Introducing the Tom’s Hardware Premium Beta: Exclusive content for members

Tom's Hardware Premium Logo in Red and White with beta lettering.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

For over 25 years, Tom’s Hardware has been a bastion for independent reviews, news, and analysis of the PC hardware and semiconductor industry. With a rich history, a vibrant community, and a team of expert authors at the helm, we’ve delivered free-to-consume tech journalism for almost three decades.

We’re committed to continuing that legacy: no-nonsense, independent coverage of the latest PC hardware and everything that shapes the industry.

A message from our Editor-in-Chief

For nearly three decades, Tom’s Hardware has served the enthusiast community with authoritative advice and insights based on years of experience and in-depth knowledge, and testing. Now we aim to take it to the next level.

Think of our subscription service as a backstage pass that will give you a new level of access and insight into the inner workings of the tech world. Our Tom’s Hardware Premium subscription will provide you with even deeper analysis and perspective on the latest news and features, along with access to the most comprehensive and up-to-date benchmarking database available.

This service will ultimately enable us to invest more time in the painstaking analysis and data collection that define our brand, while also enabling us to expand the scope and depth of our coverage, bringing you along with us as we explore the latest and greatest in the industry.

We’re incredibly excited to launch Tom’s Hardware Premium and share it with the community that’s been with us every step of the way. We can’t wait for you to experience what we’ve been building and to continue shaping the future of Tom’s Hardware with you.

Paul Alcorn
Paul Alcorn

What is Tom's Hardware Premium?

Tom’s Hardware Premium serves as an extension to what our website has done for years, and an expansion into new territory. Tom’s Hardware Premium offers new types of content. This includes exclusive news analysis, revealing the story behind the story, and going beyond the headline.

In addition, we’ll offer exclusive features and interviews, including hardware roadmaps, uncut Q&As from press junkets, interviews with executives in the hardware and semiconductor industry, and access to our new tool, Bench.

Bench is a new benchmarking tool that puts detailed data at your fingertips. Bench covers categories like CPUs, GPUs, and Laptops, allowing you to explore individual test results for a product and compare it directly against others in the same category.

That’s not all that Tom’s Hardware Premium aims to offer: As a part of your subscription, you’ll also get access to our member-only newsletter, Uptime, with email-only insights.

All of this new coverage will be penned by our veteran team of industry-leading experts, delivering you the best PC hardware coverage of any mainstream website.

Launching in beta

At first, we’re launching in Beta, which means that some elements of Tom’s Hardware Premium may be tweaked in the future.

We have also been testing how to write these deeper articles over the last few months. This library of stories will also be a part of the subscription, so you can discover exactly what Tom’s Hardware Premium aims to achieve on day one.

We want to do right by you, our readers, so we’re very open to feedback. That doesn’t change our promise to deliver you the coverage you’ve come to expect for free.

How much does Tom's Hardware Premium cost?

For a limited time, you can subscribe to Tom’s Hardware Premium at an exclusive introductory price for one full year of access. After this period has ended, it’ll return to our standard annual rate. This allows us to keep investing in and delivering exclusive content. By subscribing, you support Tom’s Hardware and our editorial mission. You can view up-to-date pricing information for Tom’s Hardware Premium on our subscription page.

Introducing Bench

"Beta Bench" lettering on black background with red bars

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

We also offer all Tom’s Hardware Premium members access to Bench, a tool that harnesses the power of our granular benchmarking data across several product categories, including CPUs, GPUs, and Laptops. This tool lets you view individual benchmark tests for a product across a single category and includes a wider comparison function.

Bench requires a huge amount of data, and maintaining such a tool requires a lot of ongoing maintenance, which is an incredibly time-consuming task. This is why it will be exclusive to Tom’s Hardware Premium members. Without your help, we wouldn’t be able to deliver and maintain such a feature.

Some aspects of our Bench database are part of an ongoing refinement process, where we’ll continue to populate and add products, refine benchmarks, and links to reviews.

Existing pages, such as our CPU and GPU hierarchies, and our detailed product reviews, will remain free to access.

To summarize, Tom’s Hardware Premium offers:

- Dedicated news analysis

- Exclusive features & interviews

- Uncut Q&A sessions with industry execs

- Access to Uptime, a brand-new member newsletter

- Unlocked access to Bench, a tool built on our benchmarking database

How does the paywall work?

The Tom’s Hardware content you have come to know and enjoy will remain free. This includes news, reviews, deals, guides, and feature articles.

