Planning to upgrade to Spotify Premium from the free plan to get rid of ads and unlock exclusive features but confused if the move is worth it? We’ll sort it for you. Here’s the must-check Spotify Premium review leading you through the paid vs. free debate to determine if you should spend your money.
Spotify is the most popular music streaming service with over 517.69 million users. Out of those, 229 million are premium subscribers. The total number of paying customers has increased by 22.7% (95.69 million) compared to the previous year.
There are several reasons why Spotify is the best music streaming service right now and why you should consider switching to premium. Let’s explore them below. We will also help you decide if Spotify Premium is better than Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, and other music streaming platforms.
How Is Spotify Premium Different From Free Plan?
Spotify is a freemium music streaming service. Its free version provides access to a catalogue of over 80 million songs, playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks. However, if you want to unlock additional features like ad-free listening, offline streaming, unrestricted playback, and more, you’ll have to get Spotify Premium.
When you are a free user, Spotify will present ads to cover their costs, and your experience may get a bit sour. This might lead you to upgrade to a premium plan, but the paid tier of Spotify is way more than that. There are several key differences when it comes to Spotify free vs premium.
Here are the main factors that different Spotify’s free plan from Premium ones:
Ad-Free Listening:
The most common reason why Spotify users choose Premium over the Free plan is the ad-free listening experience. When you are a paying subscriber, Spotify doesn’t interrupt your music listening sessions with annoying ads. You can listen to your favorite songs and artists without any disturbance.
When you are a free user, Spotify plays advertisements every 2 to 4 songs. According to an insider, Spotify serves up to two to three minutes of ads per hour. However, users have noticed that Spotify serves one 30-second ad every fifteen minutes.
Offline Music Streaming:
One of the best advantages of upgrading to Spotify Premium is accessing offline music listening. You can download over 10,000 songs on Spotify and store them on your device to play when you don’t have access to the internet.
This feature becomes very useful when you are on a plane or travelling to a remote area without unlimited or good internet access. You can pre-download your favourite songs and listen to them without being connected to WiFi or turning on data access on your device.
Better Audio Quality:
Spotify has several audio quality options for audiophiles. However, the best ones are exclusively available to premium subscribers. When you are using Spotify free, you can only access Low Quality (24kbps), Normal Quality (96kbps), or High Quality (160kbps).
However, you can unlock Extreme Quality (320kbps) as a Spotify Premium user. Spotify is also set to launch HiFi very soon. Although it has gotten delayed several times, the CD-tier High-Fidelity Lossless music streaming option will be limited to paying users.
Unlimited Playback
When you are a free user, the Spotify mobile app has plenty of restrictions that may ruin your music listening experience. For instance, you can only skip up to six songs per hour and let Spotify’s algorithm decide what you will hear. You can’t replay songs and playlists, either.
Upgrading to Spotify Premium is a wise choice to eliminate these limitations. This way, you can play as many songs as you want and in any order. You can skip and replay as many songs and playlists as you wish. Spotify won’t be shuffling your music as per their algorithm when you are a paying user.
Additional Features:
There are several other perks of switching to Spotify Premium. One of the best features is Spotify Connect which lets you stream music from your mobile to other devices. For instance, you can start playing a song and then switch the playing device to your PC or PS5.
You can also control your music with Siri or other assistants as a paying subscriber. Another important feature of Spotify Premium is Group Sessions. This feature lets you and your friends listen to songs, playlists, and podcasts together, just like Apple’s SharePlay.
Another important benefit of having Spotify Premium is playing songs when travelling abroad. Meanwhile, free users can only stream music on the app for 14 days. After that, they won’t be able to use the app until they upgrade to Premium or reach their native country.
How Much Does Spotify Premium Cost?
Spotify Premium offers multiple plans, including Standard, Family, Duo, and Student. The Standard plan costs $9.99 monthly for all the paid features on up to five devices. The next one is the Family plan which costs $14.99 per month and allows you to add up to 6 users to the subscription.
Another plan is Duo which costs $12.99 per month for two users, and the ultimate one is the Spotify Student Plan. The student subscription costs only $4.99 monthly, but you must submit and verify using valid student documentation.
Now let’s compare the pricing of Spotify Premium with other popular music streaming services:
- Apple Music
- $9.99/month standard
- $14.99/month family (6 accounts)
- $4.99/month student
- YouTube Music
- $9.99/month standard
- $14.99/month family (6 accounts)
- $4.99/month student
- Amazon Music Unlimited
- $9.99/month standard
- $8.99/month standard with prime membership
- $14.99/month family (only with Prime)
- $0.99/month student (for the first year with Prime, $4.99 after the first year)
- Deezer
- $9.99/month standard
- $14.99/month Hi-Fi + family plans
- $4.99/month student
- Tidal
- $9.99/month Hi-Fi (standard)
- $19.99/month Hi-Fi Plus
- $14.99/month Hi-Fi family (5 accounts)
- $29.99/month Hi-Fi plus family (5 accounts)
- $4.99/month Hi-Fi student
- $9.99/month Hi-Fi plus student
- $5.99/month Hi-Fi military/first responders
- $11.99/month Hi-Fi plus military/first responders
The prices of almost every music streaming subscription are largely similar. The biggest competitor of Spotify, Apple Music, offers the same plans as Spotify.
