Xbox Live Gold is a monthly subscription that gives users access to the online multiplayer service that costs $9.99 for 1 month, $24.99 for 3 months, $39.99 for 6 months, and $59.99 for 12 months. Xbox Live Gold is sold at a full price without discount at major retailers including Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Newegg.
Related: Difference Between Xbox Live and Xbox Live Gold
How Much Is Xbox Live Gold Membership?
You can purchase Xbox Live Gold memberships with 4 different lengths – 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. In general, the longer the length of the membership, the cheaper is the per-month cost.
Microsoft used to sell all 4 lengths of membership. However, in an effort to de-emphasize Xbox Live Gold and push people to upgrade to its more expensive plan of Game Pass Ultimate instead, Microsoft no longer sells the 6- or 12-month membership directly to gamers located in the United States.
The list prices of the various Xbox Live Gold memberships are:
| Plan | List Price |
| 1 Month | $9.99 |
| 3 Months | $24.99 |
| 6 Months | $39.99 |
| 12 Months | $59.99 |
Cheapest Place to Buy Discounted Xbox Live Gold
The cheapest places to buy discounted Xbox Live Gold are online market sites such as CDKeys or online marketplaces such as eBay or Gameflip for 20% to 40% discounts. Another way to save money is to buy discounted Xbox prepaid gift cards at 10% to 20% off and use them to buy Xbox Live Gold membership.
| Plan | Cheapest at | Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | Gameflip | $6.99 | 30% |
| 3 Months | G2A | $14.70 | 41% |
| 6 Months | G2A | $28.07 | 30% |
| 12 Months | Gameflip | $39.99 | 33% |
Xbox Website
As mentioned above, Microsoft no longer directly sells the 6- or 12-month membership of Xbox Live Gold. The Xbox website is no different – you can only buy 1 month or 3 months membership there.
The Xbox website does not offer any discount on Xbox Live Gold memberships. You would have to pay the full list prices for them – $9.99 for 1 month of membership and $24.99 for 3 months of membership.
The Xbox website is not a good place to buy Xbox Live Gold memberships.
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | $9.99 | $9.99 | 0% |
| 3 Months | $24.99 | $24.99 | 0% |
| 6 Months | N/A | $39.99 | N/A |
| 12 Months | N/A | $59.99 | N/A |
Microsoft.com
Just like the Xbox website, the Microsoft website only sells Xbox Live Gold memberships at full prices. If you are looking for a deal, keep looking. And just like the Xbox website, the Microsoft website also no longer sells the 6- or 12-month membership.
The Microsoft website is also not a good place to buy Xbox Live Gold memberships.
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | $9.99 | $9.99 | 0% |
| 3 Months | $24.99 | $24.99 | 0% |
| 6 Months | N/A | $39.99 | N/A |
| 12 Months | N/A | $59.99 | N/A |
Amazon
While Amazon may have a reputation as a good place to buy things at a discount, its product offering of Xbox Live Gold membership is decidedly underwhelming – it is selling the memberships at full prices. That’s right, no discounts are offered by Amazon.
Also, Amazon does not sell the 1-month membership. However, since Amazon is also a marketplace, some 3rd party sellers on Amazon do sell the Xbox Live Gold 1-month membership. But their prices tend to be highly inflated.
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | $17.98 | $9.99 | 80% Overcharge |
| 3 Months | $24.99 | $24.99 | 0% |
| 6 Months | $39.99 | $39.99 | 0% |
| 12 Months | $59.99 | $59.99 | 0% |
Walmart
Walmart is famous for its ”Everyday Low Price.” But when it comes to the prices for Xbox Live Gold memberships, there is nothing low about them. Just like Amazon, Walmart does not offer any discounts on Xbox Live Gold. You have to pay the full list prices here.
Also similar to Amazon, Walmart does not sell the 1-month membership of Xbox Live Gold. The shortest membership you can get here is for 3 months. While there are also 3rd party sellers on the Walmart website, none of them sell the 1-month Xbox Live Gold membership either.
