D&D Beyond is a marvelous tool and resource for players of D&D. One of its strengths is the myriad of purchase options, from using the free resources, to buying individual items, to the Legendary Bundle.  That strength can also be confusing to those considering D&D Beyond.  This post is written for folks who are considering using D&D Beyond.  It lays out several different scenarios for Players and DMs and suggests purchasing strategies for each of those scenarios.  There are probably a near infinite number of purchasing options, but this at least gives you a starting point.

Questions for clarity, constructive comments, and suggestions are welcome;  arguments about the merits or ethics of the pricing structure are not.  (I'll happily engage you about such things in a different thread, just not here). 

Note: at the end of April of 2024 D&D Beyond discontinued the ability to make individual (or à la carte) purchases of classes, races, etc.  Those references below have been struck out, to indicate that fact. 

If you are (primarily) a Player

I can't afford/don't want to pay anything: DDB provides the following resources for free:  The Basic Rules, the System Reference document (also known as the SRD) and the Elemental Evil Player's Companion: these three resources are also available from Wizards of the Coast as pdfs. A few items from Matt Mercer are also free.   If you want to use spells, races, feats, monsters, subclasses, or magic items not in these resources, and are not in a position to pay for them, you can homebrew the elements you need using the homebrew tools on DDB.   This is a good option if you want to test out DDB before purchasing content.

I only play in a few games AND I mostly want a digital character sheet:  If you are interested in DDB primarily to keep track of a small number of characters you use in games, you can just buy the particular races, subclasses, magic items etc. that you need for those characters.  (Keep in mind that some options are available for free-see above)  To do so, go to the marketplace, choose the book that the element is from, click on "view purchase options" and then add the elements you want to the cart.  For example, if I want to build a Tabaxi Storm Herald Barbarian with the Alert feat, I could purchase the Tabaxi race from Mordenkainen Presents, the Path of the Storm Herald Subclass from Xanathar's, and the Alert Feat from the PHB.  If you play one or more spellcasters, you may want to purchase all the spells from the PHB and/or other sources (e.g. Xanathar's).  Note that anything you spend on an element from a book reduces the cost of purchasing the whole book if you decide to do so later.  This is also true of bundles: for example, if I purchase the Tabaxi race now for $1.99, the cost of the race bundle from  Mordenkainen Presents is reduced by that amount (from $9.99 to $8.00). If you prefer, you could homebrew some or all of the elements rather than purchasing them.  This is a good option if you want to test out DDB before purchasing a lot of content.  With individual purchase no longer an option, your best option is probably to homebrew the element you need, unless you are willing to purchase the entire book in which the options you want are found. 

I only play in a few games AND I want online/digital access to the rules:  If you want to both manage your characters AND access the rules in DDB, you should purchase the Players Hand Book and any other rule books you want to be able to access from here.  This works best if you will have internet access when you are gaming/want to access the rules, although there is a mobile D&D Beyond app (For iOS and Android). It doesn't support every feature of the character sheet that the website does, but the mobile team has continued to improve it.   Offline access is limited to two devices per account, unless you have a subscription, in which case the limit is removed. 

I just want digital access to the books; I don't want a digital character sheet: If you just want access to the rules/books, you can buy the "compendium only" version of the books/sources you want.  To do so, go to the marketplace, choose the book that the element is from, click on "view purchase options" and look for the "Compendium only" option.  Doing so gets you the digital version of the books, but does not add any of the races, subclasses, spells, magic items, or feats to the character builder.  It also does not give you access to the spell and monster listings (the tools with filters and search options) or access to the monsters in the encounters tool. If you decide you want these later, you can purchase the full book for the difference between the cost of the "book" and what you spent on the "compendium only" purchase (e.g. If you bought Xanathar's compendium only for $19.99, you could later purchase the rest of Xanathar's-for the character builder and listings-for $10) If you use the app, you can download "compendium only" purchases to the app. Offline access is limited to two devices per account, unless you have a subscription, in which case the limit is removed. ("Compendium only" purchases can only be made through the marketplace on the website)

I play in lots of games/make lots of characters AND I mostly want a digital character sheet: If you need to keep track of more than 6 characters, then you need a Hero Tier subscription (or a Master Tier if you want to share content--see any of the sections that include "I want to share").  You can purchase the entire PHB for $29.99 or the individual player option bundles.  (all of them together are slightly less than the whole PHB; if you don't play with feats, you could skip that bundle.)  If you want player options from other resources, you would need purchase the various options or bundles from those books.  For example, the player races from Mordenkainen Presents, and the subclasses and racial feats from Xanathar's.  (You could homebrew everything instead, if you have the time).  

