Spotify vs Deezer vs Apple Music: Which music streaming service should you choose?

Struggling to decide between Spotify and Deezer? Wondering about the benefits of Apple Music, Qobuz, YouTube Music, or Tidal? We’ll help you choose the best streaming service for your needs.

For nearly 15 years, music has been consumed through streaming. While US users have been familiar with Deezer and Spotify since 2007 and 2010, other services have emerged, such as web giants Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music, or audiophile-focused platforms like Tidal and Qobuz.

But among these numerous music streaming services, which one is the most appealing? What are the catalogs, subscription prices, audio file quality, availability of spatial audio, compatible devices, and overall value of each offering? We’ll explore these factors together to determine the best music streaming service tailored to your needs.

Streaming Platforms Table

All major music streaming services understand that the catalog is the key to success. Consequently, each platform highlights the millions of tracks available through its subscription. In this competition, the various services flex their muscles.

On paper, all major music streaming platforms claim to have between 80 and over 100 million tracks in their catalogs. While Apple Music advertises “over 100 million” tracks, compared to “over 80 million” for Spotify, this number isn’t necessarily representative.

Catalog quality is not solely determined by the number of tracks or artists offered, but rather the presence or absence of the songs you want to listen to. To evaluate this subjective criterion, we conducted an exercise: seven members of our editorial team provided a list of ten songs each. If a platform had the requested song on the correct album, it received one point. If the song was absent, zero points. If the song was only present on a compilation, single, or best-of album, or not associated with any album in the case of YouTube Music, half a point was awarded.

Following this protocol, as representative as possible, we arrived at these results:

As we can see, all platforms achieve similar results, with relevance percentages close to 90%. This is understandable since labels usually sign with all platforms or use automated services to do so on their behalf. That’s why when a band like Ghinzu is absent from one or several platforms, it’s likely absent from all.

Qobuz lags significantly behind its competitors, while Amazon Music and Spotify are tied for second place. YouTube Music leads the pack, with all but one song available in one form or another, even if not necessarily associated with their album.

However, as mentioned earlier, YouTube Music does not announce catalog numbers, and for a good reason.

What is the price of music streaming platforms?

When it comes to pricing, paid subscriptions can vary greatly from one platform to another. It’s not always easy to know the benefits of each platform’s premium subscriptions or the advantages of the paid model compared to the free model.

Trial offers and free offers

Once again, tables can better illustrate this point:

All seven selected services offer a trial period, ranging from one to three months. This is useful for getting a precise idea of the features and offerings on each platform before spending any money.

In addition to these limited-time trial offers, some services also offer unlimited free offers. This is the case for Amazon, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube Music, but not for Apple Music or Qobuz. In all cases, these free offers are ad-supported. They usually don’t allow for offline downloads and may have usage restrictions, such as YouTube Music, which doesn’t allow background playback on smartphones.

Amazon, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube Music stand out

Overall, for trial or free usage, Amazon, Deezer, Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube Music stand out. The latter offers four months of trial, and the others allow you to enjoy music on your smartphone, even when launched in the background.

Premium, HD, Hi-Fi, Studio Premier…

When looking at the paid offerings of different services, it can be overwhelming. Some platforms offer not just one, but two or even three subscription plans. Besides differences in payment (monthly or annual, with or without commitment), these various offers may have implications for available features or the quality of the tracks offered:

• Amazon Music: integrated with Amazon Prime (Music Prime) or $9.99 per month (Unlimited HD)
• Apple Music: $10.99 per month
• Deezer: $10.99 per month
• Qobuz: $14.99 per month or $200 per year
• Spotify: $9.99 per month
• Tidal: $9.99 or $19.99 per month
• YouTube Music: $9.99 per month

For clarity, we’ve only selected individual monthly subscriptions without a one-year commitment. However, Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer also offer family or couple plans, sometimes with additional features such as family playlists or parental controls.

It’s often possible to subscribe to a discounted student offer, usually at $4.99 per month. In April 2021, the Swedish streaming platform Spotify increased the prices of its premium duo and family plans. The former went from $11.99 to $12.99 per month, and the latter from $14.99 to $15.99. Individual plans, at $9.99 per month, and student plans, at $4.99 per month, did not increase. Deezer increased the price of its individual offer by $1 to include Hi-Fi content.

However, except for Qobuz, Apple Music, and Deezer, all platforms offer a starting price of $9.99 per month.

Amazon offers three different plans: Amazon Music Free, Amazon Music Prime, and Amazon Music Unlimited.