Does Spotify Premium have a Free Trial?
Yes, Spotify offers a 30-day free trial to all new users upgrading to Premium. You can use it before paying for the music streaming service. Recently, Spotify was also offering a 3-month free trial in limited regions. You can check; if it’s available, it’s a deal you should never miss.
When you start your free trial on Spotify, you can unlock all the perks exclusively available to paying users. You won’t get ads; you can download songs, have Group sessions, and more. However, this would change if you don’t renew your subscription after the free trial expires.
Remember that Spotify asks for a valid payment method before you start your trial. When the trial ends, your subscription will be renewed automatically. If you don’t want to get charged, set a reminder and cancel your Spotify free trial a day or two before it expires.
Is Spotify Premium Worth It?
If you’re looking for a short opinion, then YES. Spotify Premium is worth it if you’re a music fan and frequently listen to songs every month. The monthly money you spend on Spotify will be worth it when you can play your favourite tracks without ads and limitations.
You can also explore additional features of Spotify and unlock the whole library, including audiobooks and podcasts. You don’t have to buy albums separately as a Premium user. The subscription lets you listen to the songs without paying anything extra.
All you have to do is pay a monthly fee of $10 ($5 when you’re a student). You can lower the prices by subscribing to the Spotify Family plan and sharing it with your buddies. It’d only cost $2.5 per user when all six users pay. That isn’t a big amount for the perks you’ll get.
Therefore, we’d recommend getting Spotify Premium to all audiophiles. It’ll be worth every penny. However, if you are still sceptical about it, you can start your free trial and see yourself changing your opinion gradually.
Why Should You Buy Spotify Premium Right Now?
There is not one but several reasons to buy Spotify Premium right away. We have covered most of them above, but let’s quickly recap to help you decide. The biggest reason you should get Spotify Premium is the ad-free listening experience with seamless playback on mobile.
You can also download and play songs offline. This becomes very helpful when you’re a frequent traveller, and you can also reduce the data spent streaming songs. Another important feature of Premium is Spotify Connect which lets you switch between devices while playing your favourite songs.
Many other features include Spotify Group Sessions, upcoming HiFi quality, Advanced Search, Private Listening, and more. On the contrary, there are little to no downsides. The subscription prices are also lower, with plenty of pricing options. Thus, you won’t regret upgrading to Spotify Premium.
How To Get Spotify Premium?
Now that you’re ready to get Spotify Premium, here’s how to upgrade. Follow these steps if you need help buying Spotify Premium:
- Head over to the Spotify Premium web page from here.
- Now click on “Get Started.”
- You can opt for View Plans if you’re confused about which one to get.
- Next, log in to your Spotify account. Sign up if you don’t have one.
- Once you’re logged in, select a payment method and enter details.
- Finally, go through the prompts and complete the checkout.
That’s it. This is how you can get Spotify Premium. Once done, your Spotify Premium free trial will begin (if there’s one). You will be charged only when your trial completes. You don’t have to pay anything if you cancel your subscription before that.
Frequently Asked Questions:
A: Yes, Spotify Premium is better than the free plan as you’ll get access to an ad-free listening experience, unrestricted playback on mobile, and exclusive features that aren’t available to non-paying features like Spotify Connect, Group Sessions, Private Listening, and more.
A: You should get Spotify Premium to get the best experience out of the music streaming service. As a premium subscriber, you won’t be annoyed by ads, and you can play your favourite tracks and playlists on mobile without any limitations. You will also unlock access to lots of additional features and customizations.
A: Spotify Premium provides a long list of benefits over the free plan, with little to no cons. If you’re looking for the downside, the only would be the high subscription price. However, you can reduce it by using the student discount or sharing the Family plan with your members or buddies. You can also get a free trial for Spotify Premium and see if the plan is worth your money.
A: If you opt for the monthly subscription costing $9.99 a month, then Spotify would cost around $119.88 a year. However, you can get the Spotify annual card from Best Buy or any other retailer for only $99 to reduce the cost.
Final Verdict:
Spotify is the most popular music streaming service, and its popularity will not stop soon. The experience it offers to audiophiles is worth the fame it has. However, free users have to face a lot of limitations as not all features are available and interruptions due to ads.
When you upgrade to Spotify Premium, it changes, and you’ll get the best out of the platform. So, honestly, paying for premium plans is worth the money. Before upgrading to Spotify Premium, I was sceptical, too, but the experience completely changed my opinion. I happily pay the monthly price now.
That’s it for this review. Please ask in the comments if you have any doubts or queries about Spotify Premium. We’ll answer them to help you make up your mind.
This is Saquib, a technology and social media expert with over 10 years of experience in the industry. With a passion for staying up-to-date on the latest developments and trends in the tech and social media world and as a writer, I have been creating informative and engaging content that is easy for readers to understand and enjoy, also published in several leading tech and social media publications and is a regular speaker at industry events. In addition to my writing and speaking engagements, I also work as a consultant, helping businesses grow with the ever-changing tech and social media niche.