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | N/A | $9.99 | N/A |
| 3 Months | $24.99 | $24.99 | 0% |
| 6 Months | $39.99 | $39.99 | 0% |
| 12 Months | $59.99 | $59.99 | 0% |
Target
When it comes to its prices for Xbox Live Gold, Target is no different from Walmart or Amazon. It charges full price for them.
Unsurprisingly, Target also does not sell the 1-month membership of Xbox Live Gold – the shortest duration you can get here is for 3 months. The Target website does have a limited number of 3rd party sellers on it, but none of them sell Xbox Live Gold memberships.
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | N/A | $9.99 | N/A |
| 3 Months | $24.99 | $24.99 | 0% |
| 6 Months | $39.99 | $39.99 | 0% |
| 12 Months | $59.99 | $59.99 | 0% |
Best Buy
Best Buy is yet another big box retailer that sells Xbox Live Gold memberships at full price only. No discount is in sight at this place.
Surprisingly, Best Buy still has the 1-month membership of Xbox Live Gold for sale – at full price, of course. Even more surprisingly, for some unknown reason, Best Buy does not sell 6-month membership of Xbox Live Gold. And because Best Buy shut down their 3rd party seller marketplace back in 2016, you can’t even find a 3rd party seller here to sell you a 6-month membership.
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | $9.99 | $9.99 | 0% |
| 3 Months | $24.99 | $24.99 | 0% |
| 6 Months | N/A | $39.99 | N/A |
| 12 Months | $59.99 | $59.99 | 0% |
GameStop
GameStop is a specialist retailer catering specifically to the gamer market. You might expect something special from a gaming specialist when it comes to Xbox Live Gold. But you would be disappointed. The Xbox Live Gold product lineup and pricing at GameStop are very run-of-the-mill, not any different from what you would find at general retailers such as Walmart or Target.
Like most other retailers, GameStop only sells Xbox Live Gold memberships that are 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months long. And it only sells them for full price.
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | N/A | $9.99 | N/A |
| 3 Months | $24.99 | $24.99 | 0% |
| 6 Months | $39.99 | $39.99 | 0% |
| 12 Months | $59.99 | $59.99 | 0% |
Newegg
Like Best Buy or GameStop, Newegg is a specialist retailer targeting the tech gadget and gaming markets. Unlike Best Buy or GameStop, Newegg is online only with no bricks-and-mortar store.
Like most other retailers on this list, Newegg sells Xbox Live Gold memberships at full price with no discount. Unlike most other retailers on this list, Newegg sells all 4 lengths of Xbox Live Gold membership – 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months. So at least it has that going for it.
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | $9.99 | $9.99 | 0% |
| 3 Months | $24.99 | $24.99 | 0% |
| 6 Months | $39.99 | $39.99 | 0% |
| 12 Months | $59.99 | $59.99 | 0% |
CDKeys
It is difficult to find discounts on Xbox Live Gold because Microsoft has been very strict about controlling the retail price of Xbox Live Gold. Does that mean it is impossible to find discounted Xbox Live Gold? Fortunately not. You just have to know where to look.
One of the very few places that sell discounted Xbox Live Gold is CDKeys. CDKeys is a specialist online retailer that specializes in video game keys, gift cards, and memberships.
CDKeys is technically a grey market site. It buys its game keys and cards from a wide network of suppliers located in all corners of the world. It exploits regional pricing differences and exchange rates to save money on keys. That is how it manages to bypass the strict price control of Microsoft.
The game keys you find on CDKeys are 100% legit. But some keys are specific to a certain region such as the European Union or Brazil. You just need to pay attention to make sure you are not buying a key from a different region. All the links in the table below are for keys that work in the United States.
