Opening YouTube to watch videos has become a daily habit for many people. According to Statista, in 2025 the platform reached 253 million monthly active users in the U.S., with an average of about 26.2 hours watched per person each month and a penetration rate of over 81.5%.
However, behind this high usage rate lies equally high subscription costs: YouTube Premium individual plans in the US cost as much as $13.99 per month. In contrast, the same service costs only about $2.40 in Turkey and just $1.79 in India—a price difference of 6-7 times.😭
To save costs, an increasing number of users are choosing to use VPNs for cross-region subscriptions. This article will provide detailed guidance on cross-region subscription steps, the cheapest countries, and the best VPN options.
Additionally, we'll offer two alternative solutions—iOS account region switching and GamsGo platform sharing—to help you enjoy YouTube Premium at a lower price.
How VPNs Make YouTube Premium Cheaper
VPN can simulate the network environment of a low-cost country or region. When you connect to a VPN server in Turkey or India, YouTube’s system detects your IP address as local and shows you the corresponding local subscription price.
In the past, this was the most common and effective method. But since 2024, YouTube has significantly tightened its controls and explicitly banned faking your location in its official terms. Violations can lead to suspension of your subscription or even termination of your account. At the same time, YouTube introduced several restrictions:
- Subscriptions must be paid through local payment channels.
- If a suspicious VPN is detected, the payment page cannot be accessed.
- Family plan verification has become stricter, requiring members to prove they live at the same address.
Subscribing across regions with a VPN has now become not only complicated and prone to failure, but also carries the risk of your account being banned at any time.
Against this backdrop, the GamsGo sharing platform has quickly become a safer choice. Through its compliant sharing mechanism, users can enjoy all the benefits of Premium for only about $4.99 per month.
Are YouTube Premium VPN Tricks Still Valid in 2025?
The answer: it’s becoming increasingly difficult and almost no longer feasible. Over the past two years, YouTube has tightened its scrutiny of VPN-based subscriptions and regularly clears out accounts that violate its policies.
The reason is clear: for years, large numbers of users subscribed via VPN to cheaper regions, which diluted revenue in high-cost markets. To close these price loopholes and protect profits, YouTube has steadily ramped up restrictions—sparking user frustration, especially after the major price hike in December 2023.
After several rounds of system updates, YouTube’s detection has become highly advanced. It now checks not only IP addresses but also device time zones, Google account login locations, and payment countries to verify a user’s region.
Although using a VPN to subscribe cheaply is now almost impossible, we’ve still outlined the full steps for reference and introduced two alternatives. Among them, subscribing through the GamsGo platform stands out as the most reliable option: simple to set up, affordable, fully compliant, and stable.
How to Get Cheaper YouTube Premium with VPN
First, prepare a VPN tool and a foreign currency credit card, then follow these steps. Here, we use the Romania region as an example.
1️⃣ Create a new Google account
It is recommended to use a new account to avoid having your main Google account banned for bypassing restrictions. Do not bind a phone number during registration.
2️⃣ Connect your VPN to a Romania server
Keep your VPN connected throughout the entire payment process, and avoid switching servers frequently to prevent triggering risk controls.
3️⃣ Visit the YouTube Premium website and check the price
Make sure the currency displayed is Romanian Leu (RON), for example, a family plan showing “RON 26.00/month.”
If the price does not match the region, try clearing your browser cache and cookies, or use incognito mode. If the issue persists, switch to another VPN node within the same country and try again.
4️⃣ Select a subscription plan and proceed to checkout
Choose either the individual or family plan as needed. Note that if you select the family plan, all invited members’ Google account regions must also be set to the same country (Romania).
5️⃣ Enter your name and billing address
The address does not need to be very precise. A simple method is to search for a local hotel or public facility on Google Maps and use its city, postal code, and other details for the form.
6️⃣ Add payment information and complete the subscription
Enter your credit card details. Based on our tests, most Visa, MasterCard, or Amex cards work.
