Tumblr now lets you pay a subscription to avoid ads

Now bring back the porn.
By Amanda Yeo  on 
The Tumblr logo on a smartphone screen.
You can now pay a subscription fee to avoid ads on Tumblr. Credit: Thiago Prudencio / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

Tumblr has introduced an ad-free subscription service, letting users pay to temporarily remove advertisements. Now anyone who desperately misses late '00s Tumblr can try to buy a piece of that blissfully ad-free period back.

The notoriously porn-free blogging platform announced its new feature in a blog post on Thursday. Users can now subscribe for $4.99 per month to get rid of ads, or choose to pay $39.99 for a year — a 33 percent discount.

"As of today, you can set up ad-free browsing on your personal desktop computer, from anywhere in the world, and then enjoy the same effervescent Tumblr you know and love (yes, including mobile) without the interruption of ads," wrote Tumblr.

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Of course, you also don't have to subscribe at all, and can just continue using Tumblr's ad-filled incarnation for free. Personally, I've never been annoyed enough at Tumblr ads to shell out $40 simply to make them stop.

How to remove ads on Tumblr

To subscribe, open Tumblr on desktop, go to your Account Settings, and click on "Go Ad-Free." You can then select whether you want to shell out monthly or yearly to avoid seeing the same Amazon Kindle ad literally every three posts.

A screenshot of Tumblr showing the new ad-free subscription feature.
No more ads. Credit: Tumblr

While Tumblr staunchly refused to host ads at its launch in 2007, they were subsequently introduced to the platform in 2012. The website's advertising program then grew significantly after it was acquired by Yahoo in 2013, with ads being placed on every single Tumblr blog in 2016. Bad Tumblr ads even became a meme, with users frequently sharing screenshots of particularly bizarre ones and requesting the ability to reblog them.

A subscription thus won't guarantee you'll never see any Tumblr ads at all. But at least you'll only see the ones others think are too good not to share.

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Amanda Yeo
Amanda Yeo
Reporter

Amanda Yeo is Mashable's Australian reporter, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good. This includes everything from video games and K-pop to movies and gadgets.


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