At first glance, the catalog is now the same, and the only difference between Amazon Music Prime, included with an Amazon Prime subscription, and Amazon Music Unlimited is the HD offering. However, while the number of tracks is similar, the features are different. On Amazon Music Prime, you cannot select a specific playlist or track. It is, in fact, random music playback. Additionally, the Unlimited offer also includes high-definition tracks and spatial audio.

Qobuz offers two plans: Qobuz Studio and Qobuz Sublime:

Here, both the catalog and quality are identical. Logically, since sound quality is Qobuz’s main selling point compared to competitors. The difference between the two offers is the preferential pricing offered by the “Sublime” subscription when purchasing Hi-Res music.

Tidal offers two distinct paid plans, Tidal HiFi and Tidal HiFi Plus:

The distinction between the two offers is primarily based on the sound quality offered, with CD-quality sound at $10 per month and Masters sound for the $20 version. Furthermore, the $20 offer includes spatial audio and better compensation for artists per stream.

Deezer used to offer two paid plans — not counting the family plan — Deezer Premium, at $9.99, and Deezer HiFi, at $14.99. They have now merged into a single individual offer, at $10.99 per month.

Apple is not far behind, and while there’s no need for a table to explain their various offers, Apple Music offers a single subscription at $10.99 per month, also providing tracks in HD quality.

Overall, to enjoy a streaming service without paying attention to sound quality, all are equal. For lossless versions of songs, Amazon and Tidal have the advantage of offering a HiFi or HD version for $9.99 per month, compared to $10.99 per month for Deezer and Apple Music and $14.99 per month for Qobuz.

It’s worth noting that Spotify does not plan to be left behind in the Hi-Fi audio field. The Swedish streaming service announced in February 2021 its intention to launch a “CD quality” music service.

We can therefore expect files encoded in 16-bit at 44.1 kHz, like on Deezer. This offer was initially expected to be at a higher price, but Spotify has not yet revealed its rates. Moreover, the lead taken by Apple Music — followed by Tidal, Amazon, and Deezer, may have changed the Swedish company’s plans. Initially expected for 2021, Spotify’s HD offer is still awaited.

Platforms, Connected Speakers, and Number of Connected Devices

You have subscribed to the offer that seemed most interesting on paper, so now it’s time to install your streaming software to use on your Android smartphone or iPhone. No problem. And why not take advantage of listening to music on your Amazon Echo or Google Home? Ah, that’s where it starts to get tricky. And if you also want to enjoy your music on the PlayStation 5, it becomes even more limiting.

On this criterion, Deezer and Spotify win the round, with Apple Music not far behind. The former is compatible with nearly all platforms, including Apple’s HomePod speakers, except for PlayStation. With the Swedish service, it is well represented on Sony’s platform, but the only missing compatibility is with Apple HomeKit since Spotify cannot yet be used on HomePod speakers.

The American manufacturer has announced in recent months an opening of the HomePod, and after Pandora in the US and Deezer, it would not be surprising to see Spotify arrive on Apple speakers. Finally, Apple Music has been accessible on Sony’s PlayStation consoles since October 2021, just like Spotify.

It’s also worth noting that while most services can be used on Apple Watch, few offer a Wear OS app.

Social Features and Collaborative Playlists

Listening to music is great. Sharing it with friends is even better. In addition to couple or family offers provided by some, several platforms also offer social features. While some platforms offer compatibility with Last.fm, others go further.

Activity sharing

On Spotify, for example, you can link your account to Facebook to see what your friends are listening to and possibly listen to the same tracks as them at the same time. This feature also allows you to discover your friends’ playlists or see the albums they are currently listening to. Deezer offers a similar function with a social network aspect that allows you to discover the albums, artists, or playlists most listened to by your followers. However, the function is a bit more hidden, as it requires going through the “favorites” menu of the service, then checking the followers, whereas a side panel is directly available on Spotify.

Apple Music also offers social features, but they are limited to mobile versions, on iOS, iPadOS, or Android. This feature will discover who, among your contacts, uses Apple Music and whether people can follow you automatically or only after your approval.

On the other hand, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, and Qobuz do not offer any social features of this type.

Third-Party Applications

It’s important to note that these social features are only useful if your friends and family use the same music streaming application. If that’s not the case, even if you enable these features, they will be of little interest. This gives an advantage to Spotify, Deezer, or Apple Music, to a lesser extent, and explains why the other four have not launched equivalent services.

The same goes for third-party services that can use your listening data to offer certain features. The more popular music applications are, the more third-party developers have an interest in offering such services. This is why many services, like Spotify Pie, use Spotify’s API to analyze your musical tastes, create collaborative playlist systems, or make quizzes based on the popularity of a particular artist worldwide.