If payment fails (especially with error codes like OR-RECR-05), try another credit card, or use a Google Play/App Store gift card from the target country and enter a local address in the payment details.
7️⃣ Confirm your subscription status
After a successful payment, the page will show the “Premium” badge. Disconnect the VPN and refresh the page to confirm that the subscription remains active. From then on, you no longer need to keep the VPN connected for daily use.
⚠️ Please note that using a VPN to bypass restrictions is strictly targeted by YouTube and highly unstable. If you want a safer and more reliable option, the best way is to share YouTube Premium through GamsGo.
The Cheapest Country for YouTube Premium
At present, Argentina, Turkey, and India offer the lowest subscription prices, but the success rate is not high. These regions usually require linking a local payment method or phone number, making it difficult to complete the subscription otherwise.
By comparison, countries such as Ghana, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, and Poland are more recommended, as they support foreign card payments. Although prices there are slightly higher, the process is simpler, with better success rates and greater security.
The table below shows YouTube Premium fees across different countries/regions, along with the price differences compared to the United States. You can also check YouTube’s official “Accepted Payment Methods” page to see the specific payment options available.
| Country | Individual Plan (Monthly) | Discount vs. U.S. | Payment Conditions (Based on Experience) |
| Global | $4.99 | 64.30% | Can pay directly with a foreign card via GamsGo |
| Argentina (AR) | $0.90 | 93.60% | Requires local payment card (iOS method works) |
| India (IN) | $1.79 | 87.20% | Foreign card payment supported |
| Turkey (TR) | $1.44 | 89.70% | Foreign card payment supported |
| Pakistan (PK) | $1.72 | 87.70% | Foreign card payment supported |
| Ghana (GH) | $1.85 | 86.80% | Foreign card payment supported (Paysafecard possible) |
| Ukraine (UA) | $2.50 | 82.10% | Requires local payment card |
| Philippines (PH) | $2.86 | 79.60% | Requires local payment card |
| Malaysia (MY) | $4.50 | 67.80% | Requires local payment card (iOS method works) |
| Peru (PE) | $4.50 | 67.80% | Partially works (Revolut/Visa) |
| Brazil (BR) | $4.77 | 65.90% | Partially works |
| Romania (RO) | $5.13 | 63.30% | Requires local payment card |
| Poland (PL) | $7.93 | 43.30% | Requires local payment card |
| Japan (JP) | $8.60 | 38.50% | Requires local payment card |
The Best VPN for Cheap YouTube Premium Subscriptions
Based on our extensive testing of VPNs across multiple low-cost regions (including mainstream services like NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, etc.), NordVPN delivers the most outstanding overall performance.
In low-cost regions such as Pakistan and Romania, NordVPN successfully bypasses YouTube's geo-detection, offering fast connection speeds with virtually no disconnections.
Moreover, purchasing NordVPN account through GamsGo costs only about $3.5 per month, which is nearly 75% cheaper than the official price of $12.99, while providing identical functionality and experience.
Therefore, considering stability, success rate, and value for money, NordVPN is the optimal choice.
Other Ways to Save on YouTube Premium Without a VPN
Change iOS Region for Cheaper YouTube Premium
For users who don’t want to use a VPN, you can subscribe by changing your iOS account region. After creating a new Apple ID for the target country, you can activate YouTube Premium on your iPhone or iPad at the local price. (Mac is not supported yet.)
Steps:
1️⃣ Purchase an App Store gift card for the target region, with an amount that covers several months of subscription fees.
2️⃣ Go to the Apple ID website, create a new Apple ID for the target country, and enter local address details.
3️⃣ On your iPhone or iPad, sign in with the new Apple ID. Open the App Store, go to the account page, select “Use Camera” or “Enter Code Manually” , and enter the gift card code.
4️⃣ Delete the existing YouTube app, then reinstall it from the App Store. This ensures the app picks up the correct region settings.
