Spotify gives you access to an incredible amount of music (more than 100 million songs), podcasts (6 million) and audiobooks (350,000) — so it’s no wonder the music streaming service has become culturally ubiquitous, with well over 239 million subscribers as of 2024. That’s more than both Apple Music and Amazon Music.
If you want to get the best of Spotify, you’ll want to sign up for a Premium account that, as of June 2024, for new subscribers, costs $12 a month for an individual membership. There are also subscription options for two people (Spotify Premium Duo, $17 a month), families (Spotify Premium Family, $20 a month), and students (Spotify Premium Student, $6 a month).
Read on as we explain what’s included in a Spotify Premium subscription, detail the music streamer’s free tier, and show you some ways to get a deal.
Spotify plans explained
Spotify Free
With Spotify Free, you can listen to anything you want in the mobile, web, or desktop Spotify app, as well as on smart TVs and compatible game consoles, as long as you’re willing to put up with ads. Core search and play features are available, including the ability to listen to specific tracks on demand, replay recent albums, subscribe to podcasts, and more. While the free service is more than enough for casual listeners, more regular listeners may get annoyed with the constant ads, limited shuffles, and slightly lower sound quality.
Spotify Premium: Individual — $12 per month
Those willing to part with a little cash can access a host of top-tier features, including more than 100 million ad-free tracks, plus the ability to download your music directly to a device and get higher streaming quality. As a Spotify Premium user, you can save tracks and podcasts for offline listening, which is ideal for travelers and people using Spotify during their commute. You also get a month for free when you subscribe for the first time.
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 as collaborative playlists that you and a bunch of friends can add to and edit, plus Blend, 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-based Hulu subscription. Just make sure you re-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 Premium: Family — $20 per month
Those with loved ones who also want to stream music may be more interested in the Spotify Family plan, which lets you have up to six people on one account. It also comes with a host of parental control options and Spotify Kids, a separate app aimed at children. Spotify Kids has child-friendly songs, so you don’t have to worry about any of your kids accidentally streaming explicit music. You can also make playlists for the kids so they only listen to what you allow. You get the full features of the service, including the aforementioned Blend and collaborative playlists. Again, volume is everything.
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. Spotify and YouTube Music cost the same for their individual premium, ad-free tiers at $10 per month, with Apple Music now coming in at just a dollar more. Prices are roughly the same for their other tiers, with Apple Music’s additional dollar on each, too, and they all tout a similar set of features, but Spotify 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?
While Spotify 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.
