Streaming platforms Apple Music and Spotify have been competing with each other for five years, and now they are the two most popular worldwide. I will compare Spotify vs Apple Music in this detailed guide and provide my recommendation.
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Spotify vs Apple Music – Library Limit
The maximum number of songs that can be saved to your library is the library limit.
The Spotify library limit is 10,000 songs, so if you try to add more, you will receive an error message.
However, Apple Music has a library limit of 1000,000 songs, which is ten times larger than Spotify’s. Most users will not be worried about this, but if you plan on using Spotify for years and years, you might reach 10,000 songs. Hopefully, Spotify will increase the limit, but Apple Music now has a clear advantage regarding library limits.
Supported Devices
Both apps are now available on the most popular devices, including iPhone, Android, Mac, and Windows, as well as web players. Spotify is more open since it supports Samsung Gears, Amazon Devices, Playstations, Smart TVs, and it’s integrated with Tesla, which is great.
Furthermore, Apple Music works better with Apple products like Apple TV, Apple Watch, Car Play, and HomePod. If you own a lot of Apple products, then Apple Music is the right choice for you. Connect is a huge advantage of Spotify over Apple Music.
Lyrics
With Apple Music, you can view lyrics in real-time. Some users often want to read some lyrics while listening to the songs. So To do this, tap on any line of the lyrics, and it will play that exact part of the song.
Spotify does not have this kind of lyrics integration compared to Apple Music. Instead, they partner with genius to show lyrics for only certain songs, so it’s pretty half-baked. The Spotify app also offers a feature called Canvas, which plays just a few seconds of music videos in the background or some other random thing in the background. I’m not too fond of this feature because it causes the fastest battery drain and uses up the most data. That is why I don’t use Canvas.
Audio Quality
For its premium users, Spotify offers five different Audio Quality settings. You can access these settings from the menu if you are streaming on Spotify using your mobile data.
- Automatic (depending on connection)
- 24kbps
- 96kbps
- 160kbps
- 320kbps
A Spotify Premium subscription is required if you want to listen to music with good audio quality.
Alternatively, Apple Music offers four levels of Audio Qualities.
- 64kbps to 256kbps (depending on connection)
- 256kbps
- 24-bit/48 kHz (Lossless)
- Up to 24-bit/192 kHz
Based on our testing, Spotify consumes approximately 7-8 MB per song or 150 MB per hour with its highest-quality audio. According to Apple Music’s statistics, listening to music at 256kbps consumes about 72-112 MB per hour or about 3-6 MB per song.
You may experience a bit of buffering if you have an 80 Mbps internet connection. In addition, a normal internet connection is insufficient for lossless audio. Lossless requires a better internet connection.
Playback
Users can listen to songs and playlists on Spotify’s web application. On the other hand, Apple Music previously required using iTunes to listen to songs and tracks. But now Apple’s official team has also removed this restriction. Apple Music allows you to listen to any music through your browser.
Ease of Use
Both applications are designed in an easy-to-use, sleek and smooth manner. On your browser, you can access both streaming platforms. A sidebar is available on desktop and mobile versions containing main content, library options, and playlists. Apple Music offers a more personalized sidebar than Spotify.
There is a drag-and-drop function available in both apps that makes it easy to manage your playlist. You can add any song or album to your playlist by dragging and dropping it. It will automatically add this song and album to your playlist located in the sidebar. You can access this drag-and-drop feature by long-pressing any song in the mobile application.
In case you have a large music collection, Spotify has additional features that can be extremely helpful. A Search in the playlist option in Spotify can help you find any song. Furthermore, you can sort playlists by date, duration, and artist. In contrast, Apple Music still needs to offer a sorting feature.
Compared to Apple Music, Spotify has many easy-to-use features that make creating a playlist easier.
Plans and Pricing
In terms of pricing, both platforms offer similar plans. Spotify offers a free plan with some limitations, such as limited skips and advertisements. By upgrading to Spotify Premium, you can easily remove all these restrictions. However, Apple Music has yet to offer free plans.
| Platforms | Free Plans | Individual Plan | Student Plan | Family Plan | DUO Plan |
| Spotify | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Apple Music | No | Yes | No | No | No |
If you are not interested in investing money in your music listening, Spotify’s free plan is for you. Additionally, Spotify offers a Premium DUO plan. Spotify DUO is a good option if you want two premium Spotify accounts with discounts. The DUO plan needs to be integrated with Apple Music. You have to purchase Apple Music individually. A $20/year discount is available if you pay annually through Apple Music’s account settings.
Social Shares
You may already know that Spotify allows users to share songs, albums, and playlists with friends through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also share any specific part of a song with your friends using Spotify’s Timestamp Sharing feature. In addition, you can share any song on different messaging platforms if you have a QR code. Just scan the QR code and share music on different platforms without additional charges. With Apple Music, you can share podcasts with your friends via Airdrop. As a result, Spotify is the clear winner regarding social sharing and customer support.
My Recommendation
Compared to Apple Music, Spotify has many features that make it worth checking out. It has been four or five years since I joined Spotify. I was on Apple Music before Spotify. Spotify has a few features that Apple Music does not, which made me switch from Apple Music. Therefore, I prefer Spotify to Apple Music. We also have a detailed guide about Spotify vs Joox for our readers.
Conclusion
The pros and cons of both music streaming platforms have been discussed above. Both platforms are excellent and offer a wide range of features. Now that you’ve read this detailed side-by-side comparison between Spotify vs Apple Music, you should be able to decide which streaming platform is best for you. Feel free to comment below if you have any questions or queries. Also, read our comparison guide for Spotify and Amazon Music.