Free-to-Play

Free-to-Play, or F2P, is a play option that was introduced with Patch 1.5.0. Players who choose this option do not have to pay a monthly subscription fee. Characters can be played up to level 60, but there are gameplay and grouping restrictions. Any combination of these restrictions can be lifted through purchases from the in-game Cartel Market, which would automatically upgrade the account to Preferred status.

Free-to-play includes:
 * 8 distinct class stories, each with three chapters across 12 planets
 * Each planet has optional unique side planetary missions (aka "quests") and exploratory quests, which are different on the Imperial and Republic faction
 * Repeatable heroics (2+ player content that can be completed solo), which are different on the Imperial and Republic faction
 * Level 1-60 flashpoints (aka "dungeons", 4-man group content with a solo version available)
 * Warzones (player-vs-player content)
 * Galactic Starfighter (space player-vs-player)
 * Galactic strongholds (player housing)
 * Space missions (solo space content)
 * Rise of the Hutt Cartel and Shadow of Revan expansions

Unlocking expansions and level 61-75
For new players, access to levels 61-75 is obtained by subscribing for one month. All expansions and levels 61-75 will be unlocked for all characters and all new characters for the life of the account. This includes access to the three flashpoints that are a part of the expansions.

Players only need to subscribe for one month to unlock the current expansions forever. If players unsubscribe after one month, they will lose their subscriber perks and status, but will keep their expansions and ability to reach level 70. Once unsubscribed, players will become a "preferred" player and will have access to more perks than a free-to-play player, but less than a subscriber.

Expansions
Previous players may find that they already have access to some or all of levels 61-75:

Knights of the Fallen Empire: Access to levels 61-65 can only be obtained by subscribing for at least one month after October 2015. Players will receive all chapters for Knights of the Fallen Empire released until they unsubscribe; these chapters will be unlocked for the duration of the account. (Example: A player unsubscribes after chapter 10 is released. They will keep access to chapter 10 and levels 61-65 for the life of the account, but will not have access to chapter 11 onwards.) This expansion includes the Star Fortress flashpoint.

Knights of the Eternal Throne: Access to levels 66-70 can only be obtained by subscribing for at least one month after December 2016. Players will receive all chapters for Knights of the Eternal Throne. Note that the Galactic Command system, Dark vs. Light Rewards, and Uprisings are only available to subscribers.

Onslaught: Access to levels 71-75 can only be obtained by subscribing for at least one month after October 2019.

Free-to-play, preferred and subscriber differences
Each of the limited options below can be opened up through the Cartel Market.

1 ''"Rewards" does not include credits, some reputation tokens, and XP gained from defeating the last boss. All players, even F2P, have unlimited access to these. "Rewards" only include gear, decorations, mounts, pets, some reputation tokens, non-reputation tokens, and crafting materials. Note that players only get these rewards if they win the loot roll against other players. They can also get an unlimited number of these if they do it solo.''

2 ''Unlimited when grouped with, and queued by a subscriber. Otherwise subject to Solo Warzone limits.''

3 ''If a player already has a character with that species, they can still play with them as a Preferred player. Players can unlock any species for any class with Cartel Coins, credits, or getting a character of that species to level 50. Some customization options are locked for certain classes until unlocked using the previous methods. Subscribers can only make the following species for the following classes unless unlocked:''


 * Humans and Cyborgs: Any class
 * Zabrak: Any Republic class can be a brown Zabrak; Any Empire class can be a red Zabrak.
 * Chiss: Bounty Hunters and Imperial Agents
 * Miraluka: Jedi Knights and Consulars
 * Mirialan: All Republic classes
 * Rattataki: Bounty Hunters, Imperial Agents, and Sith Inquisitors
 * Sith Pureblood: Sith Warriors and Inquisitors
 * Twi'lek: Jedi Knight, Jedi Consular, Smuggler, and Sith Inquisitor
 * Cathar: Must be unlocked
 * Togruta: Must be unlocked

4 There have been conflicting reports about Artifact Authorization after 4.0: some F2P players mentioned that are able to use them, others mentioned they could not.

5 ''The 5.1.2 Patch Notes mention "Free-to-Play chat restrictions have been adjusted in order to help address third-party service advertisement spam." We currently do not know what that means yet: we've seen multiple players around level 20 mention that they cannot access chat still.''

6 ''Those that subscribed between November 2015 and December 2016 get 1 extra character slot. Those that subscribed between December 2016 and now get another character slot. Those that were subscribed at anytime during both time periods get 2 extra character slots: 1 for each time period. Note that many promotions give out free character slots too.''

Free-to-Play

 * 200,000 1,000,000 Credit Cap (anything above this amount is saved in an Escrow account)
 * Escrow Account Credits can now be transferred out with a Cartel Market Consumable
 * These only transfer credits from the Escrow Account to the existing credit balance.
 * Escrow Transfer items ignore the credit cap when used, but do not make permanent changes to the credit cap.
 * Small Package - 50k - 40 Cartel Coins
 * Medium Package - 150k - 80 Cartel Coins
 * Large Package - 600k - 240 Cartel Coins
 * Access to 1 Crew Skill
 * Access to 2 Character Slots
 * Access to 2 Galactic Trade Network slots
 * Access to 3 Quickbars
 * Access to 3 Species for Character Creation
 * Access to 5 Medical Probes (In Field Revive) per Character Unlimited Medical Probes
 * Bank (Cargo Hold) Access must be unlocked (However, Legacy Bank is available to all that have 1 character at level 15+.)
 * Can only receive Mail
 * Cannot Trade items
 * No Access to Priority In-Game Support - Only has access to email, phone, and forum support
 * No Access to Rest XP
 * No Login Priority - Only an issue right after a patch
 * Restricted Chat functions
 * Below maximum level: restricted to 10 Flashpoints Rewards from the final boss per week
 * Restricted to 10 Space Missions per week
 * Restricted to 10 Warzones per week
 * Unlock must be purchased to use most Artifact (Purple) gear. Some Artifact gear may be used without an unlock.
 * No access to any Operations
 * No access to the Galactic Command system, thus no access to endgame gear.
 * No access to Dark vs. Light rewards

