Tesla will end the $8,000 one-time purchase option for Full Self-Driving starting on February 14, moving new buyers to a subscription-only model. The standard plan is priced at $99 per month or $999 per year. Elon Musk confirmed the change, while customers who already bought FSD outright will keep their existing access.
The new pricing structure gives owners who previously purchased Enhanced Autopilot a lower rate of $49 per month. Not a Tesla App also reported that Musk has described the current $99 fee as a discounted price, with the implication that subscription costs could rise as FSD capabilities improve. The headline price is staying low for now, but Tesla is already signaling that it may not stay there.
Subscriber count is tied to Musk’s pay package
The shift is not only about pricing. It also puts more weight on a metric that matters to Musk’s compensation plan. In November 2025, Tesla shareholders approved a package valued at $1 trillion with support above 75%. The award is made up of 12 tranches of stock totaling more than 423 million shares, and one of the operating targets is to reach 10 million paid FSD subscribers.
Tesla disclosed FSD user figures for the first time in its fourth-quarter 2025 results. The company said it had about 1.1 million active FSD users globally, but roughly 70%, or about 770,000, came from legacy one-time purchases. That leaves only about 330,000 users on recurring monthly plans. According to Yahoo Finance, those outright buyers do not count toward the “subscriber” target in Musk’s pay package, which makes the removal of the purchase option more than a simple product adjustment.
Pricing and availability still vary by market
Tesla’s FSD rollout remains uneven across regions. The US and Canada keep the $99 monthly and $999 yearly structure, with the lower rate for EAP owners. Australia is priced at A$149 per month, and its outright purchase deadline has been extended to March 31. New Zealand is set at NZ$159 per month. Mexico and Puerto Rico already support subscriptions, while South Korea has FSD access but no subscription details have been announced.
China is a notable exception. FSD there is still offered only as a one-time purchase at RMB 64,000, and no subscription option has been launched. In Europe, Dutch transport regulator RDW is expected to issue FSD compliance approval in February 2026, but the service has not officially gone live. Tesla is clearly moving market by market rather than switching the whole world at once.
Legacy owners keep value, resale dynamics may shift
For drivers who already paid $8,000 to buy FSD outright, the policy change protects their position. Their features remain active without new fees, and that could make those vehicles more attractive in the used-car market. Older cars keep the software attached. New buyers do not get that choice.
At the same time, Tesla’s subscription model introduces a clear limit for resale: an FSD subscription does not transfer with the vehicle. If a car is sold, the next owner must subscribe again to use FSD, which could weigh on used-car valuations tied to active subscription access. For Tesla, the attraction is recurring software revenue. Based on about 330,000 monthly subscribers paying $99, annualized revenue is roughly $390 million. If the company ever reaches the 10 million subscriber threshold in Musk’s compensation plan, that figure would climb to nearly $12 billion a year.