In this game, the Swedish platform is far ahead, and if you want to try all these applications, it’s better to subscribe to Spotify.

Collaborative Playlists

Lastly, the final social aspect, particularly interesting for organizing a party, is the collaborative playlist. An increasingly popular feature that allows multiple users to create playlists together without having to juggle between different tracks. And, as usual, not all platforms offer the same options in this game:

There are four platforms that allow creating collaborative playlists: Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify, and YouTube Music. However, it’s worth noting that all others allow sharing the playlist via a link or sharing on Twitter (X) or Facebook.

For social features, Spotify clearly wins the round, whether for activity sharing, third-party applications, or collaborative playlists.

Recommendations and Automatic or Curated Playlists

In the field of playlists, collaboration or those you can create manually are not the only ones that matter. Listening to music is great, but one of the benefits of streaming platforms, to avoid listening to the same artists on repeat, comes from recommendations.

Algorithmic Recommendations

In this area, the algorithms of different platforms come into play. Based on the tracks you’ve listened to in the past, they will recommend playlists or albums that are supposed to match your musical tastes. Some go even further, offering playlists based on the time of day, your activity, or your location.

These recommendations are usually offered on the service’s homepage, with selections of new tracks, albums, mixes, or playlists. However, it’s worth noting that Qobuz is the only platform that offers only curated playlists, not based on user listening. Even Apple Music, which does not offer algorithmic playlists on its homepage, will at least display albums that may interest you to listen to a particular artist more.

Curated Playlists

Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music, Tidal, YouTube Music, and Qobuz all also offer curated playlists, created by real people. These can be the choices of the service’s editorial team — as in the case of Qobuz, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or Spotify — or celebrities like Barack Obama and Nicki Minaj (Tidal) or U2 or Brian Eno (Deezer).

In terms of suggestions and playlists, most platforms are on equal footing, although Tidal and Deezer have the advantage of also offering some playlists developed by recognized artists or personalities.

The sound quality of tracks

As we have seen, the audio quality offered by each platform is one of the main criteria highlighted by the services, especially to justify premium offers or higher prices for some.

Not all services use the same file formats, encoding, or bandwidth. Some, like Spotify, even allow users to change the audio quality on smartphones if they want to consume more or less data.

As mentioned earlier, Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Tidal, and Deezer offer plans with better quality files. Meanwhile, Qobuz offers files up to FLAC 24-bit at 192 kHz even with the basic subscription at $14.99 per month. For other platforms, users need to change the listening settings to enjoy the best possible audio quality, whether it’s “very high” on Spotify or “always high” on YouTube Music, for example.

Although Qobuz has long been the best in terms of audio quality for its base plan, it is now challenged by Amazon, Apple, Deezer, and Tidal. All four services now offer a base plan for $9.99 or $10.99 per month, without additional costs, up to a quality of 16-bit 44.1 kHz or 24-bit 192 kHz.

Regarding the maximum quality, four players are tied: Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, Qobuz, and Tidal HiFi Plus. All three services offer tracks up to FLAC (or ALAC for Apple) encoded at 24-bit 192 kHz. Deezer, with a similar offer, is limited to CD-quality FLAC, which is 16-bit at 44.1 kHz. Spotify plans to launch a CD-quality subscription, like Deezer, but the offer has not yet been available more than two years after its announcement, although it is still planned.

Not all tracks are available in maximum quality

It should be noted that not all tracks are available in the maximum quality. Even on Qobuz, not all titles are available in 24-bit at 192 kHz, and platforms generally indicate the quality of each track. Playing these high-definition files also depends on your device, as not all computers and smartphones can decode such files. For example, Apple Music offers 24-bit 192 kHz quality only if you have a DAC. Without it, the maximum quality offered is 24-bit at 48 kHz.

Finally, it is important to emphasize one point: the listening quality depends primarily on the original file. All FLAC titles are not equal, and in principle, you could end up with a 16-bit 44.1 kHz track that has been re-encoded by a platform in 24-bit at 192 kHz. This does not necessarily mean that the quality will be better since if the information was not there initially, there is no chance that it was added during the re-encoding.

This point is particularly valid for YouTube Music. The service offers files up to 256 kbps AAC, inherited from Google Play Music, as well as user-uploaded videos. In this case, the quality depends solely on the file initially provided on the video platform. However, when the title is available in the platform’s catalog, YouTube Music will always prioritize the official version over a user-uploaded video.

Spatial Audio

In addition to CD-quality and hi-res files, more and more music streaming services are offering spatial audio listening. Essentially, these are files encoded in Dolby Atmos or Sony 360 Reality Audio to provide greater immersion in the music.

