1. The list in brief
2. Best for most people
3. Best for audiophiles
4. Best for hi-res audio
5. Best for Apple fans
6. Best for Prime members
7. Best for features
8. How to choose
9. How we test
10. Latest updates
The best music streaming services make your favorite music more accessible than ever. Streaming audio transforms your listening experience, bringing millions of tracks to your fingertips across all your devices. Many now also offer podcasts, audiobooks, exclusive content and videos.
While you can save tracks and albums and curate your own playlists, the real magic lies in the built-in algorithms. These algorithms, the backbone of the best music streaming services, learn your preferences, crafting playlists and recommendations tailored to your unique taste.
Thanks to its easy-to-use platform and excellent recommendations, Spotify is still our top music streaming service for most people. But it’s no longer the only choice and doesn’t deliver high-res audio like rivals Apple Music, Tidal and Qobuz. However, with more competitors entering the space, knowing which is right for you can be hard. We’ve tested each one and although there are plenty of similarities, we’ve created this guide so you can find the best streaming service for you.
The Quick List
The best music streaming service for most people
With an easy-to-use app, excellent recommendations, best-in-class social features and a library of audiobooks, podcasts and music tracks, Spotify is still the king of music streaming – at least for now.
The best music streaming service for audiophiles
Proving Spotify isn’t the only service with a huge library of music, Tidal not only has an extensive selection of tracks but it’s an audiophile’s must-have streaming service thanks to its exceptional sound quality.
The best music streaming service for hi-res audio
Qobuz isn’t as cool as Tidal and doesn’t have the recommendation engine of Spotify, but if you’re looking for hi-res audio downloads, this is hands-down the best music streaming option for you.
The best music streaming service for Apple fans
Honestly? Apple Music offers such a similar service to rivals that if you love Apple products it’ll make the most sense for you. It works well, delivers spatial and lossless audio and will play nicely with all of your other devices.
The best music streaming service for Prime members
Prime members get a discount off Amazon Music Unlimited, making it a solid choice. You’ll also get access to quality high-res audio and an interface that isn’t as slick as rivals but is easy to use.
The best music streaming service for features
Deezer has some fun community features, like quizzes, that set it apart from rivals. It may not be the best offering in this guide, but it’s nice to use and one of the most established music streaming services around.
The best music streaming services of 2024
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The best music streaming service for most people
Spotify is the best music streaming service for most people. In many ways, it’s not just a music streaming service but an entertainment hub, boasting 100 million tracks, 5 million podcasts, audiobooks and courses.
However, Spotify is more than a sizable library of aural delights. It also has a fantastic recommendation engine that learns your tastes and curates personalized playlists. My current favorite is Daylist, which changes throughout the day based on the types of music you usually like to listen to. Not only is it spookily accurate, but it’s incredibly fun.
Spotify is a playground of social sharing, themed playlists, captivating visuals, and a constant influx of innovative features. Its versatility across various devices ensures you can revel in its offerings wherever you are. While a UI update wouldn't hurt, navigating Spotify is a breeze, regardless of your listening platform.
Admittedly, Spotify falls short in one aspect: the audio quality. Competitors like Tidal and Qobuz offer superior lossless tracks. However, Spotify has promised a game-changer, Spotify HiFi, a lossless, CD-quality offering. While it's yet to materialize, the prospect of this upgrade is something to look forward to.
Read our full Spotify review
The best music streaming service for audiophiles
Tidal is the best music streaming service for audiophiles, offering an excellent listening experience and a library to rival Spotify’s, complete with curated playlists and exclusive content. Oh, and since April 2024, the service offered its hi-res streaming option at an Apple Music-matching price – ie. $10.99 / £10.99 / AU$12.99 per month.
For this fee, Tidal bundles its high-resolution audio option with its lossless audio tier, giving subscribers access to high-quality music streaming for a competitive price. Launched in 2014, Tidal differentiates itself by emphasizing superior lossless and high-resolution sound quality and fairer artist compensation, boasting over 100 million tracks and a polished interface that might be my favorite in this guide.
While it mirrors Spotify a little in appearance, Tidal excels in delivering CD-quality audio, making it ideal for users with high-end audio equipment, like the best noise-cancelling headphones and the best surround sound system.
Despite facing competition from services like Deezer, Amazon Music Unlimited, and Qobuz, Tidal’s unique blend of exclusive content, ease of use, and audio fidelity secures its spot as the preferred option for discerning listeners. But for those unsure about the Tidal hype, you can try a 30-day free trial to hear the audio upgrade for yourself. If the top tier Tidal HiFi Plus option is too expensive, try Tidal HiFi instead.
Read our full Tidal review
The best music streaming service for hi-res audio
Qobuz is a streaming service for the discerning listener who knows what they like and likes it in hi-res – maybe as downloadable digital albums bought at a discount on the Qobuz download store.
Qobuz might not be as fun as Spotify or as slick as Tidal, but you'll find plenty of exclusive editorial content (created by actual humans), a clear design and easy-to-find hi-res playlists with full resolution transparency – that's Qobuz's admirable USP.
The French music service also offers any music lover the chance to rent and purchase hi-res music even if they don't subscribe. That said, you'll get up to a 60% discount on your hi-res purchases if you do pay for its top-tier Sublime subscription, which includes on- and offline ad-free listening, a competitive catalog and all resolution clearly displayed.
