Independent · sourced · Updated June 2026
Best News Subscriptions (2026)
The cheapest news subscriptions is Financial Times at $4.99/mo. This page compares 8 options on entry price, free tier, HIPAA/SOC 2 and best-for — every figure linked to its source, updated June 2026.
8 options compared on price, free tier, compliance and fit — ranked cheapest-first. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it; quote-only tiers show “—”, never a guess.
Key takeaways
- Cheapest: Financial Times at $4.99/mo (FT Edit).
- Typical paid price: from $4.99/mo, median $7.20/mo, up to $38.99/mo — across 8 with published pricing.
- Tracked: 8 vendors, data current through 2026-06-15.
Comparison
| # | News Subscription | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | SOC 2 | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Financial Times | $4.99/mo FT Edit | No | — | — | Global business and finance readers wanting UK/European-centric market perspective | apps.apple.com |
| 2 | The New York Times | $4.99/mo Games | No | — | — | General US news readers wanting a single subscription for news + games + food + reviews | apps.apple.com |
| 3 | The Athletic | $6/mo Annual | No | — | — | Hardcore sports fans who want beat-writer depth on specific teams, not just scores | apps.apple.com |
| 4 | The Economist | $6.9/mo Podcasts+ | No | — | — | Global affairs and policy readers who want weekly depth over daily breaking news | apps.apple.com |
| 5 | The Atlantic | $7.5/mo Digital Annual | No | — | — | Long-form readers who prefer in-depth essays and narrative journalism over daily news | apps.apple.com |
| 6 | The Washington Post | $11.67/mo Core Annual | No | — | — | US politics and policy readers wanting in-depth investigative journalism | apps.apple.com |
| 7 | Bloomberg | $33.25/mo Digital Annual | No | — | — | Finance professionals and investors who need live markets TV alongside text news | apps.apple.com |
| 8 | The Wall Street Journal | $38.99/mo Digital | No | — | — | Business executives and finance professionals needing real-time markets coverage | apps.apple.com |
Prices are the lowest published self-serve monthly rate as captured on the linked source. Annual-billing and usage details are on each vendor's record in our open dataset.
Alternatives
Popular comparisons
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest news subscriptions?
Financial Times has the lowest published entry price at $4.99/mo (FT Edit), as of 2026-06-15.
How much does news subscriptions cost per month?
Across the 8 news subscriptions with published paid pricing, the median starting price is $7.20/mo, ranging from $4.99/mo to $38.99/mo, as of 2026-06-15.
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How we compiled this
Published self-serve consumer pricing was collected on the accessed date from each publisher's own US App Store listing, which discloses the exact in-app subscription prices each provider charges; standard monthly/annual rates are recorded and recurring promotional/introductory teaser rates are excluded. All prices are flat per-account per month or per year in USD (no per-seat billing in consumer news subscriptions). HIPAA/BAA are not applicable to news media and are null; annualDiscountPct is computed only where a provider publishes both a monthly and an annual rate; minutes/calls/overage fields are null for every tier; tiers without a published self-serve price are recorded null.
Last verified 2026-06-15. We re-check published prices and compliance on a recurring cadence and update this page when they change.
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