Spotify Free vs Premium Should you pay to play Tom's Guide Skip to main content Tom's Guide is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. Spotify Free vs Premium Should you pay to play By Henry T. Casey, Lee Dunkley Contributions from James Archer published 20 June 2022 With Spotify Free imposing playback restrictions, is upgrading to Spotify Premium worthwhile? (Image credit: Shutterstock) Choosing between Spotify Free and Premium has become a little more complicated given recent upgrades other music steaming services have received. With Apple Music launching lossless and spatial audio in 2021 at no extra charge, it's thrown down the gantlet at Spotify's attractive value. And if you don't already have a Spotify Premium subscription, you might be wondering if it's worth paying the monthly $9.99. Or, if it's better to keep a Spotify Free account but spend music streaming money towards a different service. We've put the streaming service head-to-head with its biggest rivals, so don't forget to check out these face-offs: Apple Music vs. Spotify, and Spotify vs. Tidal. This Spotify Free vs. Premium comparison will help you choose by running through what you get on both tiers. Learn more: how to delete your Spotify account, how to transfer Spotify playlists to another service, 7 Spotify tips and tricks you really need to know. Plus: Earlier this year it became clear that the Spotify HiFi tier was being delayed, here's why. Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium What do you get Spotify FreeSpotify PremiumMonthly PriceFree$9.99 ($4.99 Student plan, $12.99 for Duo plan, and $15.99 for a 6-account Family plan)Annual PriceFree$99LibraryOver 70 million songs, plus 2.2 million podcastsOver 70 million songs, plus 2.2 million podcastsAvailabilityPCs, smartphones, connected devices, Smart TVs, PS3 & PS4, Android Auto, Spotify Car Thing, Apple CarplayPCs, smartphones, connected devices, Smart TVs, PS3 & PS4, Android Auto, Spotify Car Thing, Apple CarplaySpecial FeaturesMobile streamingAd-free listening; Offline listening; Unlimited Skips; Mobile Streaming Spotify Free vs. Spotify Premium: Music library For the most part, both free and paying users have the same access to Spotify's library of "over 70 million" songs and podcast titles. That's a lot of content that you don't necessarily need to pay a penny for. However, for the last few years, Spotify has also allowed artists to make their new releases exclusive to Premium subscribers for a 2-week period. Because this is optional, it will vary by artist. But if you're always wanting to hear the very latest tracks as soon as they drop, Spotify Premium is a far safer bet. (Image credit: Spotify) The good news is you won't need to pay that much. A standard Premium subscription costs $9.99 per month, and you can pay annually at $99 per year - this effectively cuts the monthly cost to $8.25. If you can prove you're a student, you can also get Spotify Premium for just $4.99 per month. You can also save by signing up for group deals, which work well for families or couple. The newest Spotify Premium Duo offer includes 2 separate accounts for $12.99 per month, while $15.99 gets you a family-sized 6 accounts. Thinking back to music libraries, it's great that you can access almost the entire Spotify library for free, but the lack of some brand-new releases will be a big downer for serious music fans. Also, while we don't know how much Spotify HiFi will cost, nor exactly how many lossless songs it will make available, it's possible that Spotify will follow Apple Music and Amazon Music HD in folding lossless playback into the standard Premium tier. In which case, Spotify Premium would get even more content compared to the free version. Winner: Spotify Premium Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium Ads Arguably the biggest difference between Spotify's Free and Premium tiers is the latter's complete lack of ads. That goes for both the visual ads you'll see when scrolling through the app, and the ads that play radio-style between songs on Spotify Free. This might all boil down to your personal tolerance for being advertised at, and it might not be a big deal if you're the only one listening. However, if you want to run a party's tunes through Spotify Free, you might find yourself explaining to guests why they're hearing a car insurance ad between jams. Winner: Spotify Premium Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium Playback controls One downside of streaming without Premium is that you've got less control of your tunes. First of all, you're limited to shuffle play for whole albums. That means you won't be able to turn on a specific song you want to hear, instead relying on a random selection order. (Image credit: George Dolgikh/Shutterstock) If you don't like the songs it plays on shuffle mode, you may find yourself wishing you had a Premium account. Only premium users get unlimited skips so they can breeze by songs they don't like By contrast, Free users can only skip 6 tracks per hour. The only exceptions are certain Spotify-curated playlists accessible from the homepage: if there's no shuffle symbol next to the name of the playlist, you can skip tracks within it without it counting towards the hourly 6-skip limit. Winner: Spotify PremiumSpotify Free vs. Spotify Premium: Supported devices You can listen to Spotify pretty much everywhere. That includes your PC, smartphone, tablet, smart TV or even games consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X. It's even possible to play Spotify content in any car equipped with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay or Spotify's own Car Thing device. In this regard, it doesn't matter if you pay for Premium, as Free users connect to all of the same devices. Winner: Draw Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium Social features One advantage Spotify has over rival services like Apple Music is the ease with which you can share songs and playlists, both directly with friends and across your social media profiles. To Spotify's credit, these social features are largely identical regardless of whether or not you pay for Premium. That means Free users are just as capable of creating shareable links, posting songs to Twitter or Instagram and co-creating collaborative playlists with other users. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) The only bonus extra that Spotify Premium has is Family Mix and Duo Mix playlists, which algorithmically recommend songs based on what different individual accounts on a Family or Duo plan are listening to. It's a small feature, though, and doesn't help those on individual Premium accounts, so we'll call this one a tie. Winner: Draw Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium Curated content Besides those Family/Duo mixes, curated content - those personalized playlists you see on the front of Spotify every time you log in - works the same for both Free and Premium subscribers. Even if you pay nothing, you can still get these playlists based on your listening habits. It could be one of several Daily Mix collections, which combine both songs you've enjoyed recently and thus-unlistened-to music you may like, or the Discover Weekly mix that focuses on broadening your listening with new tracks and artists. In any case, these discovery and curation features work identically regardless of subscription type. Winner: Draw Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium Sound quality If you've got a pair of the best headphones and/or a discerning ear, you might prefer Spotify Premium for its higher-quality audio option. It streams music at 320kbps bit rate, a significant upgrade on the 160kbps that Spotify Free streams at on the mobile app. And if you listen via Spotify's desktop app, that drops to 128kbps. (Image credit: Spotify) There's some debate as to whether most people can hear the difference between Hi-Res Audio and lower-resolution music, and that will likely pop up again once Spotify HiFi launches. But at this lower-resolution level, there are no such diminishing returns, and on a decent pair of headphones 320kbps audio can and will sound richer and more detailed than 160 or 128kbps. Winner: Spotify Premium Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium Offline listening A major perk of Spotify Premium is the ability to download songs to your device and listen to them anywhere, even when you don't have a Wi-Fi or data signal. You can find out how to download songs in Spotify with our guide. Sadly, Spotify's non-paying users can't save songs to their devices for when they're offline. That's a big mark against Spotify Free for those who don't want to run up their mobile data bill or find themselves in regions without cellular service. Winner: Spotify Premium Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium Verdict If you're the kind of music lover who doesn't mind turning on your speakers and letting Spotify take control, Free might still be right for you. 70 million-plus songs and 2.2 million podcasts for nothing? That's not to be sniffed at, and you won't miss out on Spotify's curation, discovery and social smarts either. However, if you need to hear the latest songs, want full control over playback, save offline and avoid ads, Spotify Premium is more than worth the cash. Even if Spotify HiFi ends up as a separate, even more expensive tier, Premium would still likely be an attractive middle ground. Spotify Free vs Spotify Premium Scorecard Spotify FreeSpotify PremiumMusic library✔Ads removed✔Playback controls✔Supported devices✔✔Social features✔✔Curated content✔✔Sound quality✔Offline listening✔Total38 Next: You can also check out our detailed list of the best music streaming services.Today's best Spotify deals (opens in new tab)Spotify Student (opens in new tab)$4.99/mth (opens in new tab)View Deal (opens in new tab)at Spotify (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)Spotify Premium (opens in new tab)$9.99/mth (opens in new tab)View Deal (opens in new tab)at Spotify (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)Spotify Family (opens in new tab)$15.99/mth (opens in new tab)View Deal (opens in new tab)at Spotify (opens in new tab) Be In the Know Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Henry T. CaseySenior EditorHenry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.With contributions fromJames Archer Topics Audio Streaming See all comments (0) No comments yet Comment from the forums MOST READMOST SHARED1MLB Playoffs live stream 2022: How to watch post-season baseball online right now2Meta Quest 3 just got tipped to come with a powerful upgrade3Walmart Rollback sale live blog - Apple Watch 8 for $349, 55" 4K TV for $198, and more4Edifier W240TN review: Budget noise-cancellers worth tacking down5Google Pixel event recap - Pixel 7, Pixel Watch, Pixel Tablet and latest news1Prime Day deals - all the latest bargains from Amazon's Prime Early Access Sale2Netflix's new Jeffrey Dahmer docuseries just climbed into the top 103iPhone 14 order delays - here's the latest delivery times4Walmart Rollback sale live blog - Apple Watch 8 for $349, 55" 4K TV for $198, and more5MLB Playoffs live stream 2022: How to watch post-season baseball online right now