I play in lots of games/make lots of characters AND I want online/digital access to the rules:  If you want to both manage your characters AND access the rules in DDB, you should purchase the Players Hand Book and any other rule books you want to be able to access from here (or use for character building).  This works best if you will have internet access when you are gaming/want to access the rules, although there is a mobile D&D Beyond app (For iOS and Android). It doesn't support every feature of the character sheet that the website does, but the mobile team has continued to improve it.   Offline access is limited to two devices per account, unless you have a subscription, in which case the limit is removed.  If you need to keep track of more than 6 characters, then you need a Hero Tier subscription (or a Master Tier if you want to share content--see any of the sections that include "I want to share"). 

I want to share my purchases with others:   The Master Tier Subscription provides all the benefits of a Hero Tier subscription, plus you can share content in up to 5 campaigns, with up to 12 players (plus DM) per campaign.  You do not have to be the DM to turn on content sharing.  Players in campaigns where you share content will have access to all of your content (and that of anyone else in the campaign) in the compendium and listing tools; they can use the shared content in the character builder only for characters related to that campaign.  In addition to the Master Tier, you will need to purchase whatever resources you want to have available: purchasing a subscription does not give you access to content.

I want ALL THE "BOOKS": Then the Legendary Bundle is for you: this gives you all the currently published sourcebooks and adventures by Wizards of the Coast, and gives you a 15% discount on future releases that become part of the Legendary Bundle.  Keep in mind that the legendary bundle includes a lot of adventures, which will be of limited use to you as a player; you may prefer to purchase the Sourcebook Bundle instead, which includes all currently published sourcebooks and a 10% discount on the purchase of any sourcebooks released after your purchase.  Note:  The legendary bundle contains all the sourcebooks and adventures. It does not include Tactical Maps Reincarnated.  As time goes on, additional types of resources may be available from the Marketplace that do not fall into the Legendary Bundle, and more bundles of resources (with a similar discount) may be added.  Note as well that the Legendary Bundle discount does not apply to the new physical/digital bundle that WOTC is testing out with Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.

I want ALL THE "BOOKS" and I want to share: Purchase the Legendary Bundle (as above) or, if you don't need the adventures, the Sourcebook bundle (see above) and a Master Tier subscription.  The Master Tier Subscription provides all the benefits of a Hero Tier subscription plus, you can share content in up to 5 campaigns, with up to 12 players (plus DM) per campaign.  You do not have to be the DM to turn on content sharing.  Players in campaigns where you share content will have access to all of your content (and that of anyone else in the campaign) in the compendium and listing tools; they can use the shared content in the character builder only for characters related to that campaign. Note:  The legendary bundle contains all the sourcebooks and adventures. It does not include Tactical Maps Reincarnated.  As time goes on, additional types of resources may be available from the Marketplace that do not fall into the Legendary Bundle, and more bundles of resources (with a similar discount) may be added.   Note as well that the Legendary Bundle discount does not apply to the new physical/digital bundle that WOTC is testing out with Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.

If you are (primarily) a Dungeon Master

Note: More so than with the players section above, you may find that more than one description below applies; infinite combos are possible.

I can't afford/don't want to pay anything:  See the entry with the same name in the player section above. Note that private homebrew can be shared in DDB campaigns, even if no one has the Master Tier subscription.  This is a good option if you want to test out DDB before purchasing content.

I'm a DM but my players don't have DDB accounts: In other words, you want to use DDB primarily as a replacement for your books, but not to see your players' characters here or to share content.  What tools/resources do you most want to use here?

I want access to the rules. Then you should purchase either the compendium only option of the rule books you want access to (if you don't want the character building tools or the monster, spell, or magic items lists) or the full sources of the rule books you want.

I don't need the rules, but I want access to the monsters.  If your primary interest is easy access to monster with the ability to filter, sort, and search them, then you should look at purchasing the monster bundles from the sources that interest you (MM, Fizbans, etc.) To do so, go to the marketplace, choose the book that the element is from, click on "view purchase options" and look for the monsters bundle option.  You can even buy monsters from the various adventures without buying the whole adventure.  WIth individual purchases discontinued, you would need to either buy the entire books with the monsters you want, or homebrew the monsters you want. 

