It goes without saying thatSpotifyis pretty much the GOAT when it comes tomusic streaming services. It has more than 100 million songs, 6 million podcasts, and 350,000 audiobooks. It’s music discovery and innovative special features maintains it cache as one of the most popular options out there, beating out bothApple MusicandAmazon Music.
Spotify can be had for free (with ads), but has several tiers of Premium membership which deliver ad-free listening for a price. An individual membership is available for $12 each month, meanwhile you may snag a 2-person Spotify Premium Duo account for $17 monthly, or a Spotify Premium Student account for $6 each month. Families can also benefit from the Spotify Premium Family account for just $20 per month.
We’ve got all the details for you on what’s included in a Spotify Premium subscription, how the free tier operates, and even how to get a deal. Let’s take a look.
Spotify plans explained
Spotify Free
Spotify Premium: Individual — $12 per month
While Spotify Premium isn’t officially available from Spotify on a per-year basis, you’re able to however buy one for $99 through Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop. Just go to one of these sites and search for “Spotify annual” or something similar and you’ll find it easily.
Spotify Premium: Duo — $17 per month
With Spotify Duo, you can share your Spotify subscription with a friend, family member, or partner “under one roof.” Both users get their own Spotify dashboards, along with features such ascollaborative playliststhat you and a bunch of friends can add to and edit, plusBlend, a playlist that’s a combination of collaborative playlists and Spotify’s personalization that automatically “blends” together each user’s (up to 10) musical tastes in a shareable playlist. Cost-wise, it’s basically two accounts for $8.50 per month each, with cute sharing features for couples and best friends.
Spotify Premium: Student — $6 per month
If you’re a student (you need a valid student email address), you can get a Spotify Premium subscription called Student for a discount price. It also comes with an ad-basedHulu subscription. Just make sure youre-register as a student after a year, or Spotify will strip you of the Hulu membership and start charging you the full Premium membership price.
Spotify Basic Family — $17 per month
Spotify Premium: Family — $20 per month
The big difference between the Spotify Basic Family, and Spotify Premium Family accounts is the addition of audiobook hours. With the Premium Family account the plan manager gets access to 15 hours of audiobook listening each month.
Spotify Audiobooks Access — $10 per month
If you’re only looking for a place to listen to audiobooks, then Spotify Audiobooks Access is the tier you’ll want to check out. This option delivers access the audiobook library, and gives you 15 hours of listening each month. It’s a bit cheaper than buying your audiobooks, making it a great way to listen to a new release before you decide if you want to keep it. While you do have access to to music and podcasts available on Spotify, they’ll be ad-supported. If you’re looking for musicandaudiobooks, we suggest snagging the Spotify Premium Individual membership since it includes audiobooks and ad-free music and podcasts.
How Spotify compares to the competition
If you’re torn between Spotify and a rival, chances are it is either Apple Music or YouTube Music. YouTube Music and Apple Music both come in at $11 each month, making them a dollar cheaper than Spotify. They all tout a similar set of features, butSpotify comes out on top— in our opinion, at least. Why? Because it has the best interface, an endless catalog of on-demand content, fantastic curated playlists, and a free tier (namely, Spotify Free) that’s better than YouTube Music’s free plan, for those who don’t want — or aren’t in the position — to enter into a commitment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it worth paying for Spotify Premium?
WhileSpotify raised its plan prices(again) midway through 2024, popular consensus is that it’s still worth paying the $12 a month for Spotify Premium. After all, Spotify Premium gives you ad-free access to 100 million songs, 6 million podcasts, and half a million audiobooks, to say nothing of the curated playlists and other features the streamer includes.
How to get Spotify for cheap or free?
To get Spotify for cheap, the first thing to do is to see whether any of your other memberships or subscriptions throw in free trials of Spotify. They come and go, but if you’ve bought a new device, signed up for a new mobile or streaming service, or have a membership with any major U.S. retailers like Walmart or Amazon, they often offer several months free for new members.