Not all Xbox Live Gold memberships are sold at a discount on CDKeys. For example, the 1-month membership is actually being sold at a premium to the list price. On the other hand, for some other lengths such as the 6-month membership, you can get a discount of more than 20%.
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | $12.29 | $9.99 | 23% Overcharged |
| 3 Months | $24.69 | $24.99 | 1% |
| 6 Months | $31.49 | $39.99 | 21% |
| 12 Months | $59.99 | $59.99 | 0% |
3rd Party Online Marketplaces
There are many online marketplaces where 3rd party sellers from all over the world can list and sell their Xbox Live Gold. As small 3rd party vendors, they are very adept at sourcing the lowest cost Xbox Live Gold from around the world and stay under the radar of Microsoft’s price control mechanism. As a result, you are likely to find the cheapest Xbox Live Gold memberships on these marketplaces – yes, even cheaper than what you can find on CDKeys.
The downside of these marketplaces is that their inventories and prices tend to fluctuate quite a bit. But given their low prices, that is a trade-off many people are happy to make.
A few of the online marketplaces that tend to have the cheapest prices on Xbox Live Gold are – eBay, G2A, and Gameflip.
The tables below give you an idea of what kind of discounts you can get at these marketplaces. As sellers come and go on them, the price you end up getting may differ slightly from the prices below. But all in all, these marketplaces are the cheapest places to buy Xbox Live Gold.
eBay
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | $7.78 | $9.99 | 21% |
| 3 Months | $17.99 | $24.99 | 28% |
| 6 Months | $30.95 | $39.99 | 23% |
| 12 Months | $53.90 | $59.99 | 10% |
G2A
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | $7.60 | $9.99 | 24% |
| 3 Months | $14.70 | $24.99 | 41% |
| 6 Months | $28.07 | $39.99 | 30% |
| 12 Months | $50.95 | $59.99 | 15% |
Gameflip
| Plan | Price | List Price | Discount |
| 1 Month | $6.99 | $9.99 | 30% |
| 3 Months | $20.99 | $24.99 | 16% |
| 6 Months | $35.00 | $39.99 | 14% |
| 12 Months | $39.99 | $59.99 | 33% |
Cheapest Way To Get Xbox Live Gold
So far, it looks like the only way to get discounts on Xbox Live Gold is to buy it at CDKeys or from a 3rd party seller on an online marketplace. But there is actually one other way to get discounted Xbox Live Gold – by using a discounted Xbox prepaid gift card.
Microsoft issues prepaid gift cards for Xbox in various denominations – $5, $15, $20, $25, $50, $100, and more. In addition to buying Xbox games, these prepaid gift cards can also be used to buy Xbox Live Gold memberships.
While major retailers such as Amazon and Walmart typically sell Xbox prepaid gift cards at their full list prices, it is possible to find deeply discounted prepaid gift cards at online marketplaces. That means you can buy Xbox prepaid gift cards at a discount and then use the prepaid gift cards to buy an Xbox Live Gold membership. This way, you are in effect getting a discount on Xbox Live Gold.
A few of the online marketplaces that tend to have the cheapest prices of Xbox prepaid gift cards are – G2A, Gameflip, Raise, and CardCash.
The tables below give you an idea of what kind of discounts you can get at these marketplaces. As sellers come and go on them, the price you end up getting may differ slightly from the prices below. But all in all, these marketplaces are the cheapest places to buy Xbox prepaid gift cards.
Prices of Xbox Prepaid Gift Cards at Various Marketplaces
| Denomination | Retailer | Price | Discount |
| $25 | G2A | $21.15 | 15% |
| $25 | CardCash | $23 | 8% |
| $25 | Gameflip | $23.99 | 4% |
| $50 | Gameflip | $44 | 12% |
| $50 | G2A | $44.46 | 11% |
| $100 | Gameflip | $80 | 20% |
| $100 | G2A | $88.07 | 12% |
| $100 | Raise | $89.84 | 10% |
