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The best music streaming services offer on-demand access to millions of songs right on your smartphone or computer. A few competing platforms are out there, all with different features, plans, and price points. With multiple options to choose from, it can be tricky to figure out which one is the right fit for your specific needs.
If you're an Alexa fan, Amazon Music Unlimited integrates seamlessly with Echo devices and even comes with a discount for Prime members. Apple aficionados may want to consider Apple Music since it works especially well with iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs. Both Apple and Amazon also support lossless audio, so you get high-quality streaming. However, music fans on a budget may prefer Spotify since it offers an ad-supported plan with tons of songs for free.
Below, you can find full details on all of the best music streaming services, including a breakdown of plans, pricing, and features for each option.
Our top picks for the best music streaming services
Amazon Music Unlimited
Amazon Music Unlimited offers high-quality playback, integrates perfectly with Alexa, and is available at a discount for Prime members.
- Discounts for Amazon Prime members
- Alexa integration
- HD, Ultra HD, and spatial music included for no extra cost
- No free version of the Unlimited library
- Amazon Music Unlimited: $11/month ($10 with Prime) for ad-free streaming
- Amazon Music Unlimited (Single Device): $6/month for playback on one Echo or Fire TV device
- Amazon Music Unlimited Family: $17/month with support for six family members
- Amazon Music Unlimited Student: $6/month for ad-free streaming
If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, then Amazon Music Unlimited is easily one of the best music streaming services you can sign up for. Prime members get a discount, and the platform is also a good option for non-Prime subscribers thanks to its excellent features and high-quality audio playback.
Prime subscribers already get access to Prime Music as part of their membership, but that service restricts most albums to shuffle play, so you can't simply pick any song you want to listen to on-demand. If you upgrade to Music Unlimited, you unlock full on-demand access to the service's library of over 100 million songs.
Music Unlimited also includes HD, Ultra HD, and spatial audio streaming for no extra cost. HD and Ultra HD tracks use lossless audio formats in CD quality or higher, while spatial audio uses the Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality formats to create a surround sound effect.
Music Unlimited is available on various platforms, including iOS, Android, and the web. The service is tightly integrated with Amazon's Alexa, so if you have an Echo device or other Alexa-enabled products, it'll work perfectly.
Regular trials for new members last one month, but extended trials are frequently offered during deal events like Amazon Prime Day. After your trial, your subscription will automatically continue for the regular monthly price unless you decide to cancel. Amazon Music Unlimited does not offer a free tier, but you can stream a small selection of curated playlists with Amazon's ad-supported service called Amazon Music.
Read our Amazon Music Unlimited review.
Apple Music
Apple Music works especially well on Apple products, but the service has apps across a range of platforms, including Android. It also supports lossless audio and Dolby Atmos for high-quality music streaming.
- Easy integration with Apple devices
- Discounted bundle with other Apple services
- Lossless and Dolby Atmos spatial audio support
- No free ad-supported version
- Doesn't support Sony's 360 Reality Audio format
- Apple Music Individual: $11/month for ad-free streaming
- Apple Music Family: $17/month with support for six family members
- Apple Music Student: $6/month for ad-free streaming
- Apple One Bundle: $20/month for Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and iCloud
If you use an iPhone and other Apple products, then it's worth considering Apple Music as your primary audio streaming solution. Apple Music integrates perfectly with Apple's hardware and software, plus it works with your existing iTunes library.
Apple Music has over 100 million songs available to stream on-demand. The service also offers the Apple Music 1 radio station and some exclusive tracks. If you want to tap into what your friends are listening to, Apple Music has curated playlists for that and other playlists for new music, personal favorites, and more.
Apple also offers lossless and spatial audio options to ensure the best listening quality. Like Amazon Music Unlimited's similar features, lossless audio gives listeners access to CD-quality (or better) versions of Apple's entire catalog, while spatial audio offers an enhanced surround sound listening experience on select songs. However, unlike Amazon, Apple only offers spatial audio using Dolby Atmos and does not support the competing Sony 360 Reality format.
