Game Pass vs PS Plus vs Switch Online: what a year costs in Australia
What a year of Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online costs in Australia, what each plan includes, how prices moved and cheaper ways to pay.
The cheapest way to play online in Australia is Switch Online, at $29.95 for a year. After that it gets more complicated. PS Plus is much cheaper if you pay for 12 months at once, Microsoft’s website only shows Game Pass by the month, and the cards in stores don’t all follow the same rules. This guide puts the three side by side, with every price read on the service’s own page on Saturday 31 October.
What a year costs
| Plan | Per month | A year, paid monthly | Cheaper 12-month option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Pass Essential | $12.95 | $155.40 | $102.95 for a 12-month card at JB Hi-Fi |
| Game Pass Premium | $17.95 | $215.40 | none found |
| Game Pass Ultimate | $25.95 | $311.40 | none found |
| PC Game Pass | $16.95 | $203.40 | none found |
| PS Plus Essential | $14.95 | $179.40 | $112.95 on the 12-month plan |
| PS Plus Extra | $24.95 | $299.40 | $196.95 on the 12-month plan |
| PS Plus Deluxe | $26.95 | $323.40 | $225.95 on the 12-month plan |
| Switch Online | $5.95 | $71.40 | $29.95 for 12 months |
| Switch Online + Expansion Pack | – | – | $59.95 for 12 months |
| Switch Online Family | – | – | $54.95 for 12 months |
| Switch Online Family + Expansion Pack | – | – | $109.95 for 12 months |
Xbox’s page shows Game Pass monthly prices only, so the Game Pass “a year, paid monthly” figures are 12 times the monthly price. On PlayStation’s page the 12-month plan saves $66.45 on Essential, $102.45 on Extra and $97.45 on Deluxe compared with paying by the month. All three services renew automatically unless you cancel. Xbox’s page advertises your first 14 days of Game Pass for $1, and Nintendo’s offers a 7-day free trial of Switch Online.
The prices come from Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo.
What each plan includes
Game Pass
Xbox’s page lists these:
- Essential: 50+ games, online console multiplayer and 5 hours of cloud playtime a month.
- Premium: 200+ games, new Xbox-published games within a year of launch, and 10 hours of cloud playtime.
- Ultimate: 400+ games, select new games on the day they launch, EA Play, Fortnite Crew, Ubisoft+ Classics and 15 hours of cloud playtime. The page says the day-one games exclude Call of Duty titles.
- PC Game Pass: 300+ games on PC only, select new games on day one and EA Play.
PlayStation Plus
PlayStation’s page lists these:
- Essential: monthly games, online multiplayer, exclusive discounts, cloud storage and Share Play. November’s monthly games are Dead Island 2, Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered and Monster Train 2.
- Extra: everything in Essential, plus the Game Catalogue and Ubisoft+ Classics.
- Deluxe: everything in Extra, plus the Classics Catalogue, game trials and the Sony Pictures Catalogue.
Switch Online
Nintendo’s page lists these:
- Standard membership: online play, 170+ NES, Super NES and Game Boy games, cloud save backups, the Nintendo Music app and member offers.
- Expansion Pack: adds Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance and SEGA Mega Drive games, plus downloadable expansions for selected Switch games. Switch 2 players also get GameCube games and some Switch 2 upgrade packs.
- Family: Nintendo says you can team up with seven other people on a family membership.
Cheaper ways to pay
- Game Pass Essential cards at JB Hi-Fi. JB sells 3 months for $35.95, 6 months for $53.95 and 12 months for $102.95. Compared with 12 times the $12.95 monthly price, the 12-month card is $52.45 cheaper.
- Game Pass Premium and Ultimate cards save nothing. JB’s 3-month cards are $53.95 for Premium and $77.95 for Ultimate, which is 10 cents more than three months at the monthly price.
- Read the terms on codes. JB’s pages say the code is emailed after purchase, you can buy one per order, and it doesn’t accept change-of-mind returns on digital codes. Check Microsoft’s terms for how a code works with your account.
- PS Plus: the 12-month plan is the cheapest way we found. We didn’t find PS Plus cards at JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks, Target, Kmart or Gamesmen, and Big W’s site wouldn’t let us check.
- Sony’s sales are for some people only. Last Black Friday PlayStation offered 33% off a 12-month membership to new and lapsed subscribers, plus 33% off the rest of your membership when upgrading to Deluxe. OzBargain members reported 30% off in March and 25% off in September, both marked as targeted. That means existing subscribers on an older, lower price don’t usually see them.
- Switch Online cards cost what Nintendo charges. Officeworks sells the 12-month card at $29.95, Family at $54.95 and Family + Expansion Pack at $109.95, the same as Nintendo. It’s no cheaper, but it works for a gift.
How prices have moved
| Service | When | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Game Pass | October 2025 | New tiers. Essential rose from $10.95 to $12.95, Premium from $15.95 to $17.95, PC from $13.95 to $19.45 and Ultimate from $22.95 to $35.95 a month, according to Press Start. |
| Game Pass | April 2026 | Ultimate fell from $35.95 to $25.95 a month and PC to $16.95, according to an OzBargain post of 22 April that quotes Xbox’s page. Essential and Premium are still at their October 2025 prices. |
| PS Plus | April 2025 | The 12-month plans rose from $95.95 to $102.95 (Essential), $169.95 to $187.95 (Extra) and $196.95 to $214.95 (Deluxe), PlayStation Australia told Press Start. |
| PS Plus | May 2026 | New subscribers pay from $14.95 a month, $43.95 for 3 months and $112.95 for 12 months. PlayStation told Press Start there’s no change for existing subscribers, who move to the new price if they lapse or change their subscription. |
| Switch Online | – | We found no Australian price change. |
PlayStation’s page now shows $196.95 for Extra and $225.95 for Deluxe on 12-month plans, which is more than the April 2025 prices. We couldn’t find when they went up.
Which one is right for you?
- Just want online multiplayer: Switch Online is $29.95 a year. On the PlayStation and Xbox side, Game Pass Essential is the cheapest at $102.95 for a 12-month card from JB Hi-Fi, with PS Plus Essential at $112.95 on its 12-month plan. Both include online multiplayer.
- Want a library of games on PlayStation: PS Plus Extra is $196.95 a year on the 12-month plan. Game Pass Premium costs $215.40 paid monthly.
- Want new games on day one: Game Pass Ultimate is $311.40 paid monthly and includes EA Play, Fortnite Crew and Ubisoft+ Classics, but not Call of Duty on day one. PS Plus Deluxe is $225.95 on its 12-month plan and adds classics, game trials and Sony Pictures.
- Like retro games or have a family: Switch Online + Expansion Pack is $59.95 a year and adds Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance and SEGA Mega Drive games. The family plans cover up to eight people.
We’ll update this page when the prices change.
Prices read on each service’s own page, and on JB Hi-Fi’s and Officeworks’ product pages, between about 4:50pm and 5:10pm AEDT on Saturday 31 October 2026. Store prices don’t include delivery, and stock can change. “Cheaper 12-month option” means the lowest price we found for 12 months of that plan.
