Spotify stands out as one of the most popular music streaming services today, boasting a vast music library, engaging social features, and a highly user-friendly app packed with useful tools. However, these perks come with a price tag, as accessing the full range of Spotify’s features requires a Premium subscription. But is it worth the investment? Let’s dive into our Spotify Free vs. Premium comparison.
Spotify Free vs Premium: Functional Differences
Premium truly shines in its functionality. One of its biggest draws is ad-free playback, but this is just the beginning. Over the past few months, Spotify has moved several features that were once free behind the Premium paywall.
No Skipping, Sire!
With Spotify Premium, you can skip songs or choose specific tracks to play instantly. The inability to skip songs on the free tier can be frustrating and may lead you to abandon the app in frustration. This limitation is intentional, designed to encourage you to consider upgrading to Premium the next time you open the app.
However, there are a few curated playlists that break this pattern. These include “Made for You,” “Discover Weekly,” “Daily Mix,” and other playlists personalized for you by Spotify’s algorithm.
In the free version, you can’t even see which song is next in the queue by sliding and peeking in the player. However, the desktop app is a different story. The last time we checked, it still allowed unlimited skips. Given Spotify’s recent strategies, it wouldn’t be surprising if that changes soon. The platform has also begun restricting access to lyrics behind the Premium paywall.
On Spotify Premium, there’s no limit to how many songs you can skip or peek at, and there’s also no cap on playlists.
Uninterrupted Music – No Ads
We might still see users sticking with the platform even without the ability to skip songs, as sometimes you have to make compromises to save money. However, just wait until the platform bombards you with annoying ads that seem designed to disrupt your peace of mind. It won’t take long for a peaceful music-listening session to turn sour and leave you feeling frustrated.
In contrast, Spotify Premium offers an ad-free experience (except for podcasts). This has always been one of the core benefits of Premium, even before the platform started restricting features for free users. Spotify quickly realized that users were willing to endure ads to access other features, prompting them to make these features exclusive to Premium.
Take ’em Offline!
Another standout feature of Spotify is its offline listening capability. With Premium, you can download your playlists and listen to them without an internet connection.
This feature can be incredibly useful when you live in an area with limited internet connectivity, or if your mobile plan doesn’t offer much data, and you rely on home Wi-Fi to download music for offline listening. Unfortunately, Spotify’s free tier doesn’t offer the ability to download music for offline listening.
Jam Together
One of the recently added features to the service is Spotify Jam. It allows you to invite friends with a Premium subscription to listen to the same music together, with a shared queue where everyone can contribute music recommendations.
Previously, Spotify allowed Premium users to host sessions for free users to add music to the queue, but this functionality has been removed. Therefore, to use the Jam feature, you’ll need to purchase a Premium subscription.
In my experience using the feature, it’s quite impressive. If you enjoy listening to music with friends, you’ll likely love the Jam feature.
A Capsule to Track Your Stats
Spotify Premium includes Spotify Capsule, which tracks your monthly listening time, top artist, top song, and the typical time of day you listen to music on your device, providing a sort of mini–Spotify Rewind.
Spotify Free vs Premium: Music Quality
While Spotify has numerous selling points, sound quality isn’t a primary focus. Free Spotify streams music at 128kbps on the web and up to 160kbps on apps, both of which are not considered high bitrates. The difference in quality between this and YouTube Music’s default 256kbps bitrate on mobile is quite noticeable.
Spotify Premium increases the bitrate to 320kbps on apps and 256kbps on the web for improved sound quality. However, the platform still does not offer lossless audio. Although Spotify announced the arrival of a Hi-Fi tier in 2021, it has yet to be implemented.
In conclusion, Premium provides a noticeable enhancement in sound quality. If you value sound quality slightly more than other features, Premium could be worth considering.
Discovery and Social Features
Spotify’s discovery features set it apart from other streaming services. These include curated playlists, song suggestions, and categories of music based on moods and genres. The platform’s Radio feature is particularly noteworthy, using algorithms to create personalized lists of songs, artists, and playlists. These features are currently available on both Free and Premium plans.
Additionally, Spotify offers social features like Spotify Blend and collaborative playlists, which are accessible to both free and premium users. Other social features, such as viewing what your friends are listening to or their music libraries, are also free for all Spotify users.
Spotify Free vs Premium: Pricing
Spotify’s free tier is completely free and does not require any form of payment, but it comes with ads and other restrictions. On the other hand, Spotify Premium offers four plans—Individual, Duo, Student, and Family. Detailed information on these plans, their features, and prices can be found in our dedicated post “How Much Does Spotify Premium Cost.” Here’s a quick overview of the main plans available:
1. Individual: $10.99 per month
2. Student: $5.99 per month
3. Duo: $14.99 per month
4. Family: $16.99 per month
Please note that all prices exclude taxes. The Individual and Student plans offer a free one-month trial if you haven’t tried Premium yet. Spotify’s Student plan is discounted and includes a Hulu subscription. The Duo and Family plans provide Premium features for multiple accounts.
Is Spotify Premium Worth it?
Absolutely, Spotify Premium is worth the investment. Despite my reservations about Spotify’s decision to restrict previously free features behind a paywall, I can’t deny the numerous benefits of the Premium plan. Ad-free playback, unlimited skips, offline listening, improved audio quality, and collaborative features all make the Premium subscription well worth the price.
What’s your take on Spotify Premium? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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