14 Best Alternatives to Spotify - Free & Commercial

Although Spotify is one of the famous music streaming apps, not everyone likes the way Spotify works. Luckily, there is not much monopoly in the music segment, and there are plenty of apps like Spotify. Some are even better than Spotify in the broader sense. Here we have listed the 14 best Spotify alternative and their salient features to help our audience.

CONTENT Part 1. 14 Spotify Alternative You Should TryPart 2. Better Than Spotify - SpotiKeep ConverterFinal Words

Part 1. 14 Spotify Alternative You Should Try

1. Pandora

If you are a music lover and an audiophile, you might be already familiar with Pandora. Pandora started as a Genome Project recommendation engine, but now in 2021, it's a stealthy application loaded with the digital fray. Pandora has dedicated pages for podcasts, music catalog, album commentary, and information about your favorite tracks and artists. The good about Pandora is it comes in a three-tier plan depending upon your free, plus, and premium subscriptions. It is a free plan, versatile podcasts, lyrics of your music, artists' visit, and ticket information, stories much like Instagram to provide insights about the album.

Speaking of the disadvantages, Pandora lacks high-definition audio, a premium and rich interface, and prohibits functions like customizable playlists for free plan users.

NOTE: If you're hesitating between Spotify and Pandora, you might find this article helpful: Pandora vs. Spotify, Which One to Pick?

2. YouTube Music

YouTube Music is considered one of the best Spotify alternatives. It offers a premium level of customizability and feasibility as of Spotify. The UI performs Spotify-level customization for your playlists and personalized albums. It has a shared database with that of YouTube songs which means you can expect every track from any producer or musician right in the YouTube music.

YouTube music doesn't allow an ad-free experience, and you need to have a premium subscription to enjoy premium ad-free service. But let us have our fingers crossed.

3. Apple Music

Apple Music vibes as premium as it sounds at first. Apple pushes its limits here with deep integration of iTunes and Apple music. The music syncs, and it holds the world's most extensive music collection at around 6 Million songs. Apple Music is more than an alternative to Spotify. It has direct competition with Spotify. Music recommendations offered by Appel Music are far more logical and reasonable as per the musical palette. The audio quality is at par with Spotify. It offers high-end features like music catalogs as per genre and artists, classic songs from the CDs and cassette times, premium instrument clusters, and customized playlists.

Apple has no free version available, and you need to pay a monthly subscription. We have covered that in detail in this review Spotify vs. Apple Music, Which Music App is Better.

NOTE: Once you decide to replace Spotify with Apple Music, you might need to transfer Spotify playlists to Apple Music.

4. Tidal

Tidal is for music lovers and not someone who wants a music application, making it more than an alternative to Spotify. As one of the best replacements for Spotify, Tidal outshines the competition with immense quality sound. The sound quality is so good that you will feel other offerings far below. The insights and information in the music-related articles, along with the hot offerings of tickets to industry pioneers' events, are also competitive. The premium ad-free experience helps a lot when streaming.

The charges are a bit out of line for this premium service than other Spotify alternatives since high audio quality feeds on an immense amount of data.

5. Deezer

If Spotify had a twin brother, it had been none other than Deezer. It shares the same premium features like customizable playlists, shuffle songs, editor picks, handy interface, and offline mode. It offers discounts for students, which is nice. You can avail student monthly subscription for $4.99, while the regular offerings are $9.99.

The premium offerings limit the high-end subscription, which costs around $19.99 per month. There are unlimited shuffles but no skip options which is frustrating.

6. Last.fm

Last.fm is more of a streaming application than a music application. The application is an appealing alternative to the Spotify application. Especially for the consumers who want more out of their music experience. The radio broadcast is crucial if you want to hear your local radio even when traveling. Last.fm was initially launched for this purpose but later evolved into an array of digital amusements. The app allows integration with other popular music applications like Spotify. Last.fm provides up-to-date genres with every new release from any recognized artist worldwide. There is a free version available offering thousand of free music to download without extra effort.

Last.fm doesn't provide radio options anymore in its free version of the application.

7. Grooveshark

Grooveshark is a net-based music application that socializes your music application. This one might be different from the list mentioned above but sure is worth noting due to its explicitness. The company managed itself proper claims through some severe copy events because of its freedom to upload audio files. Now the application offers free music streaming application. You have to search for any song you want, and it will end up with the results all over the world. You can make playlists and import or export them—artists and albums curate as per genre, much like any other music streaming application. However, the application is not working anymore in most remote areas due to copyright infringements.

