YouTube Music vs Spotify
YouTube Music is the better deal if you already pay for YouTube Premium. Spotify sounds better and has the stronger app for music on its own.
- Individual
- $11.99/mo
- Duo
- Not offered
- Family
- $18.99/mo
- Student
- Not checked yet
- Max quality
- 256 kbps AAC
- Lossless
- No
- Hi-res
- No
- Catalog
- Official tracks plus remixes, covers and live sets
- Free tier
- Yes, with ads
- Podcasts
- Yes
- Lyrics
- Yes
- Social
- Collaborative playlists
- Artist payout
- Pro-rata
- Individual
- $12.99/mo
- Duo
- $18.99/mo
- Family
- $21.99/mo
- Student
- $6.99/mo
- Max quality
- Lossless up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz
- Lossless
- Yes
- Hi-res
- No
- Catalog
- 100M+ tracks, large podcast and audiobook library
- Free tier
- Yes, with ads
- Podcasts
- Yes
- Lyrics
- Yes
- Social
- Jam, Blend, shared playlists
- Artist payout
- Pro-rata, 1,000-stream minimum per track
Price
YouTube Music on its own is $11.99 a month after an April 2026 increase. Spotify is $12.99. The real question is YouTube Premium: at $15.99 it removes ads across all of YouTube and includes YouTube Music, so if you'd pay for it anyway, the music is effectively free.
Price calculator
Not checked yet: SoundCloud. Left out until we confirm current prices.
US prices, checked Sep 26, 2026. Yearly figure is 12 months at the monthly rate.
Sound quality
Spotify Premium streams lossless up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz (Spotify). YouTube Music tops out at 256 kbps AAC and has no lossless option. On a phone with earbuds that gap is small. On a good home system, Spotify wins.
Catalog
YouTube Music has something Spotify can't match: live sets, covers, remixes and rare uploads from all of YouTube, next to the official releases. The downside is that search sometimes gives you a fan upload when you wanted the album version. Spotify's catalog is cleaner and has a much bigger podcast library.
Features
YouTube Music switches between song and music video with one tap and is built into Android. Spotify has better playlist tools, Jam for group listening, and works on more speakers, cars and consoles through Spotify Connect.
Verdict
Pick YouTube Music if you already pay for YouTube Premium or you love live versions and covers. Pick Spotify if you want lossless sound, better recommendations, and an app built only for music.