Key takeaways
- Meta says Meta AI will still be free for everyday use, and its core experience across its apps is not changing.
- As of October 28, 2026, Meta One Core costs $7.99 a month and Premium $19.99 a month, with more AI image and video generation.
- Meta has not published numeric usage limits for the free tier or the paid plans.
Is Meta AI free? Yes, for everyday use. Meta says so in its September 15, 2026 announcement of Meta One, the subscription service that now sits beside it. As of October 28, 2026, the paid plans that touch Meta AI are Core at $7.99 a month and Premium at $19.99 a month. They are for people who want more image and video generation than the free allowance gives them.
Meta's own wording is "Meta AI will still be free for everyday use." It adds that "the core experience across our apps and Meta AI has always been free, and that's not changing."
What is free
Meta's Meta AI page for media generation says you can generate images, edit photos and restyle rooms for free. Meta's announcement says the free experience covers everyday use across its apps, which it lists as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Meta AI.
What Meta has not published is a list of exactly which features stay free and how much of each you get. The announcement gives no daily or monthly caps for free users.
What the paid plans cost
Meta One launched with plans for individuals, creators and businesses. Meta says plans are rolling out gradually and are "now available globally," though plans, benefits, pricing and availability can vary by region, app and account. These are the individual plans, with prices per month as of October 28, 2026:
| Plan | Price per month | What Meta says it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram Plus | $3.99 | Custom fonts, Story view notifications, DM previews |
| Facebook Plus | $3.99 | Custom app icons, super hearts |
| WhatsApp Plus | $2.99 | Themes, icons, special effect stickers, more pinned chats |
| Core | $7.99 | Everything in the Plus plans, plus more Restyle on Instagram Stories, more voice effects, and more image and video generation with Meta AI |
| Premium | $19.99 | Everything in Core, with the most room to create with Meta AI and across Meta's apps |
Only Core and Premium change what you get from Meta AI. The three Plus plans are about customizing the individual apps. Meta also sells creator and business bundles, from Essential at $14.99 a month to Max at $499 a month, which are aimed at profile tools and business messaging.
What the limits are
Meta describes Core and Premium as giving "more" use of its compute-heavy AI features, and Premium as giving the most. It does not give a number. There is no published count of images, videos or prompts for any plan, free or paid, so a figure for how far the free tier goes does not exist in anything Meta has put out.
A separate subscription for developers
Meta's developer site lists separate subscriptions for Muse Code, a command-line coding tool, with tiers called Everyday, High, Power and Maximum Usage. Everyday Usage allows 10 to 50 prompts every 5 hours, and the higher tiers are 5x, 20x and 80x that. Prices are shown at checkout, not on the page. This is a different product from the Meta AI assistant in the apps, and it is not part of Meta One.
What we don't know
- How much free users can generate before they hit a limit, and whether the limits differ by country.
- Whether free trials exist for Core and Premium. Meta mentions "subscriptions and trials" but gives no length or terms.
- Annual pricing, local-currency prices and taxes. Meta lists monthly US dollar prices only.
- How Meta AI relates to Muse, Meta's newer personal AI agent. Meta's October 27 post on Muse launching in Singapore says it is "free for most of what people need, with subscription plans for people who want to do more," with no prices.
Prices and limits change. Check the subscription screen in the app before you pay.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Meta AI app free to download and use?
Meta says Meta AI is free for everyday use, and its announcement does not ask free users to pay for the core experience. Meta has not published the exact limits on heavier features.
Is Meta AI free on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook?
Meta lists Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Meta AI as the apps where Meta One launched, and says the core experience across them is free. WhatsApp Plus, at $2.99 a month as of October 28, 2026, adds themes and icons, not access to Meta AI.
Is Meta AI image and video generation free?
Image generation, photo editing and room restyling are described as free on Meta's media generation page. Core and Premium give more image and video generation, so free use is capped in some way that Meta has not specified.
How much is Meta AI Premium?
Premium costs $19.99 a month as of October 28, 2026, and Core costs $7.99 a month. Meta says prices and availability can vary by region, app and account.