5️⃣ Open the YouTube app and go to the Premium subscription page. At this point, the currency and pricing of the target country should appear. Choose the plan you want and complete the subscription.
⚠️ Keep in mind: the App Store takes a commission from in-app transactions, so the price is usually 10–15% higher than on the web. Even so, it’s still much cheaper than the local pricing in the U.S. and remains highly cost-effective.
Get Cheap YouTube Premium Through GamsGo
Compared to using a VPN or changing your iOS region, an easier way is to subscribe to YouTube Premium through GamsGo.
GamsGo is a well-known shared subscription platform. By splitting costs among multiple users, it allows you to enjoy paid services like YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, and ChatGPT at a fraction of the official price.
Follow these steps, and the entire subscription process takes only a few minutes:
1️⃣ Go to the GamsGo website, click Log in / Sign up in the upper right corner, and complete login or registration.
2️⃣ After logging in, find YouTube Premium on the homepage and click to enter.
3️⃣ Choose the subscription option that fits your needs. The page clearly shows the differences between each plan.
4️⃣ After selecting your plan, click Buy Now, then enter your payment details to complete the purchase.
5️⃣ Once payment is successful, GamsGo will immediately process your order. Depending on the subscription type you selected, your account will either be recharged directly or you’ll be invited to join a family group.
Comparing 3 Ways to Get YouTube Premium for Less
At this point, we’ve gone over VPN cross-region subscriptions as well as two alternative methods. Finally, here’s a comparison of their pros and cons to help you make the best choice.
| Method | Extra Cost | Pros | Cons | Recommendation |
| VPN Cross-Region | VPN subscription fee | Low price, high flexibility | Complicated setup, risk of ban | ⭐⭐ |
| iOS Region Switch | Gift cards sold at a markup | Relatively easy to set up | Limited to Apple devices | ⭐⭐⭐ |
| GamsGo Sharing | None | Extremely convenient, safe, stable | May require waiting during peak times | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
We can see that while VPN cross-region offers the lowest price, the steps are complicated and the failure rate is high.
The iOS region-change method is simpler to operate, but it only works on Apple devices, and low-cost region gift cards are often sold at a markup. If YouTube cancels your subscription, any remaining balance on the gift card cannot be refunded, meaning a direct loss.
More importantly, both methods violate YouTube’s rules and carry the constant risk of account suspension.
By contrast, although GamsGo may occasionally have waiting queues or limited stock during peak demand due to its popularity, the overall experience is much more stable. According to user feedback, even if an account issue occurs, GamsGo’s customer support responds immediately and provides a new stable account.
Conclusion
As YouTube continues to tighten its subscription policies, the VPN cross-region method for subscribing to YouTube Premium is facing more and more restrictions, and the success rate keeps dropping. For users, prices remain high while the process becomes increasingly troublesome.
Now, GamsGo offers a long-term, stable alternative. With GamsGo’s smart sharing system and reliable customer support, you can avoid complicated steps and failure risks while enjoying the full Premium experience—ad-free playback, background running, and offline downloads—at a much lower cost.
💡 Try GamsGo today and make streaming subscriptions easy and affordable again!
FAQ
Is it legal to use a VPN to subscribe to YouTube Premium?
Yes. Using a VPN is not illegal, though it may violate YouTube’s Terms of Service, which could result in your subscription being canceled. This is a platform policy issue, not a legal risk.
Can using a VPN to buy YouTube Premium get you banned?
There is a risk. As YouTube tightens restrictions on cross-region subscriptions, accounts that purchase Premium via VPN may be flagged and terminated. To reduce the impact, it’s best to create a separate Google account for this purpose so your main account isn’t affected.
How much does YouTube Premium cost in Turkey?
In Turkey, the YouTube Premium individual plan is 79.99 TRY per month (about $2.40 USD), and the family plan is 159.99 TRY per month (about $4.80 USD).
