Free and Pay-What-You-Wish Museum Hours in New York, Verified for 2026
The Met, MoMA, the Whitney and two dozen others can cost you nothing or close to it, if you know the right day, hour and ID to bring.
A museum ticket in New York now runs about $30. That is a lot of money to stare at a Rothko for eleven minutes. The good news is that almost every major museum in the city has a free window, a pay what you wish hour or a resident discount, and some are free every single day. The bad news is that the rules change constantly, and half the lists online are out of date.
So we checked. Every policy below was confirmed against the museum's own site or 2026 coverage. Where a museum's rules come with fine print (residency, reservations, a $1 minimum), we say so. Policies shift, often with a new sponsor, so give the museum's site a 30 second look before you go.
Two rules that apply almost everywhere: reserve online, because free slots sell out, and bring ID, because resident deals require proof of address.
Always free
These cost nothing, any day they are open.
MoMA PS1
Long Island City · 22-25 Jackson Ave · Free
MoMA's contemporary outpost in a former public school went free for everyone in 2026. It is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and this fall it has Teresa Margolles and a new courtyard commission by Precious Okoyomon. James Turrell's "Meeting," a skyspace, is on long-term view.
Go for: the Turrell room at dusk. Know before you go: hours are noon to 6 on weekdays and 10 to 6 on Saturday.
Bronx Museum of the Arts
Concourse · 1040 Grand Concourse · Free
Admission is free for everyone, always, including exhibitions and events. The museum is closed September 7 to October 8 for installation and reopens October 9.
Go for: a Grand Concourse afternoon with Yankee Stadium nearby. Know before you go: open Wednesday to Sunday, 11 to 6.
The Museum at FIT
Chelsea · 227 W 27th St · Free
The Fashion Institute of Technology's museum stages fashion exhibitions that would cost $30 anywhere else. It is open until 8pm Wednesday to Friday.
Go for: a fashion show that pairs with an afternoon in the Chelsea galleries. Know before you go: closed Monday and Tuesday.
National Museum of the American Indian
Financial District · 1 Bowling Green · Free
The Smithsonian's New York branch, inside the Beaux-Arts Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House. Free, no ticket needed.
Go for: the rotunda, which alone is worth the trip. Know before you go: it is steps from the Staten Island Ferry, which is also free.
The Hispanic Society and the American Folk Art Museum
Washington Heights and Upper West Side · Free
The Hispanic Society in Audubon Terrace holds one of the great collections of Spanish art outside Spain, with donations suggested. The American Folk Art Museum near Lincoln Center is always free, with advance reservations suggested.
Go for: the Hispanic Society's Sorolla room. Know before you go: check hours, which are limited at both.
Pay what you wish, every day
At these museums you set the price for general admission, every day or for qualifying visitors.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Upper East Side · 1000 Fifth Ave · $0 to $30
Pay what you wish for New York State residents and for students from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, at the ticket counter with ID. Admission covers same day entry to the Met Cloisters too. Everyone else pays $30.
Go for: a pay what you wish ticket and a long lap of the Egyptian galleries. Know before you go: the discount is at the counter, not always online.
American Museum of Natural History
Upper West Side · 200 Central Park West · $0 to $25 suggested
General admission is a suggested amount for residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Special exhibitions and the planetarium show cost extra for everyone.
Go for: the dinosaur halls, which are included. Know before you go: bring ID with a tri-state address.
Brooklyn Museum
Prospect Heights · 200 Eastern Parkway · Suggested contribution
General admission is a suggested contribution when you buy at the admissions desk. Visitors 19 and under are free. Its free after hours series, First Saturdays, returned for 2026 in select months and requires registration.
Go for: a First Saturday with music in the Beaux-Arts Court. Know before you go: buying online or at the kiosk commits you to the full suggested price.
Queens Museum, El Museo del Barrio and the Studio Museum in Harlem
Flushing Meadows, East Harlem and Harlem · $0 to $16
The Queens Museum is pay what you wish every day (suggested $8), with timed tickets required, and it is home to the Panorama of the City of New York. El Museo del Barrio is pay what you wish daily. The Studio Museum in Harlem, in its new building at 144 West 125th Street, runs on a pay what you can model with a suggested $16, and every Sunday is free for everyone.
Go for: the Panorama in Queens, a scale model of all five boroughs. Know before you go: the Studio Museum is closed Monday and Tuesday and open until 9 on Fridays.
Free and cheap hours, by day
Monday
Most museums are closed. MoMA PS1 is open and free.
Tuesday
Guggenheim, 1071 Fifth Ave: pay what you wish from 4 to 5:30pm, suggested $10, minimum $1. Reserve ahead; a limited number of tickets go on sale on site.
Wednesday
The Frick Collection, 1 E 70th St: pay what you wish from 1:30 to 5:30pm (minimum $5 online). The reopened Frick is one of the best rooms in the city for this price. Children under 10 are not admitted.
Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle: pay what you wish on the first Wednesday of every month.
Thursday
New Museum, 235 Bowery: pay what you wish from 7 to 9pm. Reserve online; a small number of tickets are held for walk ups. The expanded building reopened in March 2026, and the fall shows open September 25.
Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria: free from 2 to 6pm.
International Center of Photography, Lower East Side: $5 admission from 5 to 8pm, and free on the third Thursday.
Friday
Friday is the big one.
Whitney Museum, 99 Gansevoort St: free every Friday from 5 to 10pm. This is the best free night in the city; the Biennial runs through October 12, and Roy Lichtenstein and Charles Burchfield shows open in October.
MoMA, 11 W 53rd St: free for New York State residents from 5:30 to 8:30pm under UNIQLO Friday Nights. Reserve ahead with proof of residency, and check the calendar for which Fridays qualify.
The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Ave: free from 5 to 8pm with a reservation, released a week in advance.
New York Historical, 170 Central Park West: pay what you wish from 5 to 8pm.
Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Ave: free on the first Friday of the month from 5 to 8pm, first come, first served. The museum's galleries are closed for work and reopen November 12 with a 25th anniversary exhibition, so the next First Friday is December 4. No children under 12.
Asia Society, 725 Park Ave: free from 6 to 9pm outside the summer months.
Saturday
The Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Ave: free all day, every Saturday. This fall it has a show of Jewish ritual objects and treasures from St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, and one on the women of the Wiener Werkstätte.
Brooklyn Museum: First Saturday evenings, free with registration, in select months.
Sunday
Whitney Museum: free all day on the second Sunday of every month.
Guggenheim: pay what you wish from 4 to 5:30pm, same terms as Tuesday.
Studio Museum in Harlem: free for everyone on Sundays.
Always free for some visitors
Check before you pay full price. The Whitney is free for anyone 25 and under. The New Museum is free for 18 and under. The Frick is free for ages 10 to 18. The Jewish Museum is free for 18 and under. The Guggenheim is free for children under 12. Many museums, including MoMA, admit students from partner colleges for free, and IDNYC holders get free entry to the Queens Museum and discounts elsewhere. Several museums also offer free or reduced admission to SNAP and EBT cardholders; the Met runs a free membership program for New York State SNAP recipients.
Your library card is a museum pass
The most underused free ticket in New York is in your wallet. Culture Pass, run jointly by the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library, lets anyone with a library card from those systems reserve free passes to dozens of museums and cultural institutions across the five boroughs, usually for the cardholder plus guests. The catalog changes, the most popular museums book up weeks ahead and passes are released on a rolling basis, so set a reminder and check often. A library card is free for anyone who lives, works, goes to school or pays property taxes in the state.
IDNYC, the free city identification card, is the other one to get. It unlocks free admission at some institutions, like the Queens Museum, and discounts or free memberships at others. Between a library card and an IDNYC, a New Yorker can see most of the city's museums for almost nothing.
What free does not cover
Free and pay what you wish tickets almost always mean general admission. At the American Museum of Natural History, the planetarium show and special exhibitions cost extra for everyone. At the Brooklyn Museum, big ticketed shows usually carry a separate fixed price. Audio guides, film screenings and talks are often extra too. And free nights are not a secret: the Whitney on a Friday at 6 can feel like a subway platform. None of that makes the deal worse. It just means you should pick one show, see it properly and skip the gift shop.
How to plan a free week
Friday night is the anchor: the Whitney from 5 to 10, or MoMA if you are a New York State resident. Saturday goes to the Jewish Museum, then a walk down Fifth to the Met on a resident ticket. Sunday is the Studio Museum in Harlem. On Thursday, the New Museum's pay what you wish hours put you on the Bowery at 7, which leaves time to catch the Lower East Side galleries, which are free every day. Our gallery circuit guide explains how that works.
The Shout NY take
Free hours are crowded. That is the trade. The trick is to go at the end of the window, not the start: at the Whitney, 8pm on a Friday is calmer than 5. At the Guggenheim, get there at 4 and walk the ramp top down. And do not forget the museums that are free every day. MoMA PS1, the Bronx Museum and the Museum at FIT are never crowded because nobody thinks of them first. For more, see our free things to do in New York and the museum and gallery shows to see this fall.
Questions, answered.
- Is the Met free for New York residents?
- The Met is pay what you wish for New York State residents and for students from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Bring ID showing a New York State address. Everyone else pays the fixed adult price of $30.
- What night is MoMA free?
- MoMA is free for New York State residents on Friday evenings from 5:30 to 8:30pm, sponsored by UNIQLO. Reserve tickets online in advance and bring proof of residency. MoMA has changed which Fridays qualify before, so confirm on its calendar.
- When is the Whitney free?
- The Whitney is free every Friday from 5 to 10pm and all day on the second Sunday of every month. Visitors 25 and under are always free. Book a timed ticket ahead.
- Which New York museums are always free?
- MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Museum at FIT, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Hispanic Society and the American Folk Art Museum are free every day they are open.
- Do I need to reserve free museum tickets in advance?
- Usually, yes. MoMA, the Whitney, the New Museum, the Morgan and most others ask you to reserve free or pay what you wish tickets online, and the good slots go fast. A few, like the Neue Galerie's First Fridays, are first come, first served.
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