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Reviewed /Betsey Goldwasser
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Credit:
Reviewed /Betsey Goldwasser
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What Tidal lacks in music discovery playlists, it more than makes up for in a large catalog of high-quality audio. Read More
Spotify’s free service is limited compared to the Premium plan, but still offers plenty of listening options for a few trade-offs. Read More
Apple Music offers great quality and a huge catalog. However, it's best used with Apple hardware. Read More
Deezer offers a clean, streamlined interface and a more affordable hi-res streaming option than Tidal, but is lacking in personalized features. Read More
Spotify Premium's variety of plans, widespread availability across devices, personalized features, and ease of use make it a solid choice. Read More
Music streaming services offer instant access to millions of songs and features to help you discover new artists or listen to old favorites. Some offer music videos, podcasts, or the ability to download tracks for offline listening.
After a significant amount of research and testing, we found that Tidal is the best streaming music service for most people right now. It offers an enormous catalog of songs, high-definition audio, and is easy to use.
Tidal recently adjusted their pricing to be more in line with their competitors, added a large catalog of indie artists, and now offers a free tier similar to our favorite free service, Spotify.
Spotify’s free plan gives you a huge catalog and a strong user-tailored experience. Its options for discovering new music give it a slight edge on Tidal’s free tier. You can’t select your own tracks and albums on mobile, and you have to deal with ads. But Tidal’s free tier has the same weaknesses.
Finally, if you're an iPhone user, you'll want to consider Apple Music. It offers the best experience for Apple hardware owners.
With high definition sound, a free tier of service, and a reputation for paying artists well, Tidal is a great option for music lovers.
Spotify's free, ad-supported service is a great option for those uninterested in paying a monthly subscription.
Featuring lossless audio and a massive collection of music, stations, and exclusive content, Apple Music is the best streaming music service around.
Streamlined interface
Hi-def plan available
Some exclusive content
Podcasts not available in all countries
Hi-definition music is an extra, not the default.
Available on multiple platforms & devices
Great personalized recommendations
Simple, intuitive interface
No high-resolution audio
Discount for Amazon Prime users
Hi-def 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
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.
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.
We began by using previous experience and expert opinion to determine which music services to test. We evaluated premium and free versions of each service. 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 service, to assess:
We also used each service to listen to music on a daily basis. This helped to judge how well each service’s music recommendation features worked. We also spent time exploring extra features like live radio, videos, curated playlists, and exclusive content.
We took into account the cost of each service’s plans. We also considered podcast support, offline capabilities, audio quality, and smartwatch app availability. 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. Some are available using your smartwatch or smart speaker, while others are not.
The biggest differences are found in their interfaces, ease of use, and features beyond basic streaming. Some offer exclusive content, live radio, custom playlists, and music recommendations that become more tailored to your taste the more you use them.
Standard resolution streaming audio was once the norm for music services. It gets the job done, more or less, but the music's quality suffers. Due to digital compression, you can lose clarity and finer details, and you may hear a hiss or digital artifacts as you listen.
High-resolution/definition audio brings richness to the music you stream. Background noise is lessened or removed entirely. Overall, what you hear will be closer to how the artist intended it to sound.
As high-resolution audio has become more common, it was a more pressing factor in our latest scoring process. Our original choice for best overall was dethroned, in favor of a service that provides a massive catalog of high-definition and lossless audio tracks.
High-definition audio has increasingly become standard with a basic subscription. Still, some services ask users to pay a premium to stream higher quality audio to their devices.
Audio streaming services are notorious for not paying artists well. While most services don’t release official figures, information collected from musicians and other sources indicates that artists can expect to make anywhere from $0.00069 to $0.019 per stream. That’s miniscule compared to what they make from album sales, and the variables regarding 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, consider purchasing a song or album after you’ve sampled it on your favorite service.
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 has been writing and editing professionally since 2013, and has been a part of Reviewed since 2020. An MFA in music composition, Garrett has lent audio expertise to everyone from Independence Community College to Bethesda Softworks, informing reviews of audio equipment and services. Garrett also covers tech, drawing on experience working everywhere from IT helpdesks to enterprise architecture sales. Steele has also become a go-to reviewer for minor plumbing fixtures since covering bidets for Reviewed in early 2020.
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