The Best Music Streaming Services for Every Type of Listener in 2023

There’s a reason Spotify is the nation’s favourite music streamer: it has tons of music, the app is easy to navigate, it lets you download to listen offline and deploys algorithms that are great at helping you discover new artists. There’s even a new AI tool in beta that acts as a real-time mixer, which literally talks you through music that has been picked based on recent listening, going as far as to introduce tracks before they play and tell you what’s coming up. Part streamer, part personal DJ.

We’ve used the Premium tier for years, and love its Daily Mixes that surface music based on the artists you like. So if you’ve been on a White Stripes binge it groups together similar bands, and every year it collates your top songs into one massive playlist. There’s no spatial audio support or hi-res music, but we’ll be honest: we've never had an issue with Spotify’s sound quality for casual browsing.

There’s a greater emphasis on podcasting than rivals, but luckily no-one is forcing you to listen to Joe Rogan and we still think it’s worth the monthly fee.

How much does it cost? We use the individual plan which costs £10.99 per month, but you can also get a Duo plan for “a couple under one roof” for £14.99. A family plan of up to six accounts costs £17.99, and the university student plan is £5.99.

Is there a free version or trial? Oh yes, there is a free version of Spotify and a trial of Premium. You get ads every few tracks, can only skip six songs per hour and can only shuffle songs from an album or playlist, but you do get Daily Mixes. The free version is good if your budget is, well zero, but we prefer uninterrupted listening.

It struggled to dominate the streaming world when it was owned by Jay-Z, but Tidal – still the plaything of billionaires after passing over to ex-Twitter boss Jack Dorsey in 2021 – is still a top choice if you want a step-up in audio quality and want to know your cash is supporting the artists making the music. While figures can be murky, Tidal has a reputation for higher royalties and direct artist payouts compared to its rivals.

Tidal offers up to CD quality on its base HiFi tier, which exceeds Spotify’s highest levels. Unless you’re convinced you’ve got superpowered golden ears, though, it’s going to be hard to tell the difference. There’s a greater emphasis on playlists that have been curated by artists and live performances that are exclusive to the platform, but the total number of songs available is roughly the same. Like all platforms, this is usually described as over 100 million tracks.

Cough up the monthly fee and you get hi-res music and no ads, and even though we’re still not 100% convinced that our puny human ears can actually differentiate the quality from standard formats, we’re sure audiophiles that come to us armed with a £3,000-plus set of cans on their head would argue otherwise.

Tidal remains our go-to service if you want to hear extra detail on your albums and fancy a more ethical approach to payments. Not that anyone is going to get rich by uploading a few tracks: apparently Tidal pays $0.01 per stream, while Spotify pays $0.009 to $0.005 – so hey, maybe buy some merch or a physical LP, too.

How much does it cost? The HiFi plan, which gives CD quality and no ads costs £10.99 per month. You can boost the quality to up to “lossless” quality by choosing the HiFi Plus plan at £19.99 per month. A family plan, up to six accounts, is £16.99 per month. You’ll see a student plan on the website but that is US-only right now.

Is there a free version or trial? There is no Tidal free version in the UK, but whatever paid tier you choose it starts with a 30-day trial that you can cancel at any time.

If you have an iPhone in your pocket and a set of AirPods in your ears, why would you go elsewhere? Seriously, why? Tim Cook wants to know. He doesn't look pleased.

The app experience is clean and uncluttered, and we enjoy the focus on curated and personalised playlists. Like its rivals, discovery features recommend artists based on recent listening and there’s about 100 million tunes to browse.

There are some unique features though. Don your smoking jacket and relax with the access to the full Apple Music Classical catalogue, or throw an impromptu karaoke session using a mode that shows you real-time lyrics to music.

Although it works with Android phones, iOS users do get the most well-rounded experience (as always!). The real selling point is that there’s an ever-growing collection of music with spatial audio – an immersive format that makes music sound like it’s all around you – that you can play through your Apple AirPods, over-ear headphones and speakers like the Sonos Era 300.

You also get access to high-resolution songs and seamless pairing with Apple’s other devices, such as the HomePod Mini and HomePod 2. Sign in with your Apple ID and you can make your entire library available on all your devices, too.

How much does it cost? The individual plan costs £10.99 per month. The family plan, which gives unlimited access for up to six people – is £16.99 per month. There's also a student plan for £5.99 per month. The Voice plan has now been discontinued.

Is there a free version or trial? Free Apple products? Sacrilege! However, there is a one-month free trial. Don’t forget that this auto-renews if you don’t cancel it.

