The best alternatives to Spotify for listening to music

When this article was originally written in February 2022, the big Spotify controversy was that artists were abandoning the audio service in protest of the company’s contract with podcaster Joe Rogan, and some subscribers were deciding to follow the musicians’ example. More recently, some users have threatened to bail after CEO Daniel Ek invested in a firm that specializes in AI software used for military drones. Meanwhile, the service’s habit of defaulting to making all playlists and profiles public has resulted in the Panama Playlists, a website that purports to show the Spotify playlists of various well-known figures.

Despite those issues, Spotify is probably the best-known music service out there. However, there are quite a few alternatives available for good music listening, some with free versions (and some not), and some that can help you find new and lesser-known artists. If you’re someone who has decided to explore what music services are out there, here’s a quick rundown of some of the possibilities.

In the interest of being complete, we will start with Spotify itself.

Spotify is not standing still. It has continued to add new abilities to its service, such as a DM feature that allows users to share recommendations with friends from within the app and a new track mixing tool. It’s also doubled its audiobook listening limit from 15 to 30 hours (for a price and not in the US).

Meanwhile, Spotify’s free service offers a wide selection of music interrupted fairly frequently with advertisements. While you can specify songs, albums, or podcasts directly using the app, you have less choice as to what you want in your listening queue. (For example, if I request a specific artist using Google Assistant or Alexa, I’ll invariably be led to the artist’s “radio” rather than the artist themselves.)

Spotify Premium starts with its Individual ($11.99 / month) account, which offers ad-free listening, the ability to download songs and organize your queue, and up to 15 hours of audiobook listening. You can also get the same features for two people with Premium Duo ($16.99 / month) and up to six people or kids with Premium Family ($19.99 / month), which adds the ability to block explicit music. You can also just subscribe to its audiobook catalog for $9.99 a month (for the same 15 hours).

Budget plans: Premium Student ($5.99 / month), for verified students; adds access to Hulu.

Free trial: All plans offer a one-month free trial.

If you’re an Amazon Prime member and think you will be getting full access to Amazon’s music library with your Prime subscription, think again.

Along with Apple Music and Google’s YouTube Music, Amazon Music is one of the most well-known services outside of Spotify. It offers three different music tiers; as you travel up the ladder, you get access to more songs at higher levels of quality. You can also listen to podcasts.

Amazon Music Free allows you access to the service’s playlists, radio stations, and podcasts, but audio quality is limited to SD, there are ads, and you can’t select specific songs or albums.

Amazon Music Prime is free to members of its Prime shopping, video, etc. service (but not to family members — it’s one of the few features that is not shared). It is also SD only, but it is ad-free and lets you select specific songs.

Amazon Music Unlimited lets you have ad-free access to songs in SD, HD, Ultra HD, and spatial audio. There is an Individual Plan ($11.99 / month, $10.99 for Prime members) and a Family Plan ($19.99 / month), which lets you stream on up to six devices at once. All these plans also let you access a single audiobook a month.

Budget plans: The Single Device Plan ($5.99 / month) lets you use the service on a specific Echo or Fire device, and the Student Plan ($5.99 / month) gives you HD access and many of Unlimited’s features.

Free trial: All plans offer a 30-day free trial.

Apple Music is a good option, especially for those who already have a buy-in to the Apple ecosystem. It touts its higher-quality audio, including “immersive sound with dynamic head tracking” for those with AirPods. You can also download and stream music to your Apple Watch. Other features include a lyrics view so you can follow along, curated lists, and live radio stations.

There is no free version; you’ll have to go to a separate app for podcasts.

Apple Music Individual ($10.99 / month) is the standard plan; besides access to Apple’s music library and playlists, it can be used with a variety of devices and offers high-quality audio, including lossless audio and spatial audio with Dolby Atmos. You can request specific songs or albums by asking Siri; you can also download music and see lyrics. The Family plan ($16.99 / month) provides the Individual features for up to five people.

Budget plans: If you’re in college, the Student plan ($5.99 / month) offers the same features as the Individual plan. You can also include Apple Music in the Apple One bundle plan.

Free trials: One-month free trial for all plans (with occasional special offers).

When we first published this roundup back in 2022, several people recommended that we also include Bandcamp, and it’s easy to see why. Bandcamp calls itself an “online record store and music community” in which independent musicians and podcasters are paid directly by their fans. According to Bandcamp, the artists collect an average of 80 to 85 percent of each sale. There is no fee for the service itself; you listen to featured tracks by artists and then purchase the digital or physical albums of your favorites. There are also live “listening party” events.

As mentioned, Bandcamp itself is free; you purchase the music separately for varying prices set by the artists.

Deezer is not as well known in the US as Apple Music or Spotify, but it has similar catalogs and features. According to its website, it offers “over 120 million tracks,” along with playlists and podcasts. You can use its web version or one of the apps it has for almost any device out there, including desktops, phones, and watches. It also offers on-screen lyrics. It offers several plans.

