It includes all the benefits of the standard plan plus access to a catalogue of up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games to play at no extra cost. PS Plus Extra is now available in multiple locations (see region details above). Physical vouchers have been discontinued but will still generally be redeemable against an Essential plan.
You can sign up for PS Plus Essential either through your console or the PlayStation Store online. The standard tier of PS Plus can be paid for monthly, quarterly or annually.
Here are the prices for the three different options. PlayStation Plus starts at £7 / $10 / €9 per month for the Essential tier, but as you get more benefits with each higher tier, so too does the price increase.