The 5 best music streaming services in 2023

Pros: Discounts for Amazon Prime members, large selection, Alexa integration, HD, Ultra HD, and spatial music included for no extra cost

Cons: No free version of the Unlimited library

If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, then Amazon Music Unlimited is easily one of the best music streaming services you can sign up. Prime members get a nice discount, and the platform is also a good option for non-Prime subscribers thanks to its excellent features and high-quality music streaming options. 

Prime subscribers already get access to Prime Music as part of their membership, but that service limits most albums to shuffle play so you can’t just pick any song you want to listen to on-demand. If you upgrade to Music Unlimited, you unlock full on-demand access to the service’s library of 100 million songs. 

Music Unlimited even includes HD, Ultra HD, and spatial audio streaming for no extra cost. HD and Ultra HD tracks use lossless audio formats in CD-quality or higher, while spatial audio uses the Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality formats to create a surround sound effect.

Music Unlimited is available on a range of platforms, including iOS, Android, and the web. The service is tightly integrated with Amazon’s Alexa, so if you have an Echo or other Alexa-enabled products, it’ll work perfectly.

Regular trials for new members last one month. After the trial, your subscription will automatically continue for the regular monthly price unless you decide to cancel. 

Amazon Music Unlimited does not offer a free tier, but you can stream a small selection of curated playlists without paying using the ad-supported Amazon Music service.

Pros: live radio, integration with Apple devices, curated playlists, six-month trial with Best Buy, discounted bundle with other Apple services, lossless and spatial audio

Cons: No free version

If you use an iPhone and other Apple products, then it’s worth considering Apple Music. Apple Music integrates perfectly with Apple’s hardware and software, plus it works with your existing iTunes library.

Apple Music has over 100 million songs available to stream on-demand. The service also offers the Apple Music 1 radio station and some exclusive tracks. If you want to tap into what your friends are listening to, Apple Music has curated playlists for that, as well as other playlists for new music, personal favorites, and more.

Apple added lossless and spatial audio (Dolby Atmos) options to Apple Music in June 2021. Like Amazon Music Unlimited ‘s similar feature, this free upgrade gives listeners access to CD-quality versions of Apple’s entire catalog, plus an enhanced surround sound listening experience on select songs.

New members can receive a free one-month trial and Best Buy customers can take advantage of a four-month trial. Unlike Spotify, however, Apple Music does not offer a free version with ads.

Apple Music also has a budget-friendly plan, called Apple Music Voice, for $5 a month. This plan gives users ad-free access to Apple Music’s entire library, but only on Apple devices with Siri enabled. Apple Music Voice does not give you access to premium features like lossless and spatial audio.

Pros: Huge library of songs, podcasts, supports many devices, free plan, collaborative playlists, group listening, live audio platform

Cons: No lossless audio option yet

Looking for a music streaming service that has a huge range of songs, a free ad-supported plan, and is compatible with all your devices? Spotify is the way to go. Spotify has apps for all major platforms and its entry-level plan doesn’t cost a penny. 

Spotify’s free plan allows users to access the service’s entire music library, but you’re only given a limited number of skips per hour and some playlists and albums must be played on shuffle. If you want to stream without ads or limitations, you can opt for a Premium plan, which starts at $11 a month.

One of the perks of Spotify is its focus on discovery and playlist curation. This includes the service’s “enhance” button that lets you add similar songs to existing playlists. You can also filter your saved songs by mood and genre, so it’s easy to find exactly what you want.

Spotify has podcasts and video content as well, plus it streams music in up to 320Kbps. That streaming bitrate should be good enough for most listeners, but it isn’t on par with the lossless-quality options that Amazon, Apple, and Tidal offer. Spotify did announce plans to introduce a lossless CD-quality plan, called Spotify HiFi, sometime in the near future, but this tier was delayed from its original 2021 launch window and it’s still not clear when it will be available.

All Spotify Premium subscribers get a one-month trial regardless of the plan they choose.

