Spotify vs Apple Music

The music streaming world is exploding, and two giants—Apple Music and Spotify—stand out as the top contenders. Spotify holds the large percentage of the market, with a shockingly large active monthly listener base (626 million if you like figures). But Apple Music is the go-to for many in the Applesphere, as of September 2024 they have 93 million paid subscribers.

All that aside, which features matter, what is the experince like using the platforms - and more importantly, what do you get for your money?

Subscription Options & Pricing

Free Trials

Spotify and Apple Music both offer free trials, giving new users a chance to experience premium features - and it's smart to use the time to test both rather than stick with whichever one you go with first.

Spotify provides a one-month trial on its Individual Premium plan, while Apple Music offers the same, with occasional promos extending up to three months for eligible users. It is worth searching for offers before you sign up.

Signing up is quick for both services.

Regular Plans

After the free trial, Apple Music is priced at $10.99 per month for an individual subscription, while Spotify is slightly higher at $11.99 per month.

Each platform also offers discounted options for students and families:

• Spotify Student Plan: $5.99/month
• Spotify Duo Plan: $16.99/month
• Spotify Family Plan: $19.99/month (up to six users)
• Apple Music Student Plan: $5.99/month
• Apple Music Family Plan: $16.99/month (up to six users)

Bundling with Apple One

If you’re invested in Apple’s ecosystem and have a couple of devices (or a family with a few devices), Apple One bundles Apple Music with other services like Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and iCloud+ (50GB) for $16.99/month.

This bundle can be a great choice if you’re already using Apple’s other subscriptions - it does save cash.

Both subscriptions renew monthly, and you can cancel anytime, so you're not tied into it. If you’re looking to cut costs, Spotify also has a free, ad-supported plan that you’ll revert to once Premium is canceled, so you can keep listening - with limitations.

For casual listeners, Spotify's free tier is likely going to be fine - the ads will tend to annoy those who listen to music for longer periods, though.

Sound Quality

When users switch from Spotify to pretty much any other streaming services, the difference in sound quality is what the notice first. We should add, it also depends on how you listen. Better quallity headphones give a better sound, but they can't make up for a general lack of quality.

Apple Music

• Standard Quality: Streams at 256 kbps using the AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) format, delivering clear and crisp sound.
• Lossless Audio: Offers lossless streaming up to 24-bit/48 kHz, providing a more detailed listening experience. For audiophiles, Hi-Res Lossless is available up to 24-bit/192 kHz, though this requires external equipment like a digital-to-analog converter.
• Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos: Provides an immersive, three-dimensional sound experience on compatible devices and headphones. This feature enhances the depth and clarity of music, making it feel as if the sound is coming from all around you.

Spotify

• Standard Quality: Streams at different bitrates depending on the user's subscription and settings:

  • Low: Approximately 24 kbps
  • Normal: Approximately 96 kbps
  • High: Approximately 160 kbps
  • Very High: Approximately 320 kbps (available for Premium subscribers)

• Spotify HiFi: Announced plans to introduce a HiFi tier offering lossless, CD-quality audio. As of November 2024, this feature has not been rolled out, and specific details remain limited. We have hope it will be coming soon. It will increase the cost of a subscription though.

Stuff to know

• Data Usage: Higher audio quality settings consume more data. For mobile listeners with limited data plans, this is an important factor to consider.
• Device Compatibility: To fully experience Apple Music's Hi-Res Lossless and Spatial Audio features, compatible devices and, in some cases, additional equipment are necessary.

Apple Music currently offers higher-quality streaming options, including lossless and spatial audio features, catering to listeners who want superior sound quality. Spotify gives flexible quality settings and has announced plans for a HiFi tier, but as of now, it doesn't match Apple Music's highest quality offerings.

You can get a better listening experience if you play with Spotify's eq though, again it doesn't make up for the quality but it can help.

Sources:

• Apple Music Audio Quality
• Spotify Audio Quality

UI and Navigation

Both apps show off album covers front and center, keeping things visually organized - which is nice on the eye. Core navigation stays at the bottom of the screen, so jumping between features is easy - and if you transfer playlists from one to the other, you'll get the hang of using the app pretty quickly.

Spotify leans into its social side with real-time updates on what friends are listening to, while Apple Music syncs seamlessly with your iOS devices, making it ideal if you’re already plugged into the Apple world.

The biggest difference is that Spotify is stuffed with audiobooks, podcasts, and the latest interactive things. Apple Music keep their UI cleaner.

Apple is known for thier sleeker look, and some users find Spotify to be a 'bloated'. They have completely different approaches to their UI.

