Apple Music vs Spotify vs TIDAL: Which is the best music streaming service for you?

If you need some help making your mind up on which music streaming service is right for you, take a look at our comparisons below.

SPOTIFY

How many songs: Over 30 million

Highest bitrate: 160 kbps (Free users) / 320 kbps (Premium users)

Basic cost: Free

Premium costs: £9.99 / month

Pros: Spotify is the biggest and most well-known streaming service, and its huge library is updated with over 20,000 songs added daily. You can use it freely too – as a free user, you can listen to playlists and artist catalogues with adverts on mobile, desktop and tablet. On desktop and tablet, free users can listen to any song they select. Premium users get higher audio quality, no adverts, and can create offline playlists that can be downloaded onto desktop, tablet and mobile - meaning you can listen without having to stream and use data every time.

Cons: Free users can’t select a specific song to listen to on mobile. The quality is not as high as some alternative services, and is capped for free users at 160 kbps. Also, while the catalogue is huge, certain high-profile artists like Taylor Swift and Thom Yorke have pulled their music from the service.

Best for: Value – Spotify Free costs you nothing, while Premium offers a big catalogue for a relatively low cost with online and offline streaming.

TIDAL

How many songs: Over 30 million

Highest bitrate: 1411 kbps / Lossless (TIDAL HiFi users) / 320 kbps (TIDAL Premium)

Basic cost: £9.99 / month (TIDAL Premium)

Premium costs: £19.99 / month (TIDAL HiFi)

Pros: TIDAL might have come under a bit of ridicule for its grandiose, star-studded re-launch under Jay-Z leadership, but its Premium account offers a very similar service to Spotify at the same price point. Jay’s standing in the music biz means TIDAL gets plenty of exclusives – videos from Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and Madonna, live concerts from Jack White, and there are rumours of a TIDAL-exclusive Jay-Z and Beyonce album in the works. Audiophiles will be most interested in the TIDAL HiFi service, which, for double the price of Premium, offers Lossless audio quality – over four times higher than 320 kbps. It’s even possible to save offline playlists at Lossless, for high fidelity on the go.

Cons: As with Spotify, there are occasional gaps in the catalogue. If you already have Spotify Premium and aren’t fussed about Lossless audio, you don’t get a huge amount more on TIDAL – especially as the exclusives often find their way onto various other corners of the internet shortly after release. TIDAL HiFi users will want a strong internet connection, as the files are large and can be quite slow to load.

Best for: Quality – if Lossless is a big deal to you and you’re willing to stump up more for it, TIDAL HiFi is absolutely the one for you.

APPLE MUSIC

How many songs: Over 30 million

Highest bitrate: 256 kbps

Basic cost: £9.99 / month

Premium costs: £14.99 / month (Family sharing, four separate profiles)

Pros: As they wade into the streaming world, Apple once again show their clout – not only have they managed to get Taylor Swift on board after she openly criticised them just days previously (you won’t find her latest album 1989 streaming anywhere other than Apple Music), they’ll have the most opportunities to bring flashy exclusives – the first of which is a brand new Pharrell single. Apple Music also offers users to save music to listen offline, and there’s also an integrated social media-esque ‘Connect’ panel, which allows artists to post updates and exclusive content for Apple Music users.

Cons: The quality isn’t as high as Spotify or TIDAL can offer at their top ends. Also, if you’re not big into Apple this may not be the best service for you – it works across all Apple devices, but aside from that is only available on PC, so no luck for Android users. Those apple device owners should brace themselves for an update too – Apple Music comes as part of the new iOS software, so you’ll need to have enough space left on your iPhone to make the upgrade.

Best for: Exclusives – Taylor Swift and Pharrell are already offering