YouTube Music vs Spotify

It may not seem like it at first glance, but YouTube was always perfectly positioned to take over music streaming. You might already know that Google is the most popular search engine in the world, but not many people know that the second most popular search bar that people type things into is YouTube. Now that Google Play Music (RIP) has officially transformed into YouTube Music, it’s worth asking how it stacks up against some of the other most popular music streaming services. In this article we’re going to be comparing it specifically to Spotify to see which one is worth your money.

Editor’s note: this versus article was updated on November 8, 2022 to include a brief update on Spotify HiFi, YouTube Music’s expanded playlist options, and mention the increase in price to Spotify’s family plan.

What are the differences between the free version of Spotify and YouTube Music?

While both Spotify and YouTube Music offer premium subscription plans, it isn’t required. Both services offer decent tiers that let you access the service for free. Of course, prepare to be blasted with ads if you go this route. It isn’t just ads that get in the way, both services cap streaming quality: the free YouTube Music option tops out at 128kbps and free Spotify maxes out at 160kbps on mobile. It’s true that neither of these services are known for their superior sound quality, but Spotify announced Spotify HiFi, an upcoming premium tier of its service which will rival Tidal HiFi and Amazon Music HD—There’s been no news on the feature since a message of “we’re working on it” in February 2022, so don’t hold your breath.

Aside from the streaming quality, there are also limitations on functionality. Free Spotify limits your search ability. You can’t select individual songs and must instead choose songs from select playlists. On Spotify, you can’t skip more than six times if you’re on a mobile, nor can you download music for offline listening. Neither of these limitations exist on YouTube Music.

Before you go dancing off to use YouTube Music though, you should know that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. The free version of YouTube Music also has notably annoying limitations. For example, if you’re on mobile you can’t leave the app and listen to music simultaneously. When you turn off your phone screen, it cuts off your music. This isn’t a problem on desktop (you can just open up a new tab in your browser), but it’s really annoying if you’re using a smartphone.

What content do they offer?

If you’re torn between Spotify and YouTube Music, this is the section that will most likely be the deciding factor for most. Both are primarily music streaming services but that isn’t all they offer. Let’s start with Spotify. The company is one of the most popular music streaming services in the world, and offers tons of music. The music library numbers in the tens of millions.

The company has also been making a huge push to dominate podcasts. It has your popular podcasts and exclusives from people like Joe Rogan, Kim Kardashian, and Michelle Obama. True, you might not really care about what any of those people have to say, but you have to admit those are some big names. If Spotify is willing to spend that amount of cash just on a few podcasts, it clearly has big plans for this part of its business down the line.

While there are certainly plenty of podcasts that are uploaded to YouTube in video form, it’s by no means a priority of the service. Meanwhile, Spotify added video support to supplement their podcasts. You can, of course, use a separate app also owned by Google, Google Podcasts, to listen to your favorite shows but it would be nice if they were accessible in the same place. Where Spotify falls short is where YouTube Music excels: songs that are off the beaten track. This includes covers, remixes, and any kind of live jam that a user might upload.

While poking around YouTube Music, I not only found mixtapes from some of my favorite artists that aren’t available on Spotify (like this one) but I also found some songs I had never even heard before. For example: Blue Room by Chet Baker is one of my favorite jazz pieces, and I had no idea that there was a gorgeous a capella version until coming across it on YouTube Music. The same thing happened with this Frank Sinatra song that I was unable to find on Spotify or Apple Music.

These random finds that slip through the cracks of the major publishing deals Spotify signs makes YouTube Music worth it. As long as someone, somewhere uploads it the chances are you can listen to it. And if you can’t find a song anywhere on the platform, you can plug the gaps by uploading your own library. If you were a Google Play Music subscriber that already did this, YouTube Music also has a handy tool to transfer it all over automatically so you don’t have to go through the entire process again.

YouTube Music also takes advantage of its huge music video library. When you conduct a search for a song you can either let the video play or, if you want to save some data, hit the “song” toggle up top which will just serve you the audio. If all you really care about is song availability then it’s hard to beat what YouTube Music has to offer.

