{"id":31964,"date":"2024-02-19T03:15:03","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T10:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/?p=31964"},"modified":"2024-05-28T23:43:32","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T05:43:32","slug":"youtube-vs-spotify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/youtube-vs-spotify","title":{"rendered":"YouTube Music vs Spotify: Which is Best for Music?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>For music lovers, or even podcast fans, two of the premium streaming services that you\u2019ll want to compare are YouTube vs Spotify<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. You\u2019ll find all of the top artists, from Drake to Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and even artists from the 1920s, on these platforms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In terms of catalogs, you\u2019ll have a lifetime of music to enjoy without needing to listen to a song more than once.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Of course, you\u2019ll need to know a few things:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> YouTube is not YouTube Music<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> We&#8217;re going to focus on YouTube Music<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also find an abundance of music on regular YouTube, but its Music platform is a true, direct competitor to Spotify.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">YouTube Music vs Spotify: <\/span>Comparison Guide<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re searching for the best music streaming platform, consider the following<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">2024 Pricing<\/span> YouTube vs Spotify \ud83d\udcb5<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pricing is often the deciding factor when choosing streaming platforms. You\u2019ll find both are priced similarly, <strong>but pricing will vary based on country<\/strong>. We&#8217;re going to list US prices for this article:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>Spotify:<\/strong> Multiple pricing tiers are available. $5.99\/mo for students; $10.99\/mo for individuals; $14.99\/mo for the Duo plan and $16.99\/mo for Family.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>YouTube Music:<\/strong> $10.99\/mo ($109.99 paid for the year) for single users, $16.99 for up to 5 family members; $5.49\/mo for students.<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In terms of pricing, you\u2019ll find that both are competitive. You&#8217;ll pay the same for the individual and family plans, but Spotify does have a Duo plan available. If you try either using a free trial offer, you can easily <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/how-to-cancel-youtube-music\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cancel YouTube Music<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or Spotify at any time.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Maximum <span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Number of Users<\/span> Per Account \ud83d\udc65<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The maximum number of users on your account is set <strong>based on the membership tier.<\/strong> Family plans allow for multiple users, so this is what we\u2019ll be comparing.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>Spotify:<\/strong> Family members must live under one roof, and you\u2019re limited to six total Premium accounts.<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>YouTube Music:<\/strong> YouTube\u2019s family plan allows one main user plus an additional five family members that can be added to the account.<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ll find that YouTube and Spotify have a lot of mirrored features and options, such as the pricing being the same and the maximum user accounts matched.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Music and Podcast<\/span> Catalogs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><b>Users want a vast music library even if they will never listen to 99% of songs or artists<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But each platform has an extensive discovery option that will help you find new music and artists to enjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spotify\u2019s extensive playlists will help you find new artists, and this is one of the big advantages of the platform over YouTube Music.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>With this in mind, let\u2019s look at the size of each platform\u2019s library:<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>Spotify:<\/strong> 100+ million songs<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> <strong>YouTube Music:<\/strong> 100+ million songs<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spotify does offer the benefit of being able to listen to up to 15 hours of audiobooks per month, and they have exclusivity deals with certain podcasts, meaning you\u2019ll only find these hosts on the platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, since the start of 2024, we\u2019ve seen Spotify loosen its grip on exclusive podcasts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even Joe Rogan\u2019s show, which was exclusive to the platform and paid over $200 million for this right, is no longer exclusive to Spotify.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Sound <span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Quality<\/span> \ud83d\udd0a<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Audio experts and enthusiasts can tell the difference between sound quality from the moment that they hear a song. It&#8217;s an impressive skill and tuning of the ear to know the difference between <strong>96kbits and 160kbits.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spotify\u2019s Premium version has a <strong>256kbit\/s <\/strong>sound quality on the web and <strong>128kbit\/s<\/strong> on the free web player.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On desktop, mobile or tablet, you\u2019ll find that quality will be:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> 24kbit\/s on <strong>low<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> 96kbit\/s on <strong>normal<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> 160kbit\/s on <strong>high<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> 320kbit\/s on <strong>very high<\/strong><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is YouTube Music\u2019s sound quality?