NYT Games Guide
Last reviewed: February 16, 2026NYT Games Subscription: Pricing, Plans & Is It Worth It?
Complete guide to the NYT Games subscription. Covers pricing, free vs paid games, All Access bundle, student discounts, and whether it is worth the cost.
The NYT Games subscription costs $39.99/year ($3.33/month) or $4.25/month billed monthly. It includes the full daily crossword, 10,000+ puzzle archive, Spelling Bee, Strands, Letter Boxed, and Tiles. Wordle and the Mini Crossword are free without any subscription. Student pricing is available at $2/month through the All Access bundle.
Definition
What is NYT Games Subscription?
The NYT Games subscription is a paid digital plan that unlocks premium puzzle content from The New York Times, including the full daily crossword, the crossword archive dating to 1993, and enhanced features for Spelling Bee, Letter Boxed, and other games. It is separate from an NYT news subscription and costs approximately 40 dollars per year.
Overview
The NYT games subscription question comes up constantly: which games are free, what does the subscription actually include, and is it worth paying for? The answer depends entirely on which games you play and how often. Wordle and the Mini Crossword are completely free with no account required. Connections and Strands are free for daily play. But the full crossword, the 10,000-puzzle archive, and enhanced features for Spelling Bee and other games require a paid subscription. This guide breaks down every tier of NYT Games access, compares the standalone Games subscription to the All Access bundle, explains student and promotional pricing, and gives you an honest assessment of whether the subscription delivers enough value to justify its cost. We also cover how to subscribe, cancel, and manage your account so you never pay more than you intended.
Key Strategies
- Free tier includes Wordle, Mini Crossword, and daily Connections
- Games subscription at $39.99/year adds full crossword and 10,000-puzzle archive
- All Access bundle at $150/year includes Games plus News, Cooking, and The Athletic
Quick Tips
- Wordle and the Mini Crossword are completely free, no subscription needed
- The annual plan ($39.99/yr) saves 22% versus monthly billing ($4.25/mo)
- Students can get All Access for just $2/month with a valid .edu email
- Subscribe through nytimes.com directly, not the App Store, for the lowest price
- Gift subscriptions do not auto-renew and can extend an existing subscription by one year
NYT Games subscription facts
Quick Facts
$39.99/yr
Games-only annual price
4.8/5
App Store rating
10,000+
Crossword archive puzzles
NYT earnings reports, App Store data, subscription analysis 2024-2025
What is free and what requires a subscription
Understanding which NYT games are free is the first step in deciding whether a subscription makes sense for you. Wordle is completely free with no account required, no paywall, and no limitations. You can play every daily Wordle puzzle indefinitely without spending a cent. The Mini Crossword is also free and accessible without any sign-in. Connections, the word-grouping game, is free for daily play. Strands is free for daily play. These four games provide a substantial daily puzzle routine at zero cost. The subscription unlocks the full daily crossword, which is significantly larger and more challenging than the Mini, ranging from a 15x15 Monday grid to a 21x21 Sunday puzzle. The crossword archive, containing over 10,000 puzzles dating back to 1993, is subscription-only and represents an enormous library of content for crossword enthusiasts. Spelling Bee has limited free access but full features including rank tracking and the complete word list require a subscription. Letter Boxed and Tiles are subscription-only games. Additionally, Connections allows free play for the daily puzzle, though some enhanced features like stats tracking and streak maintenance benefit from an account. The key distinction is that the free tier gives you access to the daily versions of select games, while the subscription unlocks full archives, premium puzzles, and enhanced tracking features.
Games subscription: what is included and pricing
The standalone NYT games subscription costs 39.99 dollars per year when billed annually, which works out to 3.33 dollars per month. If you prefer monthly billing, the price is 4.25 dollars per month, totaling 51 dollars per year, so the annual plan saves you roughly 22 percent. The subscription unlocks the full daily crossword puzzle, which is significantly larger and more challenging than the Mini, ranging from a 15x15 Monday grid to a 21x21 Sunday puzzle. You also get access to the complete crossword archive dating back to 1993, containing over 10,000 puzzles that you can solve at any time. Beyond the crossword, the subscription includes full access to Spelling Bee with its Genius and Queen Bee rank tracking, Strands with its daily thematic word search, Letter Boxed with its geometric word-building challenge, and Tiles, a pattern-matching game added in 2024. NYT periodically adds new games to the subscription at no extra cost, as they did with Connections and Strands. The subscription works across all platforms including the web, iOS app, and Android app, and your progress syncs automatically when you sign in with the same account.
All Access bundle vs Games-only subscription
NYT offers an All Access bundle at 12.50 dollars per month or 150 dollars per year that includes Games alongside News, Cooking, Wirecutter product reviews, and The Athletic for sports coverage. Whether this bundle makes sense depends entirely on how many NYT products you would use independently. The Games-only subscription at 39.99 dollars per year is the right choice if you exclusively want puzzles and have no interest in news or cooking content. However, if you already subscribe to or are considering NYT News at 17 dollars per month standalone, adding Games through the All Access bundle is dramatically cheaper than maintaining two separate subscriptions. The math favors the bundle for anyone who would use at least two NYT products: Games plus News through All Access costs 12.50 dollars per month versus 17 plus 4.25 for separate subscriptions. NYT frequently offers promotional pricing for new All Access subscribers, sometimes as low as 4 dollars per month for the first year, which makes the bundle an exceptional deal during promotional periods. Student discounts are available at 2 dollars per month for the All Access bundle with a valid .edu email address, making it the cheapest way for college students to access premium puzzles.