I don't need the rules, but I want to access the magic items. If you want access to the magic items, with the ability to filter, sort, and search them, you can purchase magic item bundles, just like you would monster bundles.

I don't need the rules, but I want to access spells.  If you want access to all the spells, with the ability to filter, sort, and search them, you can purchase spell bundles from the various sources.

My primary interest in campaign management.  First, you should know that currently DDB's campaign management tools are somewhat limited, although they are slowly improving.  Their primary purpose at the moment is to allow content sharing within campaigns and to give DMs access to the players' characters.  There's a couple small sections for notes.  There is also an Encounters tool, which lets you build encounters and then run them.  When running the encounter, some information from the character sheets updates on the encounters page.  The Maps tool is currently(as of 6/2024)  in alpha and available only to subscribers.  If the tools will suit what you need now, think about what content you need to accomplish what you want.  Do you want to use the notes the prep for a session and include links to the monsters, magic items, etc. that may appear?  Then purchase those items either individually, in a bundle, or the complete source.  Are you running a published adventure and want to prep in the notes section and link to sections in the adventure?  Then buy the adventure.  (Note that if you also purchase the master tier and turn on content sharing, you will need to turn off that source for content sharing, which will still allow them to see character options from it, but will not let them read the adventure itself.

I DM one or more groups and I want to share my "books" with my players:  To share content with your players, you need a Master Tier subscription.  You can share content with up to 3 campaigns on DDB; each campaign can have up to 12 players.  Players will only be able to use the character builder tools for their character in your campaign, not for other characters they may have.  They will also have access to compendium content for any resource where your purchase includes the compendium.  Note that they can also see the content of any adventures you have purchased, unless you turn off access to it specifically.  In addition to the Master Tier, you will need to purchase whatever resources you want to have available for your own use and the use of the group.  If you only DM one campaign for a stable group of players, see the "group" section below for another approach. 

If you are a part of group (players & DM) wanting to use the resources here together

We can't afford to/don't want to pay anything:   DDB provides the following resources for free:  The Basic Rules, the System Reference document (also known as the SRD) and the Elemental Evil Player's Companion: these three resources are also available from Wizards of the Coast as pdfs.  If you want to use spells, races, subclasses, feats, monsters, or magic items not in these resources, and are not in a position to pay for them, you can homebrew the elements you need using the homebrew tools on DDB.  Private homebrew can be shared within a campaign even without a subscription, so you could split up entering the elements between your group.  (For example: one person "homebrews" character options from the PHB, another from Xanathar's, a third from Fizban's, etc.)  

One person in our group will "own" all the "books":  Then that person should purchase the books/materials your group needs.  Someone in your group (the "owner" of the "books" or someone else) will also need to buy a Master Tier subscription, so you can share content.  Keep in mind that while the compendium content will be available to everyone in the campaign, the paid content will be available in the character creation tools only for characters actually in the campaign.  Players in your group who want to create characters that aren't part of your campaign will be limited to the free content or that content they purchase.  Your group can pitch in together and help the "owner" pay for the purchases and/or the subscription if desired.

Our group wants to spread the purchases around:  Another way to share costs is for different members of the group to purchase different content, and for someone in the group to get a Master Tier subscription.  (Sue buys the PHB, Aaron buys the MM, Betty buys Fizban's, etc.)  This way the costs are shared, but if the group breaks up for one reason or another, everyone still has some content available to them.  This may also a good option if you are part of multiple groups.

We are a library, school, or other type "club" group:   Note that the terms of service explicitly forbid sharing or transferring accounts between people.  The following is advice from moderators and staff on the best approach to setting up an account: NOTE:  This information below (now struck out) dates back to prior to the Curse/Fandom merger, and thus also before the acquisition of DDB by WOTC.  It is entirely possible that the specifics are no longer accurate.  If you are interested in a club option, please contact customer support to inquire about current procedure possibilities.  

