Spotify Vs YouTube Music: Choose Best Music Streaming App
Today revolutionary music streaming platforms have transformed the way people consume music. Choosing the right music platform must be tricky as there a several contenders in the market out there. when it comes to music streaming apps the Two major music giants dominate the Music Industry: Spotify vs YouTube Music. These two ever-evolving platforms have revolutionized the way users consume and enjoy music, presenting a wide array of features and a plethora of music stuff. You can download YouTube Vanced APK for free to enjoy YouTube Premium features and many other features like Ad-Free, Background Playback, Dislike button and much more.
Difference Between Spotify and YouTube Music
Both these music giants offer high-quality sound effects, a rich music library of over 100 million songs, free ad-supported versions, and premium plans with additional content, offline downloading, and other discovery tools. Both music platforms have proved their names in the music streaming industry, but you must be wondering which streaming platform is better than the two. Spotify or YouTube music?
In order to determine which app is better read the below guide. here you will find a detailed comparison of both these apps for their their music collections, pricing, audio quality, music discovery, interface, and others. So this article will be a complete guide for an audiophile looking for a perfect music streaming service. Read on to know more….
Things You Should Know
Spotify vs YouTube Music Overview
What is Spotify?
Spotify, a Swedish is widely known because of its exclusive library where you can stream unlimited music and podcasts. You can listen to vast music and discover anything of your interest in no time. That’s not all! you will be able to see your friends’ listening activities and also get music recommendations based on your searches and listening history. the best of all things is that Spotify is available for various, all most devices like Linux, Windows, Androids, iOS, TV, and Kindle which makes it a popular app worldwide.
What is YouTube?
A direct alternative to Spotify, YouTube Music is an extension of YouTube, which is the highly renowned internet’s most popular Video content Platform, designed to provide audio content. Like Spotify Youtube also offers a huge collection of tracks and other audio media. The YouTube algorithm also works like Spotify and recommends personalized music by understanding and analyzing your searches.
Moreover, this music service can be enjoyed on Windows, iOS, Android, and Smart TV. free and premium plans are also available and the stand-out aspect about Youtube music is that you can seamlessly switch between YouTube music and regular YouTube.
Spotify Vs YouTube Music: FREE Features
Spotify
Spotify’s free version comes up with certain limitations, you can play songs from particular playlists that it has selected for you. Additionally, it allows you to only skip the song 6 times an hour and there is limited shuffling of songs. You have to see frustrating ads in between the streaming but the best thing about this app is that you can surf or scroll to other platforms on the phone while this app plays music in the background.
YouTube Music
The free tier of YouTube has an edge over Spotify as it lets you choose and play any song that you want to listen to. you can skip the songs unlimitedly if you don’t like any. There are no skip limitations so you can jump to songs that you might like freely. but, you cannot play the YouTube music app in the background while you are doing another task, like scrolling through Facebook or another app. The background music or playlists will stop playing as you switch to scroll or surf through any other platform.
| Free Plan Features | Spotify | YouTube Music |
| Access to the entire library | Yes | Yes |
| Ad skips | No | Yes (After 5 seconds) |
| Song skips | Six songs per hour max | Yes (Unlimited song skips ) |
| Background play | Yes ( on All platforms) | Yes (Web player only) |
| On-demand playback | Yes (Desktop and web player) | Yes (All platforms) |
| Playback modes | No playback mode | Song mode and video mode |
| Offline download | Not available | Not available |
| Audio quality formats for desktop app | Four settings:Default Low (24 kbps)Normal (96 kbps)High (160 kbps) | N/A |
| Audio quality settings for web player | One format:Normal (128 kbps) | Two formats:Low (48 kbps)Normal (128 kbps) |
| Highest audio streaming quality | 160 kbps | 128 kbps |
| Audio quality settings for mobile app | Four settings:AutomaticLow (24 kbps)Normal (96 kbps)High (160 kbps) | One setting:Normal (128 kbps) |
Spotify Vs YouTube Music: Price and Plans
Although both Spotify and YouTube offer free tiers, in their freemium versions there are certain limitations that are quite annoying for you. To overcome this, both the music services offer premium plans that give the users full control over the app and its features. A brief comparison of pricing plans for both music services is given below.
