I’ll admit it upfront: I’m biased. I consume a lot of YouTube videos, so paying for YouTube Premium is a no-brainer for me. It’s a two-in-one deal. I get ad-free YouTube and YouTube Music bundled together, and now that Google Podcasts has merged with YouTube Music, I get my videos, music, and podcasts all in one place.
But is YouTube Music actually better than Spotify? That depends on what you want from a streaming service. Let’s break it down.
Pricing and Plans
Plan | ||
Free | Yes (ads, no background play) | Yes (ads, shuffle only on mobile) |
Individual | $10.99 per month | $10.99 per month |
Family | $16.99 per month (5 members) | $16.99 per month (6 members) |
Student | $5.49 per month | $5.99 per month |
YouTube Premium, which includes YouTube Music + ad-free YouTube, costs $13.99 per month, making it the best deal if you already use YouTube often.
Social Features: Spotify is More Interactive
Spotify is built for social music experiences, while YouTube Music is more of a solo experience.
Collaborative playlists: Spotify lets you create and edit playlists with friends.
Blend: A feature that combines your music taste with someone else’s into a shared playlist.
Friend activity feed: This shows what your friends are listening to in real-time.
YouTube Music doesn’t have these features. It’s not designed for sharing music with others. If social listening is important to you, Spotify is the better choice.
Playlists and Music Discovery: YouTube Music Has More Variety
Spotify: Uses AI-driven playlists like Discover Weekly and Daily Mix, which predict what you’ll enjoy based on your listening habits.
YouTube Music: Offers personalized radio stations and Supermixes, which blend different moods and genres.
Biggest difference? YouTube Music pulls from YouTube itself, so you get:
Mashups
Remixes
Live concerts
Unreleased demo
And my favorite, DJ sets
One of my favorite finds? A mashup of Dua Lipa’s Levitating and Twenty One Pilots’ Levitate.
It’s something I’d never get on Spotify because user-uploaded remixes don’t exist there.
Spotify’s playlists are more structured and curated, but YouTube Music gives you access to way more content because it taps into everything on YouTube.
Features: YouTube Music Offers More Control Over Playback
Better queue management: YouTube Music lets you choose whether a song plays next or at the end of your queue (Spotify’s queue system is more rigid).
Download music without adding it to your library: You can temporarily download songs without saving them permanently.
Offline Mixtape: YouTube Music automatically downloads a mix of songs based on your listening habits.
Upload your own music files: If a song isn’t available, YouTube Music lets you upload your own collection and stream it across devices. Spotify allows local files but doesn’t sync them across devices.
If you like podcasts and audiobooks, Spotify is better. But for pure music listening, YouTube Music gives you more flexibility. But let's also consider that YouTube still offers both. :)
Sound Quality: Spotify Has a Slight Edge, But It’s Not a Big Deal
Quality Setting | YouTube Music | Spotify |
Low | 48 kbps AAC (lower quality, best for slow internet) | 24 kbps Ogg Vorbis (very low quality, uses less data) |
Normal | 128 kbps AAC (standard quality, similar to FM radio) | 96 kbps Ogg Vorbis (slightly worse than YouTube's normal setting) |
High | 256 kbps AAC (good quality, most people won’t notice compression) | 160 kbps Ogg Vorbis (comparable to YouTube's high setting) |
Very High | 256 kbps AAC (almost CD quality) | 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis (highest quality, better compression than YouTube) |
AAC (Advanced Audio Codec): Used by YouTube Music, it is widely supported and efficient in preserving sound quality.
Ogg Vorbis: Used by Spotify, better compression but not as widely supported outside of Spotify.
Spotify technically has better sound quality because it streams at 320 kbps in Ogg Vorbis (which packs more data into a smaller file size while maintaining quality).
That said, most people won’t hear a difference unless they use high-end headphones. Some songs even sound fuller on YouTube Music, while others feel slightly lower in quality.
Unless you're an audiophile (a person obsessed with sound quality), this won’t be a deal breaker.
The Best Part About YouTube Music: The Infinite Library
This is why I switched to YouTube Music and never looked back.
Spotify only has official releases, while YouTube Music has:
Remixes and mashups (like the Levitating + Levitate mix I mentioned)
Live performances and concert recordings
Fan uploaded music and unreleased demos
DJ sets that last 2 to 3 hours, so I don’t need to create playlists
Music videos integrated directly into the app
If a song exists somewhere on the internet, it’s probably on YouTube Music.
Spotify will never catch up in terms of sheer content because it only works with licensed music.
Recommendations: YouTube Music Feels More Personalized
Many users (including me) feel that Spotify’s recommendations get repetitive.
YouTube Music:
Pulls recommendations from your YouTube watch history, not just music.
Has personalized Supermixes for different moods.
Offers seasonal recaps that show your top tracks and artists over different periods of time.
When I switched, YouTube Music already knew my taste because it had my entire YouTube history to work with. Spotify always felt like it needed weeks to "figure me out."I gave up. So I guess that makes sense for people who have spent years on Spotify not being particularly excited to move to YouTube music.
Final Thoughts: YouTube Music is the Best Choice for Me
If you:
Love mashups, remixes, and live recordings
Already pay for YouTube Premium
Want full control over your queue and downloads
Like discovering new music beyond what algorithms push
Then YouTube Music makes more sense.
But if you:
Want better social features and playlist collaboration
Prefer a more structured playlist system
Care about podcasts and audiobooks in the same app
Want slightly better audio quality
Then Spotify is the better choice.
At the end of the day, it comes down to how you listen to music. I’d rather have real people curating my experience than rely on an algorithm, and I love the chaotic, infinite nature of YouTube’s music community.
That’s why I’m sticking with YouTube Music.
I hope you found this blog post helpful despite my bias towards one tool already, but I'd love to get more opinions on this. Do let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Comments