If you haven’t invested in a large library of digital music over the years, music streaming services are a great option. They offer instant access to millions of songs and intuitive discovery features, allowing you to discover new artists or listen to old favorites. In some cases, you can even download tracks for offline listening, making it possible to keep the audio magic flowing, even in situations where internet connectivity isn’t an option. And, because the music typically plays through a smartphone or laptop, it’s possible to listen to your tunes using a connected bluetooth speaker or set of headphones.
After a significant amount of research and testing, we found that Apple Music is the best streaming music service for most people. It offers an enormous catalog of songs, high-definition audio, and is easy to use.
For those who don’t want to pay for a streaming music subscription, Spotify offers the best free listening experience offered by any streaming service. It gives you access to an enormous catalog and a strong user-tailored experience. The drawback is that you have to be on a computer if you want to choose your own tracks and albums, and you’ll be interrupted by ads wherever you choose to listen.
Here are the best music streaming services we tested, ranked in order:
Apple Music
Spotify
How We Tested Music Streaming Services
What You Should Know About Music Streaming Services
Other Music Streaming Services We Tested:
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Largest library of songs
Lots of exclusive content
Music syncing across devices
Better for Apple users than Android
No free option
Same personalized features as Spotify’s premium plan
Full-featured desktop app
Ads can be annoying
Mobile app is more limited
No offline listening
Featuring lossless audio and a massive collection of music, stations, and exclusive content, Apple Music is the best streaming music service around.
Spotify's free, ad-supported service is a great option for those uninterested in paying a monthly subscription.
It took us hours of listening, comparing features and pricing to figure out which music streaming service is best for most people.
Michael Garrett Steele makes most of his living as a writer. However, he's also a composer and recording artist, primarily for video games. He's composed for properties like Fallout and Commander Keen and recorded for game composers like Megan McDuffee and Ryan Ike. He's been surrounded by and involved with music my whole life, as both a creator and listener.
Don Melanson is a veteran tech journalist who listens to a lot of music from a number of sources, including a vinyl collection, digital audio files, and, of course, streaming music services. He always strives to get the best sound quality possible—both from his audio equipment and his music sources.
To determine which music services are the top options, we started by first narrowing down the list of services to test to a manageable eight, relying on previous experience, as well as expert opinion from trusted sources. We evaluated premium and free versions of each service, too. Next, we assembled 21 popular and lesser-known songs, representing a wide range of genres from various eras. We used these songs to build a playlist for each streaming service in our test group, in order to assess:
Beyond this, we also used each service to listen to music that we ordinarily listen to on a daily basis. This helped to judge how well each service’s music recommendation features worked. We also spent time exploring extra features each service offered, such as live radio, videos, curated playlists, and exclusive content.
The cost of plans offered by each service was also considered, as well as podcast support, offline capabilities, each service’s overall sound quality (is it really CD-quality like they tout it to be?), and availability on smartwatch apps.
While conducting these tests, we used each service’s web interface and desktop application (where available), as well as their Android and iOS apps.
While there are exceptions, most streaming services will offer the majority of the music you’re looking for.
They all offer decent sound quality and should be available to use with iOS, Android, and Windows, and Mac computers. You’ll find some are available to enjoy using your smartwatch or a smart speaker, while others are not.
The biggest differences between music services are found in their interfaces, ease of use, and additional features beyond basic music streaming. The latter, in particular, can vary considerably. Some offer exclusive content, live radio, custom playlists, and music recommendations that become more tailored to your taste the more you use them.
It used to be that standard resolution streaming audio was the norm for most music services. Standard resolution audio gets the job done: the sound of the music streamed sounds largely as the artist who recorded it intended it to. However, the music's fidelity takes a hit, due to digital compression: you may hear a hiss or digital artifacts in your music as you listen; what you hear is not as clear as it could be.
High-resolution/definition audio, as its name suggests, brings more definition to the music you stream. Background noise is lessened, if not removed entirely. Overall, what you hear will be closer to what the artist who originally recorded the song intended it to sound. High-resolution streaming is becoming more common, every year. So much so that, when the last time this guide was updated, we tested the same services against one another. This time around, the quality and quantity of Hi-Res/HD sound quality was such an important factor during our scoring process that our original choice for best overall was dethroned, due to its lack of high fidelity listening options, in favor of a service that provides a massive catalog of high-defination and lossless audio tracks.
Depending on the streaming service, high-definition audio may come standard, with the price of a basic subscription. Others, however, for users to pay a premium for the privilege of being able to stream higher quality audio to their devices.
Music streaming services are notorious for not paying artists well. While most of the services don’t release official figures, information collected directly from musicians and other sources indicates that artists can expect to make anywhere from $0.00069 to $0.019 per stream. That’s a tiny fraction of what they make from actual album sales, and the variables between how much one artist makes over another are opaque.
The convenience of streaming music is tough to beat, but if there are artists you want to support, you might want to consider also buying a copy of a song or album after you’ve sampled it on your service of choice.
Streamlined interface
Hi-res plan available
Some exclusive content
Podcasts not available in all countries
Hi-definition music is an extra, instead of the default.
High-resolution, “Master Quality” audio
Exclusive content
Easy-to-use interface
HiFi plan pricier than Deezer or Amazon
No free plan available
Available on multiple platforms & devices
Great personalized recommendations
Simple, intuitive interface
Flexible plan options
No high-resolution audio
Discount for Amazon Prime users
Hi-res audio plan available
Dolby Atmos music support
Additional features limited at present
Less attractive if you don’t have Amazon Prime
YouTube integration adds exclusive music
Solid recommendations and personalized content
Unavailable on some devices and platforms
Light on features
Incredible for discovering new music
Audio quality is pretty rough
Library is lacking
Tons of indie and community-created tracks
Variety of subscription options
Lots of free music available
Web interface is clunky
Not as widely available as other services
Plenty of live content and exclusive programming
Less expensive plan available for more limited streaming.
Sluggish, confusing interface
No family plan
No free trial option
Don Melanson
Contributor
Don Melanson is a freelance writer and journalist based on Canada's East Coast. His work has appeared in a range of publications including Popular Mechanics, Motherboard, The Globe & Mail, and Engadget, where he also served a long stint as a senior editor.
Michael Garrett Steele is your friend.
He’s also a composer, lyricist, and writer. He has written ad jingles for video games, soundtracks for video games, entertainment reviews and news, SEO optimization copy, and product reviews. His writing clients include insurance companies, specialty medical supply companies, and educational institutions. His work appears in New Music Box, Nerdspan, and many other places. His music can be found most places music is streamed, including Spotify and YouTube.
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