What's the difference between following and subscribing?

Following

• Following is free.
• To follow a creator, select Follow on their card in Explore under Creators, follow them from one of their reels, or select ⋯ on their post in your For you feed, then Follow.
• Their new posts appear in the Following tab on Home, and you can get emails and push notifications when they post or go live. See Will I be told when a creator posts or goes live?.
• To stop following, select Following on their card in Explore under Creators.

Subscribing

• Subscribing is paid and renews automatically until you cancel. See How do I subscribe to a creator?.
• You can see the posts a creator shares with Subscribers, as well as the posts they share with Everyone.
• Some creators only take messages from subscribers, or from followers and subscribers.

Paid extras

Some things cost extra whether or not you subscribe: pay-to-unlock posts (everyone pays once, subscribers too), ticketed livestreams (subscribers need a ticket too), video calls and video requests. Each creator decides what to share with everyone, with subscribers, or for a price.