The name comes from an ancient bowed musical instrument called kobyz, which has two strings made of horsehair. But although Qobuz is happy to look back into music history, it's thoroughly modern in its output of hi-res files – more so than most rivals we've tested.
Read our full Qobuz review
The best music streaming service for Apple fans
Apple Music is the best streaming service if you love Apple. As you might expect, it offers seamless integration with Apple products, but it also boasts superior sound quality, including Lossless Audio, Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos support, and a robust recommendation engine.
Since its 2015 launch, Apple Music has expanded its catalog to more than 100 million tracks, matching Spotify's library size but focusing on a richer listening experience. Although it might lag behind Spotify in social features and playlist personalization, Apple Music's discovery tools, including curated playlists, music videos, and 24/7 digital radio do a good job at suggesting new tracks and artists.
The service stands out for allowing users to blend owned music with its vast streaming library. Apple Music also distinguishes itself with high-quality audio, available to subscribers at no additional cost, provided they have compatible equipment. This focus on sound excellence makes it a rival to other services in this guide, like Deezer, Amazon Music Unlimited, and Tidal, especially for those looking for an alternative to Spotify.
Read our full Apple Music review
The best music streaming service for Prime members
Amazon Music Unlimited is our recommendation for Prime members. Like most of the streaming services in this guide, it has a huge catalogue of more than 100 million tracks and it combines CD-quality and Ultra HD audio files for those looking for the best sound quality. While its interface and recommendation algorithms may not match the polish of competitors, its extensive selection and high-fidelity streaming options make it a top choice, particularly for Amazon Prime members because you’ll get a discount on the subscription.
This service consolidates Amazon's various music offerings into a single, streamlined platform, providing a range of listening options from free, ad-supported access to premium, lossless audio experiences. Unlike its rivals, Amazon Music Unlimited offers lossless FLAC audio up to 24-bit/192kHz, surpassing Spotify’s 320kbps streams, making it great value for audiophiles, especially at the discounted rate for Prime members.
Beyond its audio quality and expansive library, Amazon Music Unlimited offers seamless integration with Alexa and the broader Amazon ecosystem. Even for those not fully invested in Amazon's smart home devices, the service's competitive pricing, especially for high-resolution audio, makes it a good option for music lovers who are seeking both quality and affordability.
Read our full Amazon Music Unlimited review
The best music streaming service for features
Deezer has a library of more than 120 million tracks, all offering superior audio quality. While it may not be the leading choice for everyone, its minimalistic approach, combined with enhanced sound at 1411kbps – akin to Tidal’s HiFi and Apple Music – makes it an appealing alternative for anyone look for simplicity and fidelity over personalized recommendations.
Since it first launched in 2007, Deezer has maintained relevance in an increasingly competitive market, offering a free, ad-supported version alongside premium tiers. Unlike Spotify, Deezer focuses less on social integration and predictive algorithms, opting instead to provide quality audio and a variety of content, including podcasts and unique tools, like Songcatcher for music identification. Its curated playlists and the Flow feature do bring a fun tailored listening experience, though we don’t think it matches Spotify’s personalized precision.
Deezer’s user interface prioritizes minimalism, good news for those who might be overwhelmed by the complexity and cluttered design of its competitors. This simplicity, alongside its comprehensive music selection and higher bitrate streaming, positions Deezer as a worthy option for those valuing sound quality and straightforward functionality over extensive features.
Read our full Deezer review
How to choose the best music streaming service
If you don't have any specific requirements for a new music streaming service and want to play music on all your devices, make playlists and see recommendations, you can't go wrong with any of the options on this list.
They all largely offer the same kind of service with a huge choice of music and cool discovery features. But if you're looking for something specific in terms of experience, audio performance or interface, that's when you can be pickier.
For example, although all the music streaming services we've included below have a similar interface, they're not the same. If the service you have in mind has a free trial, it's worth signing up to see if you like how it works and looks. Most people will get the hang of any new app after a week or two, but we found Spotify and Tidal to be the slickest and most intuitive.
What's more, you'll need to check if your favorite artists are available on the music streaming platform you're considering signing up for. These days, most artists are on most platforms, but a few still crop up on some and not others.
Over the years, many of the best music streaming services in this list have also improved the quality of the tracks they offer, with Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited now both adding high-res audio to their platforms.
Finally, if music discovery is important to you because you're overwhelmed by the millions of tracks you could be listening to each day, you'll find solid reacommendations from all of these services but Spotify is the best.
How we test the best music streaming services
We tested the best music streaming services by signing up for the premium tier of each, so we could get a good indication about what the experience is like at the highest audio quality setting.
We also made sure we were using high-end audio equipment to get the best possible experience, testing the services on a range of the best headphones and best noise-cancelling headphones. We listened from a range of devices as well, including different smartphones, laptops and speaker systems.
To make sure we were testing the recommendation engines fully we made sure we were actively listening to our favorite tracks and artists, favoriting them and adding them to our own playlists in order to get the most from the customized ones that would be generated a few days and weeks into testing.
Other than those specific points, we also tested all of the major features of the best music streaming services, like social sharing, playlist creation, audiobooks, lyric viewing, quizzes and more. We know that everyone uses the best music streaming services in different ways and wanted to be sure we were testing everything that matters.
Latest updates to the best music streaming services