There will be an additional registration window after you have read five articles within 30 days, and you may be asked to register for a free Tom’s Hardware account. An account will help you keep connected with all free-to-consume Tom’s Hardware content, and will be the best way to keep reading Tom’s Hardware interruption-free. The registration window is also dismissible for users who do not wish to create an account.

You can also use your existing Tom’s Hardware Forum login to sign in to the website, meaning that if you’re already on the forums, you just need to select the appropriate option. Otherwise, Tom’s Hardware Premium will not change anything for forum users.

To read Tom’s Hardware Premium content, you will be required to have an active Tom’s Hardware Premium subscription. This also extends to accessing premium features such as Bench. To view more information on how this works, we’ve answered all of your questions on why Tom’s Hardware now has a paywall.

Thank you for all of your support over the years. Without you, the Tom’s Hardware community, we wouldn’t be able to keep going for almost thirty years. Tom’s Hardware Premium is merely the next step in our evolution, and we hope that you’ll come along with us for the ride.


To subscribe to Tom’s Hardware Premium, you can sign up at this page. We appreciate your support.


If you have any feedback about Tom’s Hardware Premium, please fill out our handy feedback form. For account-related questions, please email contact@magazinesdirect.com.

Tom's Hardware is the leading destination for hardcore computer enthusiasts. We cover everything from processors to 3D printers, single-board computers, SSDs and high-end gaming rigs, empowering readers to make the most of the tech they love, keep up on the latest developments and buy the right gear. Our staff has more than 100 years of combined experience covering news, solving tech problems and reviewing components and systems.

  • helper800
    Seems like a decent news membership, although, if 69 dollars is the introductory annual price, I can only assume 80-120 is the normal annual price. At 69 it seems like it could be a decent deal considering the exclusives and new tool. At 100 or more per year, it may be a hard ask for the casual hardware news consumers considering there are plenty of other sites that do top to bottom, no stone left unturned, type reviews for free. Does the membership also reduce advertisements? I will probably try it out and see how it goes, its the least I can do after using this site and forums for over a decade.
    Reply
  • SayemAhmed
    @helper800 Hey, thanks for supporting TH and being a long-standing member of the community, first and foremost.

    Pricing and other benefits are something that we're going to continue to think about and refine as time goes on. We've got tonnes of ideas and new features in the pipeline. This is just the beginning of what we aim to achieve with Tom's Hardware Premium.

    There's also a direct feedback form to help us understand what subscribers want. If you end up subbing, we're keen to hear your thoughts.
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    Tom's hardware have a global market... The price need to set like steam some countries cheaper than other ones 100$ for me it's anual cost of netflix - amazon and another stream...
    Reply
  • redgarl
    JUST BUY IT!

    There is a cost to delay your purchase...

    tu7pxJXBBn8View: https://youtu.be/tu7pxJXBBn8?si=F2eo3tu4uzcPmx4P
    Reply
  • artk2219
    If im being honest, it kind of sounds like the content that your sister site Anandtech used to offer.
    Reply
  • helper800
    Amdlova said:
    Tom's hardware have a global market... The price need to set like steam some countries cheaper than other ones 100$ for me it's anual cost of netflix - amazon and another stream...
    The content that is normally here for free with remain according the the director of Future, so even if you cannot pay for the premium, you will still get what you have always gotten. Global regional pricing is also a decent suggestion, though hard to pull off well or without any exploits.
    Reply
  • elforeign
    end-game capitalism. Soon, you'll have to pay for Edge to open. To do a Google Query. Soon, the power button on your case will become paywalled.
    Reply
  • helper800
    elforeign said:
    end-game capitalism. Soon, you'll have to pay for Edge to open. To do a Google Query. Soon, the power button on your case will become paywalled.
    No. You are actually more closely remarking on the meme of Libertarianism, if anything. End-game capitalism is a free and fair market with reasonable regulations. Nobody is forcing you to pay for a subscription.
    Reply
  • SkyNetRising
    I wouldn't say - articles are a very popular way for getting information.
    People just watch tech youtube content.

    And putting articles behind paywall?
    Let's see, how many people will be interested in that.
    Reply
  • UnforcedERROR
    elforeign said:
    end-game capitalism. Soon, you'll have to pay for Edge to open. To do a Google Query. Soon, the power button on your case will become paywalled.
    Most news sites have leaned into subscription territory because it's a hard sector to make money in and remain afloat, especially with traditional news and TV being outpaced by social media. People don't work for free, and you shouldn't feel so entitled as to think they should, especially for you. Look at Jared leaving, for instance. He'd been here for quite a while, but the pay was unsustainable. As long as the majority of the important news remains intact, why does it matter?
    Reply