Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Deezer and SoundCloud compared for free, legal streaming — catalogues, recommendations and each free tier's limits.
You are paying for enough subscriptions already, and the album someone just recommended is one tap away — do you really need another monthly bill just to hear it? Usually not: the major platforms run entirely legal, ad-supported free tiers, and years of platform competition have left each with a distinct personality. Spotify still owns recommendations and playlist culture; YouTube Music reaches into remixes, covers and live recordings the others do not host; SoundCloud is where emerging artists upload first; Deezer chases catalogue size and HiFi; Amazon Music is already sitting inside many Prime accounts. The 5 apps in this guide were picked to cover those five genuinely different reasons to listen, from algorithmic discovery to independent uploads.
Spotify is the default music app for a reason: an enormous catalogue, the best personalised playlists and a working free tier, ads and shuffle included.
Spotify remains the most-used streaming app in the world, with millions of songs and podcasts on board and a free tier that opens the whole catalogue in exchange for ads and shuffle-only listening on mobile. The reason people stay is not catalogue size alone but the recommendation system feeding Discover Weekly and Daily Mix, which consistently surface music you did not know you wanted. The trade-offs on the free plan are well known: advertising between tracks, no on-demand song selection on mobile, downloads locked behind Premium, and still no lossless HiFi audio without paying.
YouTube Music streams the official catalogue plus YouTube's remixes, live sets, covers and rarities, free with ads — strongest if you already watch music there.
YouTube Music inherits the whole of YouTube's audio, which makes its catalogue stranger and deeper than the competition: beyond official tracks you will find remixes, live versions, covers, demos and one-off recordings no other service licenses. The free tier plays all of it with advertising, and it is the obvious pick for anyone who already hunts music inside YouTube and wants the libraries merged into one app. Premium is where the walls go up — background listening is locked behind it, the free plan carries ads, and as a pure music interface it is less polished than Spotify.
Amazon Music makes sense for existing Prime members: a catalogue is already bundled with the subscription, with HD and Ultra HD quality on Unlimited.
Amazon Music carries millions of songs and podcasts, and its practical advantage is distribution rather than features: many people already have access through an Amazon Prime subscription, so it avoids adding yet another monthly bill, though the bundled Prime Music catalogue is limited. The Unlimited upgrade opens the full library alongside high-quality HD and Ultra HD audio. It is the sensible default inside an Amazon-heavy household. Outside that bubble the interface feels somewhat cluttered, Prime Music runs thin quickly, and reaching the genuinely complete catalogue requires paying for Unlimited on top.
Deezer is the Spotify alternative with 90 million-plus tracks, an endless Flow mix tuned to your taste and HiFi audio, plus a built-in song identifier.
Deezer's appeal is a combination Spotify does not quite offer: a catalogue of more than 90 million tracks, high-fidelity audio and Flow, an endless personalised mix that adapts as you listen rather than serving fixed playlists. A built-in song identifier rounds it out for the moments you hear something unknown playing. It is a credible choice for anyone who wants a huge library and a different discovery engine. Its weaknesses are social gravity rather than features — the user base and music-focused social network are smaller, the free mobile plan is restricted, and its recommendations still trail Spotify's by a notch.
SoundCloud is where independent and emerging artists upload first — remixes, mixtapes and underground tracks you will not find on the bigger platforms.
SoundCloud's catalogue is built by its users, which is exactly its value: independent and up-and-coming artists upload remixes, mixtapes, underground cuts and early versions that never appear on Spotify or Deezer. Anyone can publish music, so listeners with patient ears routinely spot artists months or years before the wider platforms catch on. That open model has costs. The mainstream catalogue is noticeably smaller, audio quality depends entirely on what each uploader provided, and removing ads or unlocking the full feature set means paying for Go.
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Questions & answers
Which free music app is the best?
Spotify is the safest default: its free tier opens the whole catalogue with ads and shuffle-only mobile playback, and its recommendations remain the strongest in the market. YouTube Music is the better free pick for remixes and live sets, while SoundCloud has no real rival for independent and emerging artists. All three options are fully legal.
Is listening to music free on these apps legal?
Yes. Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Deezer and SoundCloud run legal free tiers funded by advertising, and artists are paid for those plays through the platforms' licensing deals. It is the legitimate alternative to pirate download sites, which carry legal and security risks. The only real trade-offs with a free account are the ads and the handful of limits compared with premium.
What changes between the free and paid plans?
The free tier puts ads between songs, usually limits mobile listening to shuffle mode and blocks offline downloads. Premium, at around 11 euros a month, removes advertising, lets you choose any track, downloads music for offline listening, allows unlimited skips and improves audio quality. Daily listeners generally find it pays for itself; anyone listening occasionally is well served by the free tier.
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