Pros: Lossless playback and MQA tracks, Dolby Atmos audio, available on a range of platforms, exclusive content, includes music videos, free option

Cons: Missing some features found on other services, HiFi Plus plan is expensive

Tidal is a little different from other music streaming services in that it’s targeted toward those who want a high-resolution audio experience — and as such, it’s one of the best music streaming services for people who prioritize sound quality.

Tidal’s base HiFI subscription includes ad-free streaming at up to 1411Kbps bitrate in the lossless format. This means that you get to listen to music in full CD-quality exactly as it was meant to be heard.

In addition to lossless audio, the more expensive HiFi Plus plan adds support for an even higher bitrate of up to 9216Kbps and support for the Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) format, along with Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality tracks. 

Tidal is also known for streaming some notable exclusive content. Albums like Jay-Z’s “4:44” and Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo” were first launched on Tidal. There are also music videos and other behind-the-scenes content, too.

New subscribers to Tidal receive a free 30-day trial. Students get 50% off Tidal subscriptions, while active duty military, veterans, and first responders can claim a 40% discount.

When it comes to other lossless music options, Tidal now faces tough competition from popular services like Amazon Music Unlimited and Apple Music. Those services offer similar audio quality for a competitive price. They both lack MQA support, however, which could be a drawback for fans of that advanced audio format. 

Pros: Interesting playlists, good integration with Google services, free version available, discounted bundle with YouTube Premium

Cons: Doesn’t integrate with Alexa, no lossless audio option

YouTube Music is a good fit if you’re really plugged into Google’s ecosystem of products. In other words, if you have an Android phone and want the best music streaming service to integrate well with Google Assistant, then YouTube Music is a convenient option.

It’s also available on iOS and on the web, so you should be able to access the service wherever you are. The platform even offers location-based playlists and the ability to search for songs based on lyrics.

Users on any of YouTube Music’s Premium plans can listen to their saved music offline and with their screen off, something the YouTube app doesn’t support unless you pay for a subscription. On the downside, YouTube Music does not offer lossless audio, so if you want the best sound quality for your streams, you’re better off with Tidal, Amazon Music Unlimited, or Apple Music.

YouTube Music isn’t perfect, but Google has been working on making it better. The app doesn’t really integrate with other voice assistants like Alexa, so if you have an Echo you’ll be stuck with playing music through the Bluetooth connection on your phone. With that said, the service does now support Siri. 

Like Spotify, YouTube Music offers a free, ad-supported version. New subscribers also get a one-month trial to test out the ad-free Premium plan. 

If you’re interested in bundling ad-free YouTube Music and YouTube video streaming, you can even package the two services together under a YouTube Premium plan for $14 a month. Since this option is only $3 more than Music Premium is on its own, it’s a better value for music fans who also like to watch YouTube videos. Check out our YouTube Premium review for more details. 

What is lossless audio?

Lossless audio formats enable listeners to hear the full range of an original music recording without any drop in quality due to compression. 

Some music streaming services, like Spotify and YouTube Music, only offer plans that let you listen to songs in “lossy” audio formats. This means that some of the original audio recording’s quality is being sacrificed to compress the track in order to make the file smaller and easier to stream. Though this makes listening to music on a slow internet connection possible, lossy digital audio isn’t equal to the quality you’d hear on a CD.

Though this loss in quality can be hard to notice for the average listener, most audiophiles demand “lossless” music that preserves the full range of the original track. Different platforms brand their lossless audio plans under different names, including HiFi and HD Music. Though there are some differences between them, they all generally refer to streaming audio tracks that are presented in CD-quality. Some services even offer formats that deliver high-resolution lossless audio that exceeds CD quality. 

Tidal, Amazon Music Unlimited, and Apple Music are some of the best music streaming services with lossless audio options, making them a better fit for listeners who want the very best quality. Spotify also announced plans to launch a lossless audio plan, but a release date has not been revealed.

On the downside, lossless audio streaming requires more bandwidth so you’ll need a fast internet connection and bigger data plan. To take full advantage of the audio quality benefits you’ll also need a nice pair of headphones and a dedicated digital-to-analog converter, or a high-end set of speakers.

You can learn more about lossless audio formats in our guide to HD audio.