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">YouTube has a better low-quality sound of 48kbit\/s. The results of the quality stats are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> 128kbit\/s on <strong>normal<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> 256kbit\/s on <strong>high<\/strong><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who wins in the comparison of YouTube vs Spotify for sound quality? It seems the winner is Spotify. The <\/span><b>very high<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> tier on Spotify is higher than YouTube Music, but the quality below this is generally better on YouTube Music.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>User <span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Interface and Device<\/span> Options<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-36964 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/User-Interface-scaled-e1716959868616-900x579.webp\" alt=\"User Interface\" width=\"900\" height=\"579\" srcset=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/User-Interface-scaled-e1716959868616-900x579.webp 900w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/User-Interface-scaled-e1716959868616-600x386.webp 600w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/User-Interface-scaled-e1716959868616-768x494.webp 768w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/User-Interface-scaled-e1716959868616-1536x988.webp 1536w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/User-Interface-scaled-e1716959868616-2048x1317.webp 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Both YouTube and Spotify have dark-themed interfaces and box grid layouts for both albums and playlists. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both platforms have very similar appearances, with vertical navigation menus on the left side of the page that gives easy access to:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Your library<\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Your playlists<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With YouTube Music, you can also view the Explore page to find new artists. Spotify will show you your most recent activity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. <span style=\"color: #5339d3;\"><span style=\"color: #333300;\">Searching for<\/span> Music<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-36967\" src=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Searching-Music-900x405.webp\" alt=\"Searching Music\" width=\"800\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Searching-Music-900x405.webp 900w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Searching-Music-600x270.webp 600w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Searching-Music-768x345.webp 768w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Searching-Music-1536x691.webp 1536w, https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Searching-Music-2048x921.webp 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Searching for music is easy on both platforms, and they each have user-friendly player controls. But YouTube Music also makes it easy to find music based on your mood: <strong>feel good, romance, relax, energize, etc.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One advantage YouTube Music has is that it\u2019s easy to find music charts to see which songs are trending anywhere in the world. Spotify also has Top X playlists, but you have to search for them. Spotify does have artfully crafted playlists based on a variety of themes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spotify also has an AI-like radio station feature called DJ, which has animated album artwork, song previews, video clips, podcasts and more. The platform provides no shortage of recommendations and suggestions for new songs and artists, which gives it a slight advantage over YouTube Music.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. App <span style=\"color: #5339d3;\">Quality and Searches<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both YouTube Music and Spotify can be used on any internet-connected device. They each have browser-based music players as well as dedicated apps for mobile devices. The mobile apps are speedy and even easier to navigate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because YouTube Music is tied to your Google account, you can stream to compatible smartwatches, Chromecast devices and Sonos speakers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When using the search feature on the Spotify or YouTube Music <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">app<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you can quickly and easily filter the results. While similar in many ways, <strong>each platform presents search results in different ways.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"su-list\" style=\"margin-left:0px\">\n<ul>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> YouTube Music has more detailed search results that include videos, albums, top songs and other related content<div class=\"su-spacer\" style=\"height:10px\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><i class=\"sui sui-chevron-right\" style=\"color:#5339D3\"><\/i> Spotify shows you only the songs and featured playlists for artists<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spotify\u2019s mobile app also has Clips, which are short-form videos that make the platform feel a little more like a social network. YouTube music doesn\u2019t have this option, but you can switch between audio-only and video mode.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Frequently Asked Questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\t\t\t<div id=\"rank-math-rich-snippet-wrapper\" class=\"\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>YouTube, Spotify \u2013 which one is better? We compare both platforms head-to-head to see which one offers the better streaming experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-media"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"John","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31964"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36969,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31964\/revisions\/36969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viralyft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}