Buzz
With the rising costs of music streaming services lately, I decided to take a deep dive into the top five platforms to finally answer the age-old question: which one is truly the best? After analyzing everything from pricing tiers to song availability, features, and user experience, the conclusion is clear: they’re all pretty much the same.
Subtle Differences Between Streaming Services
The main purpose of a music streaming service is simple: play the music you want, whenever you want, for an affordable price. It may seem like no big deal now, but it felt like a far-off dream back in my day, when I was spending my hard-earned money on CDs.
All five services—Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Tidal, and Pandora—allow you to select any song from a library of approximately 100 million tracks, which you can play on your desktop, phone, or Bluetooth device. They all support music downloads, offer different pricing tiers, and have similar monthly fees (except Tidal's higher-priced premium tier). Unlike movie streaming platforms that rely on exclusive content, you can listen to 'Black Sabbath' by Black Sabbath from their album Black Sabbath on Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal, and it’s going to blow your mind no matter which one you choose.
However, they’re not identical. There are subtle differences between these top streaming platforms—the user interfaces, the music recommendation algorithms, etc.—but these differences are small enough that it’s more helpful to think about what type of person would prefer which service rather than focusing on which one is ‘best.’
Spotify: The perfect streaming service for social butterflies
Some Spotify critics argue that its lower audio quality is a drawback, but whether that’s actually worse is up for debate.
Spotify’s key stats
Price: Spotify's premium plan for a single user is $10.99 per month. The duo plan is $14.99, the family plan (up to six users) is $16.99, and students get it for $5.99 per month. There's also a free tier supported by ads.
Selection: Over 100 million tracks
Audio quality: Spotify’s premium service plays AAC and Ogg Vorbis formats at up to 320kbit/s.
Apple Music: The best music streaming option for those on a budget
It feels strange to say that any Apple service is the most budget-friendly, but here we are. Apple Music offers a Voice membership for just $4.99 a month—about half the cost of Spotify. For this price, you get access to Apple Music’s vast library, ad-free. The catch? You can only use Siri to control it. You can ask Siri to create radio stations or playlists based on your mood or songs, but you can’t create or edit playlists, listen offline, or access higher-quality playback. Still, if you just want to listen to your tunes, Apple Music Voice is a steal for five bucks a month.
Apple Music’s individual plan is much more feature-rich, matching other premium services. It supports music downloads, lossless playback, and lets you access your iTunes library, including your old CDs from 2003. However, Apple’s music organization system has been frustrating since the early days of iTunes, and Apple Music still doesn’t fix that issue.
Prices: Voice membership costs $4.99 per month. Apple Music’s individual plan is $10.99 per month, the family plan is $16.99, and students pay $5.99 a month.
Selection: Over 100 million tracks.
Best audio quality: Apple Music streams AAC and ALAC formats at up to 192kHz.
Amazon Music Unlimited: The ultimate music streaming service for students
If you're a student, Amazon has incredible deals. Amazon Prime, which comes with a 6-month free trial, is half-price after that, and Amazon Music Unlimited is just $0.99 a month for full access. That’s 100 million songs, playlists, podcasts, personalized recommendations—the whole package—for less than a dollar.
If you're not a student and still considering a music service, you're probably already paying $139 annually for Amazon Prime, which includes free shipping. So, you might want to save a few bucks by opting for Amazon Music Unlimited at $10 a month, instead of $11 for Spotify or Apple Music. Or maybe it’s just not a big deal. I’m not sure why, but Amazon Music Unlimited is, well, the least 'cool' streaming option.
Prices: Amazon Music Unlimited costs $9.99 per month for Prime members, and $10.99 for non-Prime members. The family plan (up to six profiles) is $16.99 a month, whether or not you have Prime. Students with Amazon Prime pay just $0.99 a month. (These prices are separate from Amazon Music Prime, which is included with Prime but comes with playback restrictions and lower audio quality.)
Selection: 100 million tracks
Highest quality streaming: Amazon’s Ultra HD option claims to be 'better than CD quality' with 24-bit, 192kHz audio.
Tidal: The ultimate streaming service for audiophiles (and Jay-Z enthusiasts)
I’ve avoided discussing which streaming service offers the best audio quality until now, because it’s such a tedious debate. Sure, streaming music through a phone and cheap Bluetooth speaker sounds worse than a locally downloaded track played through high-quality speakers, but when comparing the sonic differences between Amazon Music Unlimited’s 'better than CD quality' lossless FLAC and Apple Music’s 24-bit/192 kHz lossless playback, you’re really splitting hairs. (The stereo setup and how much you’ve indulged in other substances play a much bigger role anyway.) Still, there are audiophiles who get furious if you can’t hear the difference. This is where Tidal enters the picture.
Since its launch in 2014, Tidal has focused on catering to serious audiophiles—people who listen to Chick Corea through $40,000 headphones. Whether Tidal’s flagship 'Master Quality Authenticated' audio coding actually delivers better sound is debatable, but for some, the joy is in the belief that their music sounds superior to others’. Tidal’s extra $10 a month for its top-tier service is a small price to pay for that feeling of satisfaction. And with Tidal’s $19.99 per month premium service (double the cost of others), we’re not talking about $9000 speaker cables here. Plus, you get full access to the Jay-Z and Beyoncé catalogs, which is exclusive to Tidal for just an extra ten bucks a month.
Price: Tidal’s Hi-Fi Plus tier is priced at $19.99 per month. The Hi-Fi plan is $10.99 a month, and the family plan costs $16.99 per month. Students pay half price, and military members receive a 40% discount.
Selection: Over 100 million tracks
Top-tier playback quality: Tidal’s 'Master' setting usually streams at 96kHz, 24-bit, but can go as high as 384kHz, which is regarded as impressive by those who care about such things.
Pandora: The ultimate music streaming service for recommendations
Pandora, launched back in 2000, is the original veteran of music streaming. While it’s been overshadowed by its newer competitors in terms of user numbers and recognition since the turn of the century, Pandora is still kicking in 2023, standing firm in the face of stiff competition. Pandora doesn’t boast about the size of its catalog, but its sophisticated 'you like that? Well listen to this!' recommendation system will help you discover endless new music, even if the available catalog is closer to 80 million tracks instead of the 100 million others offer.
Pandora started as a music recommendation engine, then evolved into an 'internet radio-only' service. While it has offered a $10 per month 'pick any song' plan for a while, you can still embrace Pandora’s roots and stick with the $5 tier, where you don’t get to choose tracks directly, or go for the free, ad-supported version that delivers what might be the best radio station experience you could ask for, even with the ads.
Price: Pandora’s single-user premium plan costs $9.99 per month, with a $14.99 family plan option and a student discount at $4.99. Pandora Plus is $4.99 per month, and a free, ad-supported version is available.
Selection: Unknown
Highest quality playback: Pandora Premium streams at a maximum bitrate of 192kbps.