In practice, these tracks offer an even more enhanced surround effect than the original mix. In most cases, these files are compatible with all headphones and earphones. They can also be fully appreciated on a more complete music setup, such as a Dolby Atmos home cinema system. However, Sony files are only available on PC or smartphones, not with an amplifier or home cinema.

As we have seen, Dolby and Sony provide all the spatial audio files on the market. Streaming services get their supply from one of these providers, both, or neither if the feature is not supported:

Out of the seven main music streaming services, three offer spatial audio: Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Tidal. Moreover, Amazon Music and Tidal are compatible with both Sony and Dolby solutions, while Apple Music only supports Dolby Atmos.

As for Qobuz, Spotify, and YouTube Music, spatial audio is still awaited. Spotify might enter this area in the future, as suggested by one of its executives. Deezer, on the other hand, supported Sony’s 360 Reality Audio for several years before finally giving up on October 31, 2022.

Additionally, two points should be noted regarding compatible services. First, Amazon and Apple have chosen to offer spatial audio at no extra cost—just like CD-quality files—while Tidal requires a specific subscription.

Secondly, Apple Music’s initiative to offer spatial audio with head-tracking should be commended. Provided you use an Apple device and headphones—for example, an iPhone 13 and AirPods 3—you can feel like you have the recording in front of you and hear it move as you turn your head.

Not all files are equal, and some more refined ones will only move the singer’s voice while the instruments don’t move even if you turn your head. However, this feature is limited to users immersed in the Apple ecosystem. Nonetheless, classic spatial audio remains available for Android smartphone users and those with non-Apple branded headphones or earphones.

Offline downloading, file adding, and out-of-catalog downloading

If a streaming service’s catalog is limited, it can still be useful to use the app to listen to your own tracks. There are two ways to do this:

• Adding titles to the catalog: to enjoy from all devices
• Local title playback: using the streaming app to listen to titles stored on the same device

Adding files locally or in the cloud

La première option est encore plutôt rare. Pourtant, c’est notamment grâce à celle-ci que Google Play Musique avait su se démarquer de la concurrence. Le service permettait en effet de mettre en ligne tous ses morceaux pour pouvoir les retrouver librement sur son smartphone ou un autre ordinateur.

Five platforms now offer the ability to upload your own files to access them anywhere: Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, and YouTube Music. However, the task is not always easy, far from it. For Apple Music, you must necessarily have an iCloud account.

For Amazon Music, a separate utility must be installed on your PC to upload your tracks. For Deezer, the option is well hidden, in favorites and then in “my MP3s”. Finally, Spotify encourages you to create a specific playlist on your computer that you can then download on your smartphone, while connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

YouTube Music performs very well, as it is possible to drag and drop tracks onto the web version of the site and find them directly on the mobile app, with ease.

Offline download

On smartphones, it can be practical when arriving in an area without network coverage or planning to take a flight, to download tracks locally on the device.

No problem on this side, as all seven music streaming services allow you to download tracks offline to listen without a connection.

Lyrics, music videos, podcasts, etc.

In addition to all the features that can be considered essential for a good music listening experience, various platforms offer additional functions to enrich the experience with more content than just musical tracks.

On this side, each platform plays its own cards. The most widespread feature is clearly lyrics display, as only Qobuz does not offer it. It is also the only feature offered by Amazon Music. As for music videos, they are available on Apple Music and Tidal, as well as, of course, on YouTube Music via artists’ channels.

Deezer also offers the most additional features, as apart from lyrics display, the US platform also offers podcasts—just like Spotify—as well as access to US radio stations. For radios, Apple relies on its own in-house stations. Finally, regarding podcasts, Spotify has been investing heavily in recent years, offering many original productions exclusively on the Swedish platform.

Which is the best music platform?

Once all these criteria are taken into account, it is time to assess each platform to determine which is the best music streaming service.

Keep in mind that all these services offer a free one-month trial: you can even compare them for free before you start.

Spotify: the best service to join your friends

On paper, Spotify offers a fairly standard plan with a single price of $9.99 per month, an average catalog of 80 million tracks, and quality limited to 320 kbps. However, its strength lies in its number of users.

The platform offers many social features, a lot of music recommendations, a large number of compatible devices – all are supported except for the HomePod, for now – and even third-party applications designed by developers based on the service’s APIs. The greatest strength of Spotify is undoubtedly that your friends are already on it.