Free lets you listen to playlists rather than specific songs, and you have to put up with ads. However, you do get access to the app’s entire library.

Premium ($11.99 / month or $107.99 / year) removes the ads, lets you listen to specific tracks, offers high-fidelity sound, and lets you download your music. You can connect up to three devices to the app.

Duo ($15.99 / month or $174.99 / year) has all the features of the Premium plan for two individual accounts; you can connect up to five devices.

Family ($19.99 / month or $218.99 / year) offers six individual Premium accounts and the ability to connect up to 13 different devices. Kid profiles let you control what your child is listening to.

Budget plans: You can get a student discount on the Premium plan for $5.99 / month.

Free trials: One month for all paid plans.

Pandora is one of the grandparents of music services and was one of the first to offer playlists developed by a listener’s preferences. Currently owned by SiriusXM, it was introduced as a consumer music service in 2005 and has gone through a variety of changes since. (For example, users of the free service were originally limited to 40 hours of streaming per month.) These days, it has one free and two paid services; it includes both music and podcasts.

Interestingly, Pandora’s Free service does allow you to play specific songs and albums (as opposed to just categories of music), as well as podcasts, as long as you view an ad first; you can also view an ad for unlimited skips.

Pandora Plus ($4.99 / month) removes the ads for unlimited skips and lets you listen offline, but you still have to view an ad to select specific tracks.

Pandora Premium ($10.99 / month) gives you all of the Plus features, removes all advertising, and lets you make and share playlists.

Budget plans: The Family plan ($17.99 / month) includes six accounts on the Premium plan. Both Premium Student ($5.99 / month) and Premium Military ($8.99 / month) give you the same features as the regular Premium account.

Free trial: 30 days for Plus and 60 days for Premium.

Tidal presents itself as the music service for true music fans, with an emphasis on innovation and high-quality audio. It offers a library of over 110 million tracks, over 650,000 videos, interviews with and documentaries about its artists, and three levels of audio quality: Max (up to 24-bit, 192kHz), High (up to 16-bit, 44.1kHz), and Low (up to 320kbps), depending on your plan and your device; it specifically supports a number of device manufacturers. It does not offer podcasts or a free plan.

Individual ($10.99 / month) provides 110M+ tracks in lossless, HiRes FLAC, and Dolby Atmos, no ads, and offline listening.

Budget plans: The Family plan offers the same as the Individual plan for up to six users ($16.99 / month); there is also a Student plan ($5.49 / month).

Free trial: A 30-day free trial. You can extend it to 60 days for $2.

Like Apple Music and Tidal, Qobuz does not have a free service. Like Tidal, the emphasis here is on quality music, with hi-res audio; it has partnered with a variety of equipment manufacturers, such as Bang & Olufsen, Sonos, and Thiel. Besides music, it offers album reviews and artist bios. Qobuz offers two plans; each of these comes in Solo (one account), Duo (two accounts living at the same address), and Family (six accounts per household) versions.

Studio provides downloadable music and original editorial content, such as playlists and articles. Solo costs $10.83 / month; Duo costs $14.99 / month; Family costs $17.99 / month.

Sublime lets you specify albums and offers a 60 percent discount on purchases. Solo costs $14.99 / month; Duo is $17.99 / month or $179.88 / year; Family is also $17.99 / month.

Budget plans: Studio has a special $4.99 / month rate for students 25 years old and under.

Free trial: One month for all plans.

Back in 2020, Google subsumed its independent Google Play Music service (and in 2024, its Google Podcasts app) into its YouTube video service, coming up with YouTube Music.

The Free service includes choice of individual songs and albums along with ads. If you’re listening on a phone, the music will stop if your screen goes dark or you switch apps.

Music Premium ($10.99 / month or $109.99 / year) gets rid of the ads and the pauses and lets you download your music. If you subscribe to YouTube Premium ($13.99 / month), YouTube Music is included. The Family plan ($16.99 / month) lets you add up to five other household family members aged 13 and up.

Budget plans: The Student plan ($5.49 / month) gives you Premium service with verification of eligibility.

Free trial: All paid plans have a one-month free trial.

SoundCloud has been around since 2007 and encourages its members to upload tracks, create playlists, and actively comment — which they enthusiastically do. This includes TikTok users, who can upload their tracks to SoundCloud. There are features allowing artists to create SMS campaigns for their fans, and partnership with a service to help artists copyright their work.

The Free service allows access to a variety of tracks and playlists, with ads.

SoundCloud Go ($4.99 / month) eliminates the ads and allows offline listening.

SoundCloud Go+ ($9.99 / month) adds access to the service’s full catalog and higher-quality audio.

Budget plans: SoundCloud Go+ for students costs $5.49 / month after a 30-day trial.

Free trial: Seven days for SoundCloud Go, 30 days for SoundCloud Go+.

Update August 27th, 2025: This was originally published on February 1st, 2022. All entries have been updated.