Spotify
Spotify premium plan has extra features and functionalities like AI Dj, unlimited skips and shuffling, offline downloads, ad-free listening, and many more incredible features that you can avail of through a premium subscription. Spotify Duo and Mini is available in the premium tier. Also, Spotify has one extra pricing plan for duos/couples living at the same location, they can share this plan that costs them just $6.5/month each, this plan is cheaper than the individual plan.
YouTube Music
Offering premium plans that are almost similar to Spotify YT Music is different from Spotify in some features available at the same price. YouTube offers fewer features whereas Spotify promises you a a lot of benefits and features at the same price, hence excels over YT.
Spotify vs YouTube Music: Price
| SPOTIFY PREMIUM PLANS | PRICES | YOUTUBE MUSIC PREMIUM PLANS | PRICES |
| Family | $16 Per Month | Family | $15 Per Month |
| Individual | $10 Per Month | Individual | $10 Per Month |
| Student | $5 Per Month | Student | $ 5 Per Month |
| Duo | $13 Per Month | ———— | ———— |
Spotify vs YouTube Music: User Interface and Design
When we talk about the user interface, both these Music services have a competitive and unique interface that has a visual impact on the users that ultimately enhances their experience.
Spotify
Spotify’s user interface is intuitive and sleek with a dark theme and helps users discover and navigate through music and playlists in no time.Spotify attracts the user visually through its eye-catching header images, detailed playlist descriptions, attractive cover art and efficient utilizing space. The personalized playlists and newly released music appear on the home screen for allow the users to easily navigate through it. on the now playing section, you will see albums, playback controls, and lyrics if available.in addition, Spotify’s algorithmically designed playlists make the interface more appealing.
YT Music
YT interface design is more simplistic and elegant with some areas on the homepage, like the Explore and Moods & Genres sections, etc.The unavailibility of a desktop app is the biggest drawback of the YouTube music app is the. So to play music on a desktop users have to ventually rely to a web player. Spotify and YouTube Music provide filterable search results but YT excels in presentation. YouTube Music gives more detailed results, including top songs, albums, videos, and other related content.
Spotify Vs YouTube Music: Content
For users, a basic criterion to decide the perfect streaming platform is the content. all the features and tools that any app offers have come after the content as content is the king of other tools and functionalities.
Spotify
Spotify wins the game of being the best streaming service In terms of content. Spotify is the actual king. Well, we can declare Spotify the winner because apart from the 100 million tracks from different genres and artists that the app has in its library, five million podcasts, hosting over 375,000 audiobooks, and documentaries cannot be ignored. Spotify pays the celebs to come on board and it has podcasts from the world’s popular personalities like Kim Kardashian, Obama, and Joe Rogan. Moreover, it is trying to collaborate with many record labels and artists to add more valuable content for the users.
YouTube Music
Though, YouTube Music also offers over 100 million songs in its database., it offers a limited selection of podcasts and hosts other non-music content like audiobooks unofficially. However, the integration of this service with YouTube’s video content enables you to access various non-music media, including unofficial podcasts and audiobooks.
Spotify Vs YouTube Music: Sound Quality
Sound quality is the top priority of music enthusiasts and audiophiles. Both the yt and spotify offer different sound settings and options There is a brief comparison below of these services in terms of the audio quality they offer.
Spotify
Spotify provides 5 different sound qualities that offer different bitrates in its premium plan. The best and most user-friendly audio quality setting is “Automatic” which is adjusted automatically according to the internet connection and speed you have. There are other audio quality options that You may choose from from the lowest quality like 24 kbps and 320 kbps as their highest audio quality.
YouTube Music
YouTube also has audio quality options that range from 48 kbps to 256 kbps. Technically This means that spotify provides the best quality audio than YouTube Music as the former service lets you audio stream up to 320 kbps on its Premium plan, compared to the latter’s 256 kbps.so, Spotify is the winner of the two. Even, the freemium version of YT Music does not have the audio quality equivalent of Spotify.
| Audio Quality options | Spotify | YouTube Music |
| Normal | 96 kbps | 128 kbps |
| High | 160 kbps | 256 kbps |
| Very High / Always High | 320 kbps | 256 kbps ( this quality remains intact regardless of internet speed) |
| Low | 24 kbps | 48 kbps |
| Automatic | Depends on internet speed | N/A |
Spotify Vs YouTube Music: Music Discovery
There are several features through which you can discover music on spotify and yt music. both apps have unique features embedded to give the users seamless searching and discovering updated and latest content in no time. though the Spotify AI algorithms curate playlists based on your history wins the discovery feature but YT music discovering features is also very significant.
