01The verdict
8.5 / 10 · Best for most listeners
The music app we’d still hand to almost anyone
Spotify’s recommendations remain the strongest in streaming, it plays on nearly anything with a speaker, and Premium now includes lossless audio at no extra cost. For most people, it is still the easiest music app to recommend.
The trade-offs are real, though. Premium Individual now costs $12.99 a month in the US, the app keeps adding video, audiobooks and AI features on top of the music, and listeners chasing the highest sound quality will get more from Apple Music or TIDAL.
02Screenshots
From the App Store
A look inside the app
03Design & everyday use
Design · 9.0
Fast, familiar, and everywhere you are
Day to day, Spotify is quick and predictable. Search is excellent, Your Library makes it easy to pin, sort and filter what you play most, and the Now Playing screen shows lyrics, credits and music videos where available, without getting in the way.
Its biggest strength is reach. Spotify Connect hands playback between your phone, laptop, smart speakers, TVs, game consoles and cars with a tap, and it works more reliably across brands than any rival. CarPlay, Android Auto, widgets and Apple Watch support are all solid.
The weak spot is Home. Music now shares the feed with podcasts, audiobooks and video clips, and the filter chips at the top help less than they should. If you only want music, expect to scroll past a lot.
04Discovery
Discovery · 9.5
Still the best at finding your next favorite song
This is why people stay. Discover Weekly, Release Radar, Daily Mixes and the mood-shifting daylist feel tuned to you within a couple of weeks of listening, and they keep getting better.
Premium adds the AI DJ, which talks you through a personalized set, and prompt-based AI playlists in supported markets. Smart Shuffle slips fitting recommendations into your own playlists, while Blend and Jam make shared listening with friends truly fun.
A tip: use Exclude from your Taste Profile on sleep, focus or kids’ playlists so they don’t skew your recommendations.
05Sound quality
Sound quality · 8.5
Lossless finally arrived, with limits
Premium now streams lossless audio up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC. Turn it on under Settings → Media quality, separately for Wi-Fi, cellular and downloads. On good wired headphones or a Connect-enabled speaker, the step up from the old 320 kbps limit is easy to hear on well-mastered tracks.
Two caveats. Bluetooth headphones can’t carry a true lossless signal, so most AirPods-style listening won’t benefit. And Spotify still stops at CD resolution: there is no hi-res above 44.1 kHz and no Dolby Atmos spatial audio, both of which Apple Music includes. Lossless streams and downloads also use far more data and storage.
06Podcasts & audiobooks
Library · 9.0
One app for nearly everything you listen to
The catalog runs past 100 million tracks, plus millions of podcasts, a growing number of them with video. Premium Individual includes 15 hours of audiobook listening each month; on Duo and Family plans, only the plan manager gets those hours.
Fifteen hours covers one or two books a month for most people, and you can buy top-ups if you burn through them. Heavy audiobook listeners will still be better served by a dedicated service, but for everyone else, having it all in one queue is a real convenience.
07Plans & pricing
Value · 7.5
Good value, but the price keeps creeping up
New subscribers get a one-month free trial of Individual or Student. US prices per month:
- FreeAd-supported, no downloads, no lossless$0
- IndividualLossless, downloads, 15 h of audiobooks$12.99
- StudentVerified students, Hulu included where eligible$6.99
- Duo2 accounts at the same address$18.99
- FamilyUp to 6 accounts, parental controls$21.99
With lossless now bundled in, $12.99 is easier to justify than it was a year ago. But it’s up from $11.99 in 2024, and Duo and Family are where the real savings are. The free tier remains a fair way to try the app, as long as you can live with ads and no offline downloads.
08Privacy
Privacy · 7.5
Great recommendations aren’t free
Spotify’s recommendations are built on detailed listening data, and the free tier is ad-supported. Neither is unusual, but it’s worth knowing what you can control.
In your account’s privacy settings you can turn off tailored ads and request a copy of your data. In the app, a private session hides what you’re playing from followers, and you can stop sharing listening activity altogether. What you can’t do is opt out of the listening history that powers recommendations, since that’s the heart of the product.
09Alternatives
Worth a look
When another service makes more sense
Apple Music
Hi-res lossless up to 24-bit/192 kHz and Dolby Atmos at no extra cost. Best if you live on Apple devices; recommendations are a step behind.
YouTube Music
The obvious pick if you already pay for YouTube Premium, and unbeatable for live sets, covers and remixes that never reach other services.
TIDAL
For listeners who care most about sound quality: hi-res FLAC, Dolby Atmos and a stronger artist focus, with a smaller social and podcast ecosystem.
10Bottom line
Recommended
Start free, then take the trial
If you want one app that plays everything, everywhere, and keeps finding music you’ll actually like, Spotify is still the pick. Start on the free tier to see if the recommendations click, then use the one-month Premium trial to decide whether lossless, downloads and audiobook hours are worth $12.99 a month to you.