Preferred
Preferred accounts offer a bit fewer restrictions than a free-to-play account. To qualify for a preferred account, the account has to have met any of the following conditions:
 * Previously subscribed to SWTOR using any method, including subscribing once or re-occurring on swtor.com, buying a subscription package from swtor.com that includes bonus items, 60-day time cards and subscription time codes from buying the physical copy of the game, purchasing the origins pack, or purchasing game time from Amazon.
 * Purchased anything through the SWTOR Official Store.
 * WARNING: For some reason, the 250 Cartel Coin pack ($2.99 USD) may not qualify users for preferred status. If this issue crops up, it is recommended that support is contacted.
 * This method includes buying a Cartel Coin Card from a different website or store and applying it to your account.
 * This mainly includes buying Cartel Coins, Subscription Time, or Subscription Time Packs with bonus items - anything you buy with real money, not in-game
 * Have purchased the Shadow of Revan expansion (simply subscribe to unlock all expansions)
 * Purchased the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion (simply subscribe to unlock all expansions)

Preferred accounts have more benefits than a F2P account:
 * 350,000 1,000,000 Credit cap total (anything above this amount is saved in an Escrow account)
 * Escrow Account Credits can now be transferred out with a Cartel Market Consumable
 * These only transfer credits from the Escrow Account to existing credit balance.
 * Escrow Transfer items ignore the credit cap when used, but do not make permanent changes to the credit cap.
 * *Small Package - 50k - 40 Cartel Coins
 * Medium Package - 150k - 80 Cartel Coins
 * Large Package - 600k - 240 Cartel Coins
 * Access to 1 additional Crew Skill
 * Access to 2 additional Quickbars
 * Access to 8 additional Character Slots
 * Access to Bank (Cargo Hold)
 * Access to Sprint at Level 1
 * Access to Trading Items after Level 10
 * Mail Restricted (only 1 attachment & cannot send credits)
 * Medium Login Priority - Only an issue right after a patch
 * Still no Access to Priority In-Game Support - Only has access to email, phone, and forum support
 * Almost unrestricted Chat: Only restriction is a timer between General Chat uses
 * Reduced cooldown on quick travel options

Note that some previous subscribers that are now Preferred get the following benefits:
 * Access to all Artifact Quality Gear you have worn
 * Access to Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion content if you subscribed after September 2013.
 * Access to Shadow of Revan and Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion content (Free for Subscribers) if you subscribed after October 2015.
 * Access to Knights of the Eternal Throne chapters if you subscribed after December 2016.
 * Characters that exceed the Preferred number of characters cap will remain "Inactive" until Character Slots are bought or the player resubscribes. The player chooses which ones are "Inactive."

Subscriber/premium
A subscriber or premium member pays a monthly fee of around $15 to access and play the game. Subscribers/premium members have none of the restrictions that the other account types have.

Here is a short list of the Subscriber and Premium benefits over pure F2P players:
 * Access to 12 additional Character Slots + 1 - 2 additional Character Slots for the life of the account (depending on when you were a subscriber)
 * Access to 48 additional Galactic Trade Network Slots
 * Access to 4 additional Quickbars
 * Access to all Artifact Quality Gear
 * Access to Priority In-Game Support
 * Access to Rest XP
 * Access to Two additional Crew Skills
 * Access to Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion content (Free for Subscribers)
 * Starting October 27, 2015: Access to Shadow of Revan and Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion content (Free for Subscribers)
 * Free Unlimited Re-specializations
 * Higher Experience Point Rate over Level 20
 * Higher Login Priority
 * Monthly Cartel Coin grant
 * 500 base subscriber grant (or more based on number of months bought)
 * 100 for any account with an authenticator
 * No Chat Restrictions
 * No Credit Cap
 * Reduced cooldown on quick travel options
 * Unlimited Flashpoints End Boss Rewards
 * Unlimited Medical Probes
 * Unlimited Mail
 * Unlimited Operations
 * Unlimited Space Missions
 * Unlimited Warzones
 * Unlimited Uprisings
 * Access to the Galactic Command system (at max level)
 * Access to Dark vs. Light rewards

Preferred
An account can be upgraded to preferred status by making any purchase from the SWTOR Official Store.

Subscription/premium
An account can be upgraded to a subscriber or premium status by purchasing a subscription from the SWTOR Official Store.

Subscriptions are currently available in the following plans:
 * Game CD key for 30 days - various - one time purchase (Note: players now do not get anything else for using a game CD key.)
 * 60 Days - $29.99 USD - one time purchase
 * 30 Days - $14.99 USD (Billed Every 30 Days) - recurring purchase
 * 90 Days - $13.99 USD per month (Billed $41.97 USD Every 90 Days) - recurring purchase
 * 180 Days - $12.99 USD per month (Billed $77.94 USD Every 180 Days)- recurring purchase

After a subscription has ended, the account becomes a preferred account.

Patches









 * October 2015: SWTOR support forum moved to EA Answers forum and is now available to all users. Email and phone support will still be available to all users; in-game priority ticket support will still be subscriber only.
 * June 2015: Security Key app is now available for all users to setup.