Spotify Vs Amazon Music: Who’s the Winner?

In the world of the music industry, two giant apps hold a strong position over the other apps. These are Spotify Vs Amazon Music. But finding the best between these two apps was challenging, as they both have unique features that are difficult to ignore.

However, I still conducted a deep analysis of both apps, to find the best one for myself. The various aspects I focused on include Music discovery, app availability, audio quality, and much more.

Let’s explore these various aspects of Spotify and Amazon Music with me, which will help us decide which app will win the championship in 2024.

Before comparing the features of the two apps, I thought we should have a little bit of know-how about them. So, here is a brief introduction to apps.

Being a Swedish music-streaming app, Spotify was launched officially in 2008, in Europe and USA. This app offers both free and paid plans to its users, so you can select the plan according to your budget. A few years after its launch, it accomplished the task of reaching 1 million subscribers. Moreover, currently, this app has more than 406 million subscribers.

Amazon Music was a product of the e-commerce store Amazon, which was launched by Jeff Bezos in 1994. However, this music app was launched in 2007 and is now available in almost 50 countries. Amazon Music has 55 million active subscribers, but this app does not stop there, it is expanding in Europe, Japan, and America.

Below is a short description of the difference, I found between Spotify and Amazon Music.

Spotify and Amazon Music both offer almost identical price plans for their users. These plans are designed to meet the needs of all types of listeners. I also found that both music apps also contain a free tier, so that you can listen to your favorite music for free. But the only drawback of this free version is, it is ads-supported.

To enjoy the unlimited features, Spotify and Amazon Music have a premium subscription plan. However, Amazon offers discounted prices for its prime users, whereas Spotify does not have any such offer.

Spotify also offers a plan, such as Spotify Duo and Spotify Kids; the former is for two individuals, such as a couple to enjoy two separate accounts, while the latter is child-friendly and only allows selected content.

Here is a table of prices for you:

Platform	Spotify	Amazon Music Unlimited
Free tier	Yes, but ads-supported	Yes, but ads-supported
Premium Individual	$9.99/ month	Non-Prime$9.99/ monthPrime users$8.99/ month
Premium Family	$15.99/ month	$15.99/ month
Premium Student	$4.99/ month	Non-Prime $4.99/ monthPrime Users$.99/ month
Alternatives	Spotify Duo and Spotify Kids$12.99/ month	Single Device Plan$4.99/ month

In the price comparison between the two famous music-streaming apps, Amazon Music wins the race due to its cheaper price plans for prime users.

When we look at the audio quality of both apps, we find Amazon Music leading the music industry by offering extreme HD-quality and lossless audio, as compared to Spotify. 

However, Spotify offers 5 different types of sound quality to the listeners. You can select the quality type according to your choice. These include 24 kbps to 320 kbps (Premium) with no option for lossless or spatial audio streaming. 

On the flip side, the audio quality offered by Amazon Music is matchless. At low to normal range, it offers 24-96 kbps and 128-192 kbps sound quality, respectively. Moreover, it contains HD-quality audio, which Spotify does not have.

At HD quality, you can enjoy music at 850 kbps, while at Ultra-HD 3730 kbps. However, It seems that the HD quality is better, which is no doubt. But it requires a stable internet connection and will consume you a lot of MBs. For example, listening to songs in HD and Ultra-HD quality will consume your MBs between 330 to 800. 

Audio Quality	Spotify	Amazon Music
Low	24 kbps	24-96 kbps
Normal	96 kbps	128-192 kbps
High	160 kbps	Not available
Very High	320 kbps	Not available
HD quality	Not available	850 kbps
Ultra-HD quality	Not available	3730 kbps

So, if you have a slow internet connection and want to save your MBs, then go for the Spotify music app, as it will run efficiently without demanding any extra internet resources.

Spotify and Amazon Music both follow different algorithms to suggest songs that you might like or want to listen to. With the music discovery options, you can add a lot of new trending songs and podcasts to your already existing playlists.

Spotify is a master in the skill of personalization, it detects what you like or dislike, listen to, and scroll up to ignore. So, based on these activities it suggests music that suits your mood.

The Spotify Discover section connects you with the artists whose songs you were listening to or to the related ones. There are several other features that connect you with new songs and artists. These include Release Radar, Discover Weekly, Made For You, and many others.

Whereas, on the other side, I noticed that Amazon Music lacks all these music discovery features. Its options of New Releases, You Might Like, My Soundtrack, and Related artists, are not based on personalized algorithms, however, these are only general recommendations.

So, it is clear that Spotify won the music discovery feature between the two apps. It helps to suggest to me all the songs with good music and taste I often listen to.

When comparing the free plans of Spotify vs Amazon Music, I find many similarities and differences between them. However, the major difference between the two music-streaming apps brings Spotify to the top for listeners, who want to opt for the free subscription.

Let’s look at my findings, If we talk about the advertisements, song-skipping options, and skipping ads, then both of these apps lie in the same place. 

However, the free version of Spotify provides many other features as well, such as various audio quality, access to all music libraries, personalized music recommendations, and on-demand playback options.

Features	Spotify Free	Amazon Music Free
Advertisements	Yes	Yes
Background Playback	No	No
Song-skipping option	No	No
Ads Free music-streaming	No	No
On-demand playback	Yes	No
Offline music listening	No	Yes
Audio quality	4 audio quality options	Only one audio quality
High Audio quality for  free	160 kbps	128-196 kbps

While performing the analysis of free features between both apps, Spotify gain won over Amazon Music, by offering extra features for free.

Regarding the availability of Spotify and Amazon Music, Spotify leads the game by being available in more than 180 countries. Whereas you can enjoy Amazon Music in only 50 countries. However, if we talk about the Amazon HD quality, the number reduces further.

Moreover, Spotify allows multiple devices to connect with the feature of Spotify Connect. You can connect over 370 devices with Spotify, which includes, Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Smart TV, gaming console, Speakers, and hundreds of others.

On the other hand, Amazon Music is also available for multiple devices, such as Computer, Android, and iOS, along with Alexa-supported devices.

Spotify scored a point in the device compatibility and availability section, as it is available in almost every country and allows more device support like Android, MAC, iOS, PC, as compared to Amazon Music.

However, in the battle of Spotify vs Amazon Music is difficult to choose the best one. Because both have exceptional services, that have the potential to amaze you. 

But, knowing my preferences and choice, it was a little bit difficult for me, as I wanted to go for Spotify, which I downloaded, but the compelling features of Amazon forced me to think again.

As I prefer features like social interaction, a wide range of music options, music listening on low internet connections, on-demand playback, and high audio quality for free, it was simple for me to choose the Spotify app.