Is the NYT Games subscription worth it
The value calculation for the NYT games subscription comes down to one question: do you regularly play at least two premium games? If you only play Wordle and the Mini, you genuinely do not need it and should not feel pressured to subscribe. But if you find yourself hitting the Spelling Bee paywall before reaching Genius, wanting to solve the full Saturday crossword, or exploring Strands and Letter Boxed daily, the subscription pays for itself quickly. At 3.33 dollars per month on the annual plan, it costs less than a single latte and provides approximately 30 to 60 minutes of daily entertainment. Per-hour, that makes it one of the cheapest entertainment subscriptions available, far below Netflix at 15.49 dollars per month, Spotify at 11.99 dollars per month, or even a single movie ticket. User satisfaction surveys consistently show that NYT Games subscribers rate the product highly, with a 4.8 out of 5 star average on the App Store across over 700,000 reviews. The crossword archive alone justifies the subscription for crossword enthusiasts, since 10,000 puzzles at 40 dollars per year works out to 0.004 dollars per puzzle. For dedicated puzzle players, it is one of the clearest value propositions in digital entertainment.
How to subscribe, cancel, and manage your account
Subscribing to NYT Games takes about two minutes. Visit nytimes.com/subscription/games or download the NYT Games app from the App Store or Google Play. You can pay with a credit card, debit card, or through Apple or Google in-app purchase, though subscribing directly through the NYT website is typically cheaper because app store purchases include a platform fee that NYT sometimes passes on through higher pricing. To cancel, log into your NYT account at myaccount.nytimes.com, navigate to the Subscription section, and click Cancel. If you subscribed through the App Store, you must cancel through Apple's subscription management in your iPhone settings rather than through the NYT website. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period, so you retain access until your paid time expires. NYT does not offer prorated refunds for partial billing periods. If you are unsure about committing, NYT periodically offers free trial periods ranging from 7 to 30 days, and you can cancel before the trial ends without being charged. Setting a calendar reminder for the trial expiration date is a smart precaution if you want to evaluate the games before paying.
Family sharing and multiple devices
One of the most frequently asked questions about the NYT games subscription is whether multiple family members can share a single account. NYT does not offer a formal family plan or shared subscription tier as of early 2026. However, a single subscription can be used on multiple devices simultaneously by logging in with the same email and password. This means a household can technically share one account, but there is a significant catch: puzzle stats, streaks, and completion history are tied to the single account profile. If two people in the same household both want to maintain their own Wordle streak or Spelling Bee stats, they need separate accounts and separate subscriptions. In practice, many families work around this by having one subscriber handle the premium games while other household members stick to the free games on their own accounts. Apple Family Sharing and Google Family Library do not extend to NYT Games subscriptions, so in-app purchases cannot be shared through those systems either. For households with multiple serious puzzle players, the most cost-effective approach is often to subscribe to the All Access bundle on one account and the Games-only plan on a second, especially during promotional pricing periods.
Key Takeaway
The NYT Games subscription costs 39.99 dollars per year and unlocks the full crossword, 10,000-puzzle archive, and premium features across all games. Wordle and the Mini Crossword are permanently free. For most daily puzzle players, the subscription is one of the best entertainment values available at about 11 cents per day. The All Access bundle at 150 dollars per year only makes sense if you also want NYT News, Cooking, or The Athletic.
| Feature | Free Tier | Games Subscription ($39.99/yr) | All Access Bundle ($150/yr) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wordle | Included | Included | Included |
| Mini Crossword | Included | Included | Included |
| Connections (daily) | Included | Included | Included |
| Full Daily Crossword | Not included | Included | Included |
| Crossword Archive (10,000+) | Not included | Included | Included |
| Spelling Bee (full access) | Limited | Included | Included |
| Strands | Included | Included | Included |
| Letter Boxed | Included | Included | Included |
| NYT News | Not included | Not included | Included |
| NYT Cooking | Not included | Not included | Included |
| The Athletic | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Stats and streak tracking | Limited | Full | Full |
| Student pricing available | N/A | No | Yes ($2/mo) |
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does the NYT games subscription cost?
The standalone NYT Games subscription costs 39.99 dollars per year when billed annually or 4.25 dollars per month when billed monthly. The annual plan saves approximately 22 percent compared to monthly billing. Promotional rates for new subscribers are occasionally available at reduced prices.
Is Wordle free without an NYT games subscription?
Yes, Wordle is completely free and does not require any subscription, account, or sign-in. You can play it daily on the NYT website or the NYT Games app at no cost. The Mini Crossword is also free.
Can I cancel my NYT Games subscription anytime?
Yes, you can cancel at any time through your NYT account settings at myaccount.nytimes.com or through the App Store if you subscribed via Apple. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period, and you retain access until that date. No prorated refunds are issued.
Is there a student discount for NYT Games?
NYT does not offer a student discount on the standalone Games subscription. However, the All Access bundle, which includes Games, is available to students at 2 dollars per month with a valid .edu email address, making it significantly cheaper than the standard Games-only plan.
What is the difference between NYT Games and NYT All Access?
NYT Games at 39.99 dollars per year includes only the puzzle suite: crossword, archive, Spelling Bee, Connections, Strands, Letter Boxed, and Tiles. NYT All Access at 150 dollars per year includes everything in Games plus NYT News, Cooking, Wirecutter, and The Athletic. The All Access bundle is better value if you would use at least two NYT products.
Does the NYT Games subscription work on all devices?
Yes, the subscription works on iOS, Android, and web browsers. Your progress, stats, and streaks sync across all devices when you log in with the same NYT account. You can play on your phone, tablet, and computer with a single subscription.
Written by
Connections Hintz Editorial Team
Our team solves every NYT puzzle daily and publishes verified hints within minutes of each reset. With 500+ puzzles analyzed across Connections, Wordle, Strands, Spelling Bee, Mini Crossword, and Letter Boxed, we specialize in spoiler-free guidance that helps you solve puzzles on your own.
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