• Catalog: over 80 million tracks (including 4.7 million podcasts)
• Price: $9.99 per month (individual), $15.99 per month (family)
• Quality: Ogg Vorbis up to 320 kbps
• Spatial Audio: no
• Number of compatible platforms: 11

Deezer: balanced

Deezer is a historical player in the online music sector. It makes sense, therefore, that it offers many integrations and is one of the few to work on HomePod. The only missing platform is the PlayStation Store.

The service has also integrated lossless quality into its base offering, at $10.99 per month, a price higher than Amazon, Tidal, and Apple Music. Moreover, it is CD quality, not HD. Note that Deezer’s catalog is said to be a bit more limited than the competition. It’s a good offer, but other services still offer better options.

• Catalog: over 90 million tracks
• Price: $10.99 per month (individual), $17.99 per month (family)
• Quality: FLAC 16-bit up to 44.1 kHz
• Spatial Audio: no
• Number of compatible platforms: 11

Apple Music: the largest catalog

Apple is a relatively recent player in the online music industry. Nevertheless, the company has been honing its skills with the iTunes Store for a long time and benefits from a large catalog. In just a few years, Apple Music has managed to establish itself as a significant service to compete with the leading platforms in the sector, mainly due to compatibility with a large number of devices.

The unique offer at $11 per month is also very easy to understand and comprehensive, with lossless quality tracks. Finally, Apple can boast a vast catalog of over 100 million tracks, exclusive radio stations, music videos, and integrated lyrics.

• Catalog: over 100 million tracks
• Price: $10.99 per month (individual), $16.99 per month (family)
• Quality: ALAC 16 or 24-bit, 44.1, 48 or 192 kHz
• Spatial Audio: Dolby Atmos (with head tracking for Apple products)
• Number of compatible platforms: 10

YouTube Music: a very comprehensive offer

Born from the ashes of Google Play Music, YouTube Music is probably the most comprehensive music streaming service currently available. While audio quality is capped, at best, at 256 kbps AAC, Google’s service stands out from the competition with its catalog. It is not limited to artists who have signed with YouTube Music but also includes all videos uploaded to the video service.

YouTube Music also allows users to add their tracks to the catalog with a simple drag and drop. Ultimately, the platform’s only shortcoming is its very limited compatibility with devices, apart from the website and iOS and Android apps.

• Catalog: over 80 million tracks
• Price: $9.99 per month (individual), $14.99 per month (family)
• Quality: AAC 256 kbps
• Spatial Audio: no
• Number of compatible platforms: 6

Amazon Music: the best offer for audiophiles

Amazon’s music offering is not easy to grasp at first glance, and for good reason: it consists of three separate plans, Free, Prime, and Unlimited. We will focus on the latter, the only one offering access to all the platform’s features. And on this point, it must be acknowledged that Amazon Music Unlimited is attractive with a very affordable price and high-definition audio quality.

Often overlooked, it is the pleasant surprise of this comparison, especially for audiophiles. It’s a shame that the service is not supported by Google Home or HomePod speakers and that social features are quite limited.

• Catalog: over 100 million tracks
• Price: $9.99 per month (or $69.90 per year with Amazon Prime)
• Quality: FLAC 24-bit 192 kHz
• Spatial Audio: Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio
• Number of compatible platforms: 8

Qobuz: for audiophiles willing to pay the price

Qobuz clearly targets audiophiles. The US streaming service offers a first plan available without commitment at $14.99 per month – or $150 per year with a twelve-month commitment, which equates to $12.50 per month.

Qobuz has the advantage of offering tracks with quality up to 24-bit at 192 kHz. However, the catalog is more limited than the competition. Limitations also exist concerning social features and recommendations, which are necessarily editorialized and therefore not personalized based on your listening history. The offer is interesting for hi-fi enthusiasts, but the competition is often much more aggressive in terms of price and features.

• Catalog: over 90 million tracks
• Price: $14.99 per month or $150 per year (Studio) or $200 per year (Sublime)
• Quality: FLAC 24-bit up to 192 kHz
• Spatial Audio: no
• Number of compatible: 5

Tidal: a lack of social features

Tidal offers a premium service with attractive features, including the integration of music videos. However, the service falls short due to the absence of collaborative playlists or any social functions.

The number of compatible platforms is also quite limited, as Tidal is not available on Google Home or HomePod. The price of the HiFi Plus version, at $19.99, is relatively high compared to the competition for enjoying spatial audio.

• Catalog: over 90 million tracks
• Price: $9.99 (HiFi) or $19.99 (HiFi Plus) per month
• Quality: FLAC 16-bit up to 44.1 kHz (HiFi) or FLAC 24-bit up to 192 kHz (HiFi Plus)
• Spatial Audio: Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio (HiFi Plus)
• Number of compatible platforms: 7