can be canceled at any time from your Settings page, or from the App Store for memberships purchased through the Medium iOS app and Google Play Store for Android.

When you cancel, you will still be able to use all your membership benefits until the the end of the billing cycle. Learn more about cancellations.

Note that you can also change your billing frequency by going to your Membership and payment settings page, and then clicking “Manage membership.”

Can I receive an invoice for my purchase?

Yes. To learn how to receive an invoice for your membership, see this article.

Why am I unable to start a recurring membership?

Certain credit and debit cards are unable to initiate recurring charges based on geographical banking restrictions. As this is a banking regulation, it is beyond our control. We encourage you to contact your bank, verify if this restriction is applied to your bank account, and work directly with them to find resolution.

To work around this restriction, you can buy a gift membership and send it to your own email address. The gift membership costs $50 and works just like a regular annual membership, but it's a one-time charge rather than a recurring one. This means you should be able to buy it using a credit/debit card that does not support recurring payments.

Why was my credit card charged $1?

When you become a member of Medium, our payment provider Stripe may make a temporary authorization of $1 to verify validity of the card. This temporary authorization will be credited back to you, and not charged.

Can I share Medium membership with Apple Family Sharing?

In-app purchases such as Medium membership are not covered by Family Sharing. Learn more here.

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