Ryan Haines / Android Authority
I used the premium version of Spotify for a long time but ditched it a while back. It’s a great app overall, and I see why so many people like it, but I wanted to try something new. Something fresh. Something that would allow me to discover alternative music, find new artists, or give me a few extra benefits aside from just music streaming.
I’ve tested more or less every music streaming app over the years, and although a lot of them seem the same at first glance, there are enough differences between them to sway you in a specific direction. Let’s go over the five best Spotify alternatives if you’re looking to move away from the Swedish music streaming giant.
Which of these Spotify alternatives do you think is best? 62 votes YouTube Music 56 % Deezer 5 % SoundCloud 10 % Tidal 15 % Bandcamp 5 % Other (let me know in the comments) 10 %
YouTube Music
Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
This is by far my favorite alternative to Spotify, and for good reason. I love the app’s design, the music discovery is great, and there are tons of music videos available to watch. I really like the “Speed dial” feature on the home screen that lists all the songs I play on a regular basis, saving me a few taps. I tend to listen to the same songs over and over again, so this feature is right up my alley.
What makes YouTube Music a great choice for me is that it’s bundled with YouTube Premium, which gets rid of those pesky ads on YouTube. I don’t watch cable TV and Netflix isn’t really my thing, so when I do sit down to watch content, I always turn to YouTube.
However, YouTube Music has its issues, at least from my perspective when it comes to the free version. You can’t turn off your phone’s display while listening to music, making it a poor choice if you want to stream in your car via Bluetooth. For that reason, I still keep the free version of Spotify on my phone, which lets me turn off the display. The trade-off is that it doesn’t let me skip songs more than six times per hour, but that’s a limitation I’m willing to live with.
Deezer
... continue reading