Amazon’s Unlimited streaming service strikes a nice balance between Spotify and Tidal. It holds a huge collection of music, and millions of songs are in hi-res, plus the catalogue of tunes that are mixed with immersive spatial audio is only getting bigger with time. Even if we reckon only those who have won the genetic lottery can actually hear lossless audio – spatial audio is definitely decipherable to our ears.

The real bonus for members of Prime is a reduction in the monthly subscription fee, which brings the price to one of the most affordable around.

While we don’t love the actual app experience or music recommendations quite as much as Apple Music or Spotify, this gives you higher-quality streaming without having to pay extra, plus it works seamlessly with other Amazon devices installed around your home such as the Echo Dot speakers or Echo Show displays.

How much does it cost? There are four paid tiers, and all give you unlimited music access without ads, plus offline listening and no limits on skipping tracks. The individual plan is £10.99 per month (or £9.99 per month for Prime members), while a family plan that lets you stream on up to six devices is priced at £17.99 per month. A single-device plan (which annoyingly punts hi-res and spatial audio from the offering) and lets you play music on one lonely Echo or Fire TV device costs £5.99 per month, while the student plan is also £5.99 per month.

Is there a free version or trial? Strap in. Amazon is known for its love of free trials, and its music streamer is no different. Every single plan offers a 30-day free trial that auto-renews into the monthly tier if you don’t decide to cancel it before the end date. There is an ad-supported version – Amazon Music Free – that gives you access to “thousands of stations and top playlists” and curated playlists but throws ads in your face like YouTube on steroids and limits your skips. If you pay for Prime you have access to Amazon Music Prime – which is ad-free but shuffle-only.

It lacks the brand recognition of a Spotify or Apple Music, but Qobuz (pronounced co-buzz) is a streaming service that’s tailor made for music enthusiasts, especially if you prefer enjoying a new release from start to finish instead of jumping into a playlist of random artists that’s been constructed by an AI algorithm.

Don’t get us wrong, it has those too, but there’s a stronger focus on albums when you’re using the uncluttered app interface. It also has editorial articles, interviews and guides that make it also feel like a traditional music mag, and while it’s never going to put Pitchfork out of business, it’s a pleasant touch.

More than 240,000 songs are hi-res audio and over 100 million tracks are CD quality, so if you have good headphones and the hearing of a bat you’ll enjoy a more detailed listening experience than some of the other streamers, too.

How much does it cost? The standard tier of Qobuz Studio – which is ad-free, lets you listen offline and gives full access to more than 100 million tracks – costs £12.99 per month. You can buy a Qobuz Sublime tier – which throws in discounts of up to 60% if you want to buy and own hi-res music – costs £15 per month. Each tier comes as Solo or Duo, while a family plan (of up to six accounts) costs £21.90 per month.

Is there a free version or trial? Sorry, there’s no free version of Qobuz, but you get a 30-day free trial before your full membership takes effect – and you can cancel that at any time before it ends. Like Amazon and Apple Music, you have to hand over your payment details before getting through the front door, and yes, it auto-renews automatically if you don't cancel it before the trial ends. It makes a great gift, too.

In an alternate timeline, Deezer is the biggest music streaming service in the world. Not our universe, mind, but the roots of this French streaming platform can be traced back to a year before Spotify and could have been a real contender if it had deeper pockets and those pesky tech giants hadn’t muscled their way into the music streaming world. But we do love an underdog story – and Deezer is a surprisingly effective alternative to the Swedish market leader.

The audio is higher quality than Spotify and the app has a nice, uncluttered layout – plus we love that you can toggle between a light and dark mode, unlike Spotify. There’s a strong focus on radio stations, ‘made for you’ recommendations and playlists rather than the album-first focus on Qobuz or the bombardment of podcasts on the Spotify homepage.

We also like the rather unique “flow” mode that lets you change the mood of your music from a simple scroll wheel – from melancholy to focus to motivation. The catalogue is a bit smaller than its rivals (described as being more than 90 million) but we could still find all of our favourite artists so it’s not a huge deal.

How much does it cost? Deezer’s Premium paid plan – with no ads, offline music and high fidelity sound – costs £11.99 per month. You can choose an annual subscription for £107.91 per year, or a family plan (up to six accounts) costs £19.99 per month. There is also a tier for fresh-faced university students aged 18-25, and that's £5.99 per month.

Is there a free version or trial? Yes to both! Just like Spotify there’s an ad-supported free version of Deezer that limits you to six skips before urging you to upgrade to Premium. There’s also no offline listening or high-res audio. With all the other paid plans you get a full 30-day free trial before your payments start coming out.