Your music app should feel like a natural extension of your listening style, and Spotify and Apple Music each bring their own vibe to the table.

Spotify

Spotify’s dark-themed, minimalist interface is straightforward and easy to navigate. Home, Search, and Library tabs keep everything within reach. Plus, there’s “Canvas”—short looping videos on select tracks. Eye-catching? Sure. But keep an eye on your data and battery life; Canvas can be a bit of a drain.

Apple Music

Apple Music goes for a clean, white layout that meshes well with Apple’s ecosystem. Its “For You” section offers up playlists based on your listening habits, and it’s got a feature Spotify can’t touch: lyric search. Surprisingly, lyrics is one place where every platform is competing and some just don't get it right.

Just type a line from a song, and Apple Music will find the track for you. Perfect for those “I can’t remember the name, but it goes like…” moments.

Radio and discovering music

Music discovery is a big deal for a lot of music lovers. After all, while there is a lot of joy in listening to what you already love, there is a bigger one is discovering new artists!

Spotify

Spotify leads the way in personalized playlists. Every Monday, “Discover Weekly” hits with fresh tracks tailored to your taste, and every Friday, “Release Radar” drops new releases from artists you’re likely to love. It does run into some issues though, many users report that they get the same songs in the discovery playlists.

The Browse tab is packed with playlists based on genre, mood, and what’s trending globally, so there’s always something to explore.

Spotify also offers radio stations based on your favorite songs, artists, or albums, giving you a continuous stream of similar music. These stations adapt based on what you like, so the more you listen, the better they get.

Apple Music

Apple Music’s “For You” section serves up playlists and albums curated just for you, including the “New Music Mix,” which works similarly to Spotify’s Discover Weekly. Apple Music also brings in exclusive content, like artist interviews and behind-the-scenes videos, for a more in-depth look at the artists you follow.

On the radio side, Apple Music takes a different route with Apple Music 1 Radio, a live radio station hosted by actual DJs and featuring guest artists.

It’s got the feel of traditional radio with a modern twist, and for fans of live radio, it’s a unique experience Spotify doesn’t offer.

We always recommend being as interactive with your platform as possible. Like music, add tracks to your playlists, block artists... In fact we have a guide on how to maximize your discovery potential: How Do Spotify Personalized Playlists Work?

Both platforms use complex algorithms to match recommendations to your taste, but Apple Music leans on human curation more heavily, with playlists crafted by genre experts. Meanwhile, Spotify’s recommendations tend to be data-driven, constantly learning from what you play and skip.

Social sharing

There are few things in life as ddelightful as sharing music you've found with people you love. And we've come a long way since you needed to burn a CD and hand it over. Now we've got endless ways to share the new music we've found.

Spotify

Spotify nails the social side, it is almost a clean sweep. You can connect to Facebook, follow friends, and even see what they’re listening to in real-time. Sharing is quick—just hit the share button to post songs, albums, or playlists directly to Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and now TikTok. That recent TikTok share button makes it easy to add music right to your feed, turning favorite tracks into instant TikTok content. You can even have what you're listening to show up on your Discord profile. Spotify are chronically visible.

Then there’s Spotify Codes: every song has a scannable code. All you need is your camera, and friends can play the song instantly—no messy links, just tap and go.

Apple Music

Apple Music’s approach to social is a bit quieter. You can follow friends, but updates live quietly in the For You tab, and it doesn’t refresh in real-time. Sharing playlists is easy, but without collaboration options. Apple’s share button lets you send songs or playlists over Messages, AirDrop, and some social platforms, but it keeps things low-key.

When it comes to social, Spotify has clearly invested time and money into it. And it really shows.

Which is better, Spotify or Apple Music?

First and most importantly is - you do need to test them both. The minor details matter a lot when you use a product every day. If you don't listen to, or love audiobooks and podcasts then Spotify has many features rolled into the price that you aren't making the most of. While it is not entirely a waste, the pricing is higher due to these extras.

For anyone who wants music with a high sound quality then Apple Music wins by a landslide. And, if you don't care too much about having millions of sharing options, or being 'trendy' then this is the way to go.

Taking into consideration some of the ethic or unethical royalties payment issues, then steer clear of spotify completely. They aren't the best at paying well, and while the platform does have some great artist tools, they make smaller artists work double hard to see any money. People who want their subscription money to benefit the artists they listen to are better off on other platforms.

Generally speaking though, Spotify is an accessible all-rounder. The platform is feature packed, the biggest downfall, is that for a platform that is for music streaming - the audio quality sucks.

(Apple Music wins for us, though).