Is Spotify or YouTube Music better for music discovery?

Listening to your own music library is all well and good, but eventually you’ll run out of things to listen to. That’s why music discovery is very important. Both of these services use a mixture of algorithms and curated playlists to show you new artists and songs you might like. While YouTube Music isn’t bad at this, Spotify is the master of algorithm-based music discovery.

YouTube Music has a handful of music discovery options, but there are two main mixes for algorithm-based finds. For starters, there’s Discover Mix, playlist that updates every Wednesday with new picks based on your ongoing listening—just like Spotify’s Discover playlist. There’s also My Supermix, which has a similar premise to the Discover Mix, but it’s a constantly updating rolling list of 100 songs. No need to wait till next wednesday for new picks, just check back whenever.

Then there are the editorial playlists offered by both services. Spotify started out in the lead here, but YouTube Music has certainly gained a lot of ground. Both services offer playlists (called mixes on YouTube) catering to different moods and activities—sometimes more than one.

YouTube Music vs. Spotify: Pricing and plans

Pricing between the two services is almost identical. A subscription for an individual will run you $9.99 USD/month on both platforms and student plans are also both $4.99 USD/month. Then there’s the family plans, where YouTube charges $14.99 USD/month and Spotify charges 15.99 USD/month for up to six accounts. This is the point where things start to differ. Spotify has a Duo membership for two people to share that’s priced at $12.99 USD/month which works for couples. Youtube Music also offers an annual plan for $99 USD/year.

Spotify occasionally has random promotions where you can also get Hulu added on for an extra $3 USD so it might be worth checking that out too if you want to bundle your music and video services together. YouTube Music also has its own version of a bundle, and I bet you can guess what video service gets bundled here. If you sign up for YouTube Premium ($12.99 USD/month), which lets you watch YouTube videos ad-free, you get access to YouTube Music thrown in. In that instance, YouTube Premium is a great value.

Which has better sound quality, YouTube Music or Spotify?

As these are both music streaming services, it’s only right that we talk about the sound quality. For the best streaming quality, you need to look at Tidal, Amazon Music HD, or Deezer. That’s not to say that either of these services sound bad, they’re fine.

Choosing the highest quality on Spotify will get you a stream of 320kbps using AAC, while YouTube Music maxes out at 256kbps and also uses AAC. Technically Spotify wins out here, but the actual number fluctuates depending on your connection. You might be kicked down to a lower streaming rate if you have a poor connection. Plus, unless you have some seriously good equipment to A/B test on you likely won’t be able to hear the minute differences here. Once Spotify HiFi is released, it will offer CD-quality lossless audio playback, which is 1411kbps.

Other features you should pay attention to

There are a few odds and ends to pay attention to that differentiate Spotify from YouTube Music. They might be enough to draw you to one or the other but that’s something you’re going to have to try out for yourself. Neither service feels intuitive: Spotify rarely shows me what I want without a few extra clicks and while the filters on the YouTube Music search is cool, I’m sure there is a better way to display the results than a just a list.

Each service also has its own Cast functionality, which is great if you want to play your music on a smart speaker. I prefer Spotify Connect as it doesn’t forget that it’s connected to a speaker halfway through a song like Google Cast constantly does. But again, which one is best for you really depends on your particular setup. Some receivers and speakers might be compatible with just one or the other (or neither). So make sure to check whether the service you choose plays nice with your existing hardware.

So which one is right for you?

Between YouTube Music and Spotify, Spotify is the safer bet for most people.

Even still, the choice between Spotify and YouTube Music really depends on what you’re looking for in a streaming service. If you value podcasts then you’re better off with Spotify, but YouTube Music excels at surfacing random music.

They’re also both priced similarly so you’re not missing out on much there, and while Spotify technically has a higher bitrate you likely won’t be able to tell the difference unless you find a particularly bad upload of a song on YouTube Music.

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