New members can receive a free one-month trial, and Best Buy customers can take advantage of a four-month trial. Apple Music is also available as part of a discounted bundle with other Apple services, like Apple TV, which makes it a great value for people who want to fully invest in Apple's ecosystem of products and platforms.
Spotify
Spotify has a huge library of songs, a free plan with ads, and compatibility with a ton of devices, but it still doesn't offer CD-quality sound.
- Free ad-supported plan
- Collaborative playlists
- Group listening
- Lacks lossless streaming option
- Doesn't support spatial audio
- Spotify Premium: $12/month for ad-free music streaming and 15 hours of audiobook listening a month
- Spotify Basic: $11/month for ad-free music streaming
- Spotify Premium Duo: $17/month with support for two family members
- Spotify Premium Family: $20/month with support for six family members and Spotify Kids access
- Spotify Premium Student: $6/month with ad-supported Hulu
Spotify remains the most popular music streaming service, and it excels when it comes to general usability and its sheer number of features. We also like that it offers a free ad-supported plan, albeit with some key limitations.
With a free plan, you can access most of Spotify's library, but outside a few select playlists you're limited to six skips per hour and can only play songs on shuffle mode. These restrictions are lifted with a Premium plan, which also gets rid of all the ads.
One of Spotify's main perks is its focus on discovery and playlist curation. This includes the service's "enhance" button, which lets you add similar songs to existing playlists. You can also filter your saved songs by mood and genre, so it's easy to find exactly what you want. Spotify also offers audiobooks (Premium plans offer 15 hours of listening a month), podcasts, and video content.
Spotify's music streams at up to 320Kbps, which should be good enough for most listeners, but it isn't on par with Amazon and Apple's lossless-quality playback. Spotify announced plans to introduce a lossless CD-quality plan back in 2021, but this tier was delayed, and it's still not clear when it will be available.
All Spotify Premium subscribers get a one-month trial regardless of the plan they choose.
What else we considered
- Tidal - When Tidal first launched in 2014, it differentiated itself from other music services by placing a big emphasis on a high-resolution, lossless audio experience. However, in recent years, competitors like Amazon and Apple have also added high-resolution, lossless streaming for the same price. As a result, there isn't a whole lot that differentiates Tidal from its rivals. Read our Tidal review.
- YouTube Music - Google's YouTube Music service is another solid option, especially if you're already plugged into other Google products and services. However, it costs the same as Amazon and Apple's services but does not offer lossless or spatial audio playback. That said, we do like that there is a free ad-supported option. You can also get a discount if you bundle YouTube Music together with ad-free YouTube video streaming as part of a YouTube Premium plan. Read our YouTube Premium review.
Music streaming service FAQs
What is lossless audio?
Lossless audio formats enable listeners to hear the full range of an original music recording without any drop in quality due to compression.
Some music streaming services, like Spotify and YouTube Music, only offer plans that let you listen to songs in "lossy" audio formats. This means that some of the original audio recording's quality is sacrificed to compress the track in order to make the file smaller and easier to stream. Though this makes listening to music on a slow internet connection possible, lossy digital audio isn't equal to the quality you'd hear on a CD.
This loss in quality can be hard to notice for the average listener, but audiophiles prefer "lossless" music since it preserves the full range of the original track. Different platforms brand their lossless audio plans under different names, including HiFi and HD Music. These terms all generally refer to streaming audio tracks that are presented in at least CD quality. Some services even offer formats that deliver high-resolution, lossless audio that exceeds CD quality.
Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, and Tidal are some of the best music streaming services with lossless audio options, making them a better fit for listeners who want the very best quality. Spotify also announced plans to launch a lossless audio plan, but a release date has not been revealed.
On the downside, lossless audio streaming requires more bandwidth, so you'll need a fast internet connection and a bigger data plan. To fully enjoy the audio quality benefits, you'll also need a nice pair of headphones with a dedicated digital-to-analog converter or a high-end set of speakers.
You can learn more about lossless audio formats in our guide to HD audio.
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