Meta launches Meta One, a subscription push built around AI features

Meta introduced a new subscription service called Meta One on Tuesday, offering expanded AI usage and premium features across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The plans give users access to AI tools for creating and editing images and generating video, plus in-app tools like Instagram’s AI-powered Restyle editor — a push meant to help Meta monetize its Muse AI models following its 2025 $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, which brought Scale’s CEO, Alexandr Wang, to Meta to lead its AI efforts.

Meta One builds on subscription tiers the company added to its apps in March — Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus at $3.99 a month, and WhatsApp Plus at $2.99 — which are already paying off, according to market intelligence provider Appfigures. Instagram’s daily worldwide revenue averaged $1.2 million as of the week of September 9, and Facebook’s reached $528,000, increases of 475% and 143% respectively from the week before.

The new tier adds a $7.99-a-month Core plan and a $19.99-a-month Premium plan, both bundling the existing Plus features with expanded AI usage — Premium offers more usage than Core, per its pricing — letting subscribers use Muse Image and Muse Video to generate pictures and video, edit Instagram Stories with Restyle, and get more use of voice effects and creative tools. Meta declined to share exact usage limits, saying they could vary by country, surface, and system conditions.

Businesses and creators get their own tiers — Essential from $14.99 a month and up, Advanced from $49.99, Expert from $149, and Max from $499 — offering expanded Meta Business Agent access, verified WhatsApp Business badges, scheduling tools, and analytics; Meta says pricing and features may vary by region, app, and account. The company also plans an Edits Plus tier for its Edits content-creation app.

Appfigures says U.S. users accounted for 32% of Instagram’s and 39% of Facebook’s revenue after the plans gained traction, roughly 10% above each app’s historical U.S. baseline. BNP Paribas forecasts the subscription push adding $13.5 billion in revenue by 2028, and Truist estimates it could add $20 billion by 2030.

Why it matters

Meta is turning its social apps into a recurring-revenue engine to help pay for its AI spending, and the early growth numbers suggest even small, dollars-a-month subscriptions can scale fast across Meta’s user base.