• Ensure where possible that a NEW TWITCH ACCOUNT is created for the purpose of doing this. Make sure that the name of the account reflects the name of the club or organising society/school. Note that, as per Twitch ToS, this account will still belong to an individual, so it should be held by a teacher or other long-term member. For a gamestore, we suggest the owner.
• Fill out the application here:  https://dndbeyond.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000711634 (If your club or store needs more than 5 campaigns for content sharing, you can also use the application to request access to up to 10 campaigns)
• If, in the future, there are any issues with needing to transfer ownership of that account to another individual (E.G. the current account holder moves to another area of the country), then D&D Beyond Customer Support should be able to help. It is important to have registered this with us as a club in advance though.

One you have the account set up, purchase the resources you think the group needs (player options you want to allow, the adventure the DM or DMs will be running, etc.) along with a Master Tier subscription.  The organizing group would hopefully have the funds to reimburse that individual.  Others in the club/group would then set up free accounts and join a campaign to get access to content. 

Other Potentially Helpful Threads

What I/We Bought and Why  Real life examples of what users here have purchased and why.

How some DMs use DDB  I asked DMs here to share how they use the tools.

One example If you use a VTT  The post is part of a larger thread on a different subject, but it does provide a strategy for those who want to use both DDB and a VTT (Virtual Table Top) like Fantasy Grounds or Roll20.  (Link broke; text left here in case I find the post again sometime in the future.)

Edits made Nov 11, 2020 to update info on bundles, status of combat tracker, and a few other details.

Edits made August 21, 2022 to a) remove references to UA support, b) remove references to archived/discontinued books, c) update info on the DDB apps and Master Tier sharing limits, d) note that the new digital/physical bundle is not eligible for legendary bundle discount, and e) adjust wording about club accounts.

Edits Made June 16, 2024: To strike out references the the option to make individual purchases, since that is not long possible. 

Also might want to add something about school groups and Adventurer's League or club groups. Pitch in for one account to buy a legendary bundle and up to 36 people can each have a character in a campaign to share those resources.

Quote from ArwensDaughter >>

 

 Subclasses cannot currently be homebrewed, but homebrew subclasses are expected soon.   

 

This is good work!

Quote from Grendel111111 >>

 Also I think the material that was put out for the first adventures as player PDF's is also available free (Like the elemental evil players guide). 

Quote from Koren >>

 

Quote from Grendel111111 >>

 Also I think the material that was put out for the first adventures as player PDF's is also available free (Like the elemental evil players guide). 

I'm not sure if this is true.  From Day 1, the mods and staff have been very specific when they've indicated what free content is included. They have not mentioned those resource PDFs from the first few hardcover adventures. Hopefully someone in the know can clarify that point for us.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I know the EEPC is included. I'm talking about the other pdfs that provided the new monsters and stuff that weren't in the Basic rules.

Quote from Koren >>

 

Quote from Grendel111111 >>

 Also I think the material that was put out for the first adventures as player PDF's is also available free (Like the elemental evil players guide). 

I'm not sure if this is true.  From Day 1, the mods and staff have been very specific when they've indicated what free content is included. They have not mentioned those resource PDFs from the first few hardcover adventures. Hopefully someone in the know can clarify that point for us.

Sorry thanks for clarifying.

Added some more player types/options and one DM type.  More to come when I can find the time.

Added some more DM categories.  Kind of struggling how best to break down this section.

In this section you say to look for the compendium only option, but that will give you the book with out the tools, but this section is for tools without the book.

I don't need the rules, but I want access to the monsters.  If your primary interest is easy access to monster with the ability to filter, sort, and search them, then you should look at purchasing the monster bundles from the sources that interest you (MM, VGtM, etc.) To do so, go to the marketplace, choose the book that the element is from, click on "view purchase options" and look for the "Compendium only" option.  You can even buy monsters from the various adventures without buying the whole adventure. 

That looks like a copy-paste artifact. Good catch. 

Quote from Grendel111111 >>

In this section you say to look for the compendium only option, but that will give you the book with out the tools, but this section is for tools without the book.

 

Added some more options/categories.

Mods:  I'd especially like some input from you (or Curse Staff) about the last couple of sentences in the section for library or school groups/clubs.  Is there an option for groups like this that could accommodate a group like this if the original purchaser left the group?  Is it appropriate to suggest they contact Curse staff, or should that line be deleted?

Also, are there other categories/groups/types I should add?

Added a section for groups unable/unwilling to pay, a pre-amble, and links to other posts.  Made a few proofreading corrections.

This is looking very good.  Let us know when it's out of 'draft' form.  ;)