Spotify
Spotify’s features for letting users discover new music are “Release Radar”, “Discover Weekly”, “Your Mixtape” and “Discover Mix” These features are tailored to your preferences and tastes and created by analyzing your listening activities with a mix of personalized recommendations. Moreover, the AIDJ feature on Spotify uses artificial intelligence to learn your music tastes and to suggest playlists and tracks accordingly.
Thus the discovery features of spotify are a more interactive and effective way to explore music beyond your usual available playlists.
YouTube Music
Youtube has also similar discovery tools as Spotify like its “Your Mixtape” and “Discover Mix” features. Here You will also get curated playlists based on your listening history.YouTube Music offers the Mixed for You section, in which the users get a personalized experience through tracks and mixes that perfectly reflect their listening preferences and tastes. the Discover Mix is very much like Spotify’s Discover Weekly, offering new song recommendations every week. However, despite resembling Spotify in many ways tube personalized mixes are clearly fewer than what Spotify provides.
| Discovery Feature | Spotify | YouTube Music |
| Song Recommendations | “Recommended” | “Suggestions”Related Playlists |
| Spotify: SearchYouTube Music:Explore | MoodDiscoverNew ReleasesCharts | Moods and GenresNew ReleasesCharts |
| Artist Recommendations | “Fans Also Like” | “Fans Might Also Like” |
| Personalized Mixes | “Made For You”Discover WeeklyYour Niche MixesDaily MixRelease Radar | “Mixed For You”My MixDiscover MixMy SupermixNew Release Mix |
Spotify Vs YouTube Music: Music Library
Spotify and YT have a vast music library and they offer extensive catalogs but there are minor differences so let’s explore.
Spotify
Spotify’s library has incredible musical and non-music content including 100 million tracks, 5 million podcasts, and audiobooks of diverse genres which makes its library the most amazing and comprehensive library among other music streaming apps.
YouTube Music
Likewise, YouTube has 100 million tracks in its database which lets you have access to almost every latest music video and official track.YT lately started to add podcasts to its music library but it is only available in the United States for now.
Spotify Vs YouTube Music: Device Compatibility
Device compatibility is a must for every updated app as it ensures the user has more fun listening with great ease. with the advancement of technology, people prefer those platforms that are that are more compatible with other devices.
Spotify
Spotify understands the user’s basic need to take the most out of spotify by connecting it to a lot of other devices. taken device compatibility seriously. The app is not only compatible with iOS and Android, but also it has apps for Windows and macOS and extends its compatibility to smart speakers, smart TVs, and game consoles. You can also connect your Spotify account with Google Assistant, Alexa, and Siri.
YouTube Music
YouTube is compatible with both Android and iOS, and it can also be connected to Smart TV, Mac, and Windows. As the extension of YouTube so it is integrated with many devices such as Google Assistant and Siri but not with Alexa, which is a big flaw in its compatibility.
Spotify Vs YouTube Music: Premium Additional features
There are a lot more features that both these apps offer to become the best version. Here are some of the additional features from both apps that users might prefer.
Spotify
YouTube Music
See How to see Spotify Wrapped?
FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
Choosing The best music streaming app between Spotify and YouTube Music depends on your personal preference and taste. Spotify offers an extensive music library, smart algorithmically curated playlists, and a user-friendly experience. It’s a go-to option for you if you’re all about discovering the latest tracks and melodies.
On the other hand, YouTube Music has a video mode that lets you connect to YouTube’s vast world and explore music along with visuals.
In this article, we tried to enlighten you about the comprehensive information and comparison of the Spotify and YT music to make it easy for you to decide your top pick. Ultimately, your choice depends on your taste and needs so read the article, choose the app that suits you fit, and enjoy your favorite sounds.
