Trying to figure out what streaming service is best for you? Scroll through this list of services, see our pros and cons and decide what's most important - price, sound quality, or both? We've got you covered. Figure out what the best music streaming service is for you and your music needs.
Price: $10.99 / month ($16.99 for the family plan; $5.99 for students)
Pros: Free Trial Available, Student Plan include Apple TV+, Streaming is Ad-Free, Download songs to your library for offline streaming, Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, Full catalog in lossless audio, available on all devices other than Apple. They have a student discount.
Cons: There is no free option.
Price: Free or $11.99 / month ($14.99 for two people, $16.99 for the family plan; $5.99 for students)
Pros: There is a free option. Playlisting is easy. They have a free trial. You can download music for offline listening if you pay for premium. You can collaborate with friends on playlists. The student plan includes an ad subscription with Hulu and ShowTime.
Cons: More expensive than Apple Music with lower sound quality. Does not have lossless or spatial audio. The free option is flooded with ads. You can't choose what order you want to listen to songs in, and are limited to 6 skips per hour.
Price: Free, limited included with Prime subscription, unlimited $10.99 / month, $9.99 for Prime members, $5.99 for students, $16.99 for the family plan.
Pros: There is a free option. Prime members get a lite ad-free version for free, or a discount on the premium subscription. There is a free trial available. Their unlimited plan included spatial and lossless audio. They have a student discount.
Cons: The completely free version includes ads and a limited library. Unless you're subscribed to the unlimited plan, you have a limited amount of skips.
Price: Free; Premium is $10.99 / month, $5.49 for students, $16.99 for the family plan, free to YouTube Premium subscribers.
Pros: If you already pay for YouTube premium, you get YouTube Music included. They recommend artists and playlists based off of what you watch on YouTube. They offer a free trial. They have the cheapest plan for students. The premium subscription allows for music videos to play in the background on your phone while on other apps. The premium subscription allows you to download music for offline listening. Free option is still an unlimited library and doesn't limit how much you can skip. Has lossless audio.
Cons: Free option has ads and you must have internet or data to listen to music unless you subscribe to premium.
Price: $10.99 / month, $4.99 for students, $16.99 for the family plan, $19.99 / month for the highest sound quality (HiFi Plus).
Pros: Offers the highest sound quality possible, great for people who DJ or use music professionally. Offers a free trial. It's ad free. They have a student discount.
Cons: Does not have a free option. To have the best sound quality, the subscription is the most expensive out of every other streaming service.
Price: Free; Ad-Free and limited offline play $4.99 / month, Premium with unlimited features $10.99 / month, Premium Family Plan is $17.99 / month. For students it's $5.99 and for Military it's $8.99.
Pros: They have student and military discounts.
Cons: You don't get to choose what you listen to on the free plan, and have a limited amount of skips. You can only choose by "station". The free plan has a lot of ads. They do not offer lossless audio.
Price: Free; $11.99 / month, $15.99 for 2 people, $19.99 for the family plan.
Pros: They have a Free option and offer a free trial. The premium plan allows you to download your music and is ad-free. They offer lossless audio.
Cons: They are one of the more expensive services all around. The free option has ads and has to be online to listen. You're only allowed 6 skips per hour on the free plan.
Price: Free; Ad-Free is $4.99 / month, Full Streaming Service is $10.99 /month
Pros: There's a free option. They have a free trial. The premium subscription has lossless audio.
Cons: The free option is a very limited catalog, with lots of ads. Even with their ad-free plan, you still don't get access to their full catalog of music. The only way to get high quality audio and the full catalog is to subscribe to their full premium service.
Best Free Option: YouTube Music
Overall Most Expensive: Deezer
Best Value For Individuals: If you want both value and sound quality, choose Apple Music, YouTube Music or Amazon Music.
Best Value For Students: At this time, YouTube Music has the cheapest Student Plan.
Best Value For Families: If you want both value and sound quality, choose Apple Music, YouTube Music or Amazon Music.
Best Value For Military: Pandora is the only streaming service with a Military discount.
Best Overall For Sound Quality: TIDAL or Apple Music.
Worst Overall For Sound Quality: Spotify and Pandora.
Worst Overall Value: Spotify, Pandora and Deezer.
Written By Kaitlyn Nicole
*copyright not intended. Fair use act, section 107.
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