8. SoundCloud

Soundcloud is one of the most popular and well-known music streaming applications. It is considered one of the best alternatives to Spotify. Especially in the areas where Spotify is not allowed, primarily in the Asian regions. It remains an all-rounder sharing all the best parts of popular music applications. The playback quality is excellent, and it liberates its users with the option to skip, shuffle and do whatever they want, much like an inbuilt music application. It nails all the basics and provides an unpaid- premium service that outshines.

You might face a bit hard time choosing the best tracks. It allows users to upload files, so not all files are what they should be in the first place.

9. Clementine

If you are an old-school person and don't want your stuff in the way Spotify does, Clementine is your way to go. Clementine themselves quote that the music application is inspired by Amarok when things were classical. Being old fashion does mean it lacks any versatility, and it only means it does something more modestly. You can stream music, audio CDs, Edit tags, and much more as an alternative to Spotify.

The app is excellent, but sometimes it couldn't handle or find the desired song and crash abruptly. It's rare but worth mentioning in this writing.

10. SoundHound

SoundHound is somewhere between Spotify and Shazam. You can surf the database, discover new pastels to match your personality, or hum or play the song you want to identify. You can access Spotify or Appel music right from within the application. Discover the lyrics while you play the song. The AI lets you use your voice controls in the application by saying, "Hi SoundHound."

It's a hit or miss if you hum a song to identify it in the application. There're ads on the free version of this app that can be annoying, especially when you want clean music to avoid procrastination.

11. Jamendo

We all struggle for the best music player and downloader. It's rare to download music without copyright issues. Well, Jamendo does it in a click and holds the name for best player and downloader as a Spotify alternative. Over 25,000 albums are listed that can be listened to and downloaded directly. The radio is great to use if you often travel around. The catalog lets you choose the genre pretty generously. Jams from your favorite artists are there for you to support through PayPal.

Once in a while, you may come across a bug that will affect your streaming. It is unacceptable when you have to pay as much as €49 monthly.

12. MusicUp

MusicUp is a social alternative to Spotify. It allows you to interact with other users, collab and make private room and play songs. The UI is as interactive as possible. It even allows the next song's voting option to play in a queue. It's a free product and provides excellent usability if you want to explore. You can search almost any track and find something relatable, and it's this social.

The app isn't for you if you only want a nice, clean, and least disrupting music player.

13. Ampache

Ampache is a deep search engine and an alternative to Spotify if you want more room to play. Search for any music, album, or track, and it will scan billions of pages to get your desired result. HTML 5 player ensures stable and quick results while you play the songs on your preferred player. You can get hold of your songs or playlists anywhere around the globe, and it won't miss. It is more of a medium as an actual music player and search engine.

Ampache is often misunderstood as a universal player while it is not. It doesn't use codecs anyways, and it just converts the music to playable format in the downloads.

14. 8tracks

8tracks is another music platform with over three million tracks. According to the taste and genre, the soundtracks are curated by enthusiasts who have a drive and passion for music. Followed by millions, 8tracks outshines as a suitable alternative for Spotify. 8tracks liberate you from AI-formulated playlists and enter you into a world full of nerds and music lovers to make masterpieces.

Ads on the free application don't make it look good. You can buy premium for a mere $4.99 monthly, which is a feast for the price.

Part 2. Better Than Spotify - SpotiKeep Converter

Most of us love and hate Spotify. We love it because of the music steaming quality and humanized music discovery experience. We hate it for the restrictions in offline downloads and music playback. On Spotify, we can't possess our beloved music even if we've downloaded it because it's still encrypted. You might often be questioning: how can I keep my favorite Spotify playlists to myself? Well, SpotiKeep Converter is a powerful Spotify music downloader and convertor that solves your key issues.

Originally, Spotify has encrypted its music files in OGG Vibs format, enabling it to play on most universal players. We all come across a situation where we can't use our premium subscriptions, and if we do. We can't make full use of it because the downloads are in-app and not in the default music application.

SpotiKeep Convertor decrypts the OGG Vorbis files and downloads your music from Spotify to mp3 format, supported by almost every music player on the planet. Further, just by one tap of you can download and convert the files in real-time and save it on your device. SpotiKeep Converter enables you to share, play and enjoy your music in your way now. The cherry on the top is you can download and enjoy music, among other benefits, for the almost same price as Spotify Premium.

Final Words

Everything holds a specific value, but the real question is how it leverages its charges. No doubt all of the options mentioned above have outstanding value and justifies as best Spotify alternatives. But we want an application that holds the best value out of all.

Soundcloud, Apple Music, and Deezer have solid ground and compete head-to-head with the music giant Spotify. There are other options mentioned too for freedom of use. It's a matter of choice now. If you want to master control yourself, then SpotiKeep Converter is your way to go. Download and make your albums and playlists and keep them forever on your device. All of this is for just one subscription monthly above all other music platforms.