You don’t need PS Plus to join PlayStation Stars. The program is free to join for anyone with a PlayStation account. You don’t even need a PS4 or PS5 to sign-up, though you will need to gain trophies to increase your level.
Does PlayStation Stars cost anything?
PlayStation Stars is completely free to join. You don’t have to belong to any tier of PS Plus, and subscribers of that service don’t get any special perks in PS Stars.
However, you’ll need to spend some cash to rise in the ranks. Levels 2-4 require you to have purchased a certain amount of games from the PlayStation Store. Furthermore, you must earn 128 uncommon trophies to reach level 4, so you’ll need to play quite a few games.
Unfortunately, PS Stars doesn’t count the above purchases retroactively. So, if you want to make it to level 4, you’ll have to spend at least a bit of cash. Also, note that the games must be from the PlayStation Store. It doesn’t seem as though physical media doesn’t count.
We’ll learn more about the ins and outs of PS Stars in the coming days. But, for now, errors are keeping many from checking it out at all.