Google’s platform is one of the best alternatives to Spotify, so we have tested it to see what its main differences are.
Spotify is the favorite music platform in Spain, and now it is preparing a new price increase for this year. It does so at a time when there are other alternatives such as Tidal or Apple Music , however, one of the most popular due to its proximity to the most popular video service in Spain is YouTube Music.
Google’s music streaming platform has the advantage of the support of the North American giant, but is it on par with Spotify? It is a question that many users ask themselves, since, although their prices are similar with 10.99 euros for Spotify and 9.99 euros for YouTube Music, the Google platform also offers access to YouTube Premium for 11.99 euros, which may be of interest to many users who regularly consume videos from the platform and want to remove the ads.
Library and possibilities
Perhaps one of the sections in which users spend the most time in this type of app is in their library, since it is where all the music is organized into playlists. In this sense, both have all the basic options such as creating a new list or even starting a smart list with recommendations based on the song you choose.
The structure of both is quite similar, since it is, in essence, a list of lists that has several filters so that playlists, albums or other content appear in an organized way. In both cases you can access a history to see the last thing you listened to, and even see the available podcasts. Likewise, both YouTube Music and Spotify support local file playback.
Their main screens are similar, but it is true that YouTube gives greater importance to the video, meaning that, if you are a person who likes to watch video clips or listen to live content, it will be more attractive. Both platforms have short-term content in vertical format, in the purest TikTok style to recommend suggested titles.
Despite their similarities in this section, there are also marked differences, since the Spotify library seems better organized, with a cleaner interface and fewer elements. In return, the main YouTube Music screen, with a more dynamic and casual appearance , invites you to explore and discover new songs and artists.
Playback and recommendations
This is one of the sections in which both platforms present the most differences. Starting with YouTube, the company makes the most of its wide variety of video content, making it so that, while listening to any song, you can also watch its music video or live video, if it has one. Of course, in these cases, the audio quality will drop slightly compared to if we listen to the song without any type of video .
Spotify, for its part, has some video content, but in most cases, the songs are accompanied by a short video in vertical format. What the platform wins is in the lyrics, since its collaboration with MusicxMatch means that, in many songs, they are synchronized with the text so that the user can see what the next part is. In this sense, the app with the green icon receives the most praise.
However, the opposite happens in the recommendations. Without Spotify’s being bad, far from it, YouTube Music’s are usually more accurate . This will be especially relevant for those people who like to discover new music every so often, but may be irrelevant for other types of users. Personally, I consider it one of its biggest plus points.
As YouTube has an immense catalog of videos, there is a wide variety of options for choosing music, and the best thing is that there are other alternatives such as ambient sounds or live music that can be listened to, even if they are not part of an album or simply have been uploaded to the platform by amateur musicians, something that is harder to find on Spotify.
Overall experience
Both applications are very even, more so than a few years ago, when YouTube Music took its first steps, and during these weeks of testing the app, the feeling prevails that it does some things better than Spotify. For a user who uses the full version of YouTube with some frequency, it can be a success. And the app dedicated to music is synchronized with YouTube , which means that automated playlists can be created with those songs whose video is liked in the application. It also saves the history of songs listened to to offer better recommendations, one of its strong points.
However, YouTube Music has a lower maximum listening quality compared to Spotify, with 256 kbps compared to 320 kbps . It’s a small difference, and one that many people won’t notice. But, if you want to enjoy the best possible quality, you have to take it into account. Spotify, for its part, has not yet added the long-awaited HiFi audio that users are waiting for.
In short, the YouTube app offers better recommendations and is perfectly integrated with the video platform, in addition to offering plenty of visual content accompanying the music. In exchange, Spotify has higher audio quality and a less diffuse organization in which music is almost the only protagonist.
In addition to including Music, YouTube Premium , the 11.99 euros per month modality, has other advantages, such as the possibility of watching floating and background videos on Android, the total elimination of ads and even the possibility of downloading videos from the platform. It also includes the ability to watch videos in better quality, so it may be the best option for regular YouTube users.
