Xbox Game Pass is currently sold in four versions: Essential, Premium, Ultimate and PC Game Pass. There are three key differences: the size of the library, whether you get games on their release day, and how much you can play through the cloud on a given tier. Day-one games are only in Ultimate and PC Game Pass, while cloud gaming isn’t in PC Game Pass at all.
The four tiers side by side
The table is based on the tier comparison on xbox.com as of 11 September 2026. The cloud hours column gets its own section below, because right now the marketing page and the official announcement don’t agree on it.
| Tier | Library | Day-one games | Cloud gaming | Online multiplayer on console | EA Play, Fortnite Crew, Ubisoft+ Classics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | more than 50 games | no | yes, with an announced cap of 5 hours per month | yes | no |
| Premium | more than 200 games | no, new Xbox games are added within 12 months of release | yes, with an announced cap of 10 hours per month | yes | no |
| Ultimate | more than 400 games | yes, including third-party games | yes, with an announced cap of 15 hours per month | yes | yes, all three |
| PC Game Pass | more than 300 games, PC only | yes | not included | not applicable (PC) | EA Play and Fortnite Crew yes, Ubisoft+ Classics no |
The names Core and Standard, used previously, no longer apply. Microsoft announced the renaming on Xbox Wire on 1 October 2025: Core became Essential and Standard became Premium. Today’s four tiers are called Essential, Premium, Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
Ultimate and PC get day-one games, Premium waits up to a year
Ultimate and PC Game Pass members play new games on their release day, including third-party titles. Premium, by contrast, is a delayed tier: new games released for Xbox are added to it within twelve months of release. So the difference between Premium and Ultimate isn’t mainly the number of games, but how long you wait for the one you want.
One exception applies to everyone: the day-one offer doesn’t include the Call of Duty series. If you’re buying a subscription for the new CoD, you’re wasting your money.
Cloud: the announced hour caps only start in November 2026
This is where two Microsoft sources disagree, and it’s worth knowing before you pay for anything. The tier cards on xbox.com currently list 5 hours of cloud per month for Essential, 10 for Premium and 15 for Ultimate. Microsoft’s announcement from 3 September 2026, however, dates these caps from November 2026 and describes the current state as unlimited streaming.
What Microsoft adds in the announcement:
- Once the included hours run out, you’ll be able to buy more cloud time in the Xbox Store.
- From November 2026, people without any Game Pass will also be able to buy cloud hours and stream games they own.
- Microsoft estimates the change will affect roughly 4% of subscribers – so the caps target the minority who stream a lot.
- As the reason, it cites the cost of running the cloud, which grows as more people play and as they play longer.
Microsoft hasn’t published the price of extra hours yet and promises to add it before the November launch. How to set it all up and what it runs on is covered separately in the Xbox Cloud Gaming guide, and a general introduction to streaming is in the article what cloud gaming is.
One thing is already certain: the cloud isn’t part of PC Game Pass. Microsoft says so word for word on its website: monthly limits vary by plan and aren’t included in PC Game Pass. If you want to stream on a PC, you need Essential, Premium or Ultimate, or an entirely different service – such as GeForce NOW with its own tiers or Boosteroid.
How much Game Pass costs
The Czech Xbox page only says that plans start at CZK 239 per month, and the tier card shows the exact amount only after you sign in to your account. The prices below come from the Microsoft Store catalog for the Czech market, in Czech koruna, so they’re official figures, not copied from older price lists on gaming websites. Prices in your own region can differ, so check them in your account.
| Tier | 1 month | Longer periods |
|---|---|---|
| Game Pass Essential | CZK 239 | 14-day trial for CZK 25.90 |
| Game Pass Premium | CZK 329 | – |
| Game Pass Ultimate | CZK 499 | 3 months CZK 1,499, 6 months CZK 2,999 |
| PC Game Pass | CZK 319 | 3 months CZK 959, 1 year CZK 3,829 |
Prices are valid as of 11 September 2026. Alongside these four plans, the catalog still sells a separate console plan for CZK 269 per month, which isn’t in the comparison table on the Xbox website – before you buy it, compare what it lacks against Essential.
We deliberately don’t list the one-year and two-year Ultimate options here: the catalog returns amounts for them that work out more expensive per month than paying monthly. Before you take an offer like that, verify it in your account.
You can also try it for less: the catalog offers a fourteen-day trial for CZK 25.90, so before committing to a month you can find out whether the library suits you. If you’re getting the subscription for a child, screen time and purchases are managed separately from the subscription, as described in the guide to parental controls on Xbox.
Which tier is worth it for whom
- Essential makes sense for players who mainly want online multiplayer on console and see the fifty-odd games as a bonus. It has no day-one games and no EA Play or Ubisoft+ Classics.
- Premium is for someone who doesn’t mind waiting up to a year for new releases. In return you get over 200 games and cloud gaming that the cheapest tier doesn’t offer in full.
- Ultimate is the only tier where you get new releases on day one including third-party games, all three bundled services and streaming in up to 1440p.
- PC Game Pass is the best choice for someone who plays only on PC and doesn’t need the cloud. It has day-one games and over 300 titles, but you won’t find the cloud in it.
When not to buy Game Pass
There are three situations where Game Pass is money wasted:
- You play two or three specific games and they aren’t in the catalog. The typical case is Call of Duty, which the day-one offer doesn’t cover.
- You want to stream on PC and nothing more. PC Game Pass has no cloud, so the cheapest route to streaming goes through Essential, or outside Xbox entirely – how GeForce NOW works is a different model, where you pay for performance and bring your own games.
- You’re buying it instead of a console. On Xbox One, games made for Series X|S can only be played by streaming, so without a decent connection you’ll hit a wall. If you’re still choosing a console, the comparison is in the article Xbox Series X vs Series S.
FAQ
According to the Microsoft Store catalog for the Czech Republic, as of 11 September 2026 Essential costs CZK 239 per month, Premium CZK 329, Ultimate CZK 499 and PC Game Pass CZK 319. Ultimate can also be bought for three months at CZK 1,499 or six months at CZK 2,999. Price lists on gaming websites are often older than the Premium tier, so relying on them isn’t a good idea.
No. For its day-one offer, Microsoft explicitly states that it doesn’t cover the Call of Duty series. This also applies to Ultimate and PC Game Pass, the tiers that otherwise get new releases on day one.
The tier cards currently list 5 hours per month for Essential, 10 for Premium and 15 for Ultimate. Microsoft’s announcement from 3 September 2026, however, dates these caps from November 2026 and describes the current state as unlimited streaming. Once the hours run out, you’ll be able to buy more time in the Xbox Store.
No. In its note on cloud limits, Microsoft states directly that it isn’t included in the PC Game Pass subscription. For streaming you need Essential, Premium or Ultimate.
Yes. For its tiers, Microsoft lists downloading and streaming on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles. Games made for the new generation reach Xbox One through the cloud, meaning by streaming, not by download.
Information verified as of 11 September 2026. The biggest upcoming change is the introduction of monthly cloud caps in November, so before buying a tier for streaming, check the current wording on xbox.com. If you’re choosing between ecosystems, we cover the counterpart on the other side in the article on PlayStation Plus tiers, and other articles on streaming and Xbox are in the section Xbox on Gamers Together.