Despite the resurgence of physical media, most of us still use streaming music when we need our music fix. Most work on a subscription basis, charging monthly fees for access to their vast music libraries, with other tiers available for other audio qualities. and/or multi-user access.
The challenge is that those monthly (or yearly) values just go unnoticed no matter what paid tier you choose, and for many, it can be tricky to include even the base tier value on your monthly bills. Apps pop up, and many platforms offer millions of songs (or radio stations/podcasts) at no extra cost.
While the proliferation of music streaming apps has given users more options, it can be tricky to differentiate between them. Spotify is the leader among free music platforms lately, but it’s far from the only service available, nor the only one to be. offering a free tier. Every free platform we’ve tried and tested offers a variety of catalogs, features, and goals, and we’re here to help you find the most productive option for your hearing needs.
Learn more about our testing process here or continue scrolling to check out the free streaming platforms for music, radio, new tracks, or even music videos.
You can see a quick review of all the free streams on this list with a rundown of what they’re most productive at and why we think they’re worth checking out. If you want to get more details, simply click on a photo of the product to access the detailed information. entrance.
Best Overall Loose Music App
There’s a clever explanation for why Spotify is the biggest streaming service on the market: it’s comprehensive, easy to use, and very accessible.
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Best Free Music App for Prime Users
If you’re already a Prime member, Amazon Music’s loose edition is very attractive from a financial standpoint.
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Best Free Music App for Versatility
The newly revamped French streaming service offers an extensive catalog of titles, many of which can be accessed for free and without too many hurdles.
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Best Free Music App for Videos
If music videos are your thing, you can’t get by with YouTube Music’s mix of streaming tracks and video content.
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Best Free Music App for Global Radio
Radio is an underrated medium in the age of virtual streaming, so tune in to TuneIn for tons of wonderful shows, news channels, and podcasts, all for free.
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Best Free Music App for Podcasts
BBC Sounds offers a wealth of diverse, high-quality content, adding full live radio broadcasts, podcasts and very good sports coverage.
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Best Free Music App for New Music
Anyone looking for emerging skills head over to Soundcloud. The amount of content to notice is enormous, and you’ll never be far from a wonderful unsigned gem.
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Best Free Music App for Hi-Res Music
If you’re in the U. S. , you can access the service’s first free plan, “Tidal Free,” which offers streams from Tidal’s entire library at 160kbps with some “limited interruptions. ”
I’m a person who, like almost everyone of my generation, grew up listening to streaming platforms in all their myriad forms. We use Tidal as our preferred streaming platform here at What Hi-Fi?, but I have extensive private experience. it includes Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, BBC Sounds, and even Deezer, so pretty much everything written below comes from a first-hand perspective. Next, I cataloged all the most productive free apps available and then broke down the aspects. that make them suitable or even incorrect for your express user needs.
Below, locate our variety of the best free music facilities available. Each platform has been tested by our team of experts to ensure it provides exactly what you need, so you can take our buying advice.
Our opinion:
The most well-known free streaming service is also one of the most productive and, in fact, one of the most sociable. You’ll have to put up with tedious classified ads if you don’t want to pay and you’ll also have to pay attention to the maximum number of playlists in shuffle mode instead of being able to decide which fast track you need to listen to at any given time, but there’s still a lot to enjoy: decent sound quality, over a hundred million songs, offline attention, Tons of podcasts, new features coming. on a daily basis, and compatibility with the maximum of any and all devices imaginable.
It’s not the easiest thing for a beginner to master, but once you do, Spotify’s user interface is quite clever and actually gives you access to the platform’s wide variety of features without too much fuss. If you need to stream music for free, Spotify will most likely be your first port of call.
Incidentally, if you need to pay, you’ll be charged from £11/$11/AU$13 for a popular Premium account, although there are other options available, such as family circle and student plans.
Read our full Spotify review
Our opinion:
You may not know this, but if you have Amazon Prime, you can access Amazon’s basic music streaming service right now. That’s right, but even with free one-day shipping and Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime entitles you to Amazon Music. , which gives you over two million songs to stream on-demand at no extra cost. And the most productive part? They have no advertising.
Unsurprisingly, variety is fairly common and the sound quality will rarely blow your mind, but Prime consumers can’t complain. And if you’re not satisfied, you can upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited, which costs £10/$10 (or £9/$9 with Prime) per month and now includes HD, its high-resolution tier, at no extra cost.
It should be noted that there is also a tier called Amazon Music Free that doesn’t require a Prime subscription but gives you access to selected music, podcasts, playlists, and stations; You’ll have to deal with classified ads and a lack of features. . offline playback.
Read our full Amazon Music review
Our opinion:
Deezer is considered the “other” service compared to the more classic quadrumvirate of Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music and Amazon Music, but that’s not necessarily an explanation for why you’d forget it without thinking. Pointing out its competitors, however, is being one of the first music streaming facilities on the market, as well as one of the first to adopt 360 Reality Audio.
Deezer’s flexible tier means you have to go through classified ads, and the track quality is just 128kbps. The mobile app for this tier is also a bit limited, but no more so than any of its competitors. However, when it comes to what to pay attention to, there’s a huge variety of options (an impressive catalog of 90 million people) and the design is pleasing and undeniable to navigate. There are also plenty of podcasts and other non-music content to watch, making Deezer a good selection for anyone beyond simple music.
The Deezer you think you know is probably not the existing service. Recently, the French platform has benefited from a major redesign and logo change, revamping the design and turning the logo’s identity with an ambitious purple color scheme and an all-new logo. We haven’t had much time to test the new version, but early feedback from consumers and critics turns out to be positive, and we’re actually excited about the “Flow” endless playlist feature. Look at this area for our updated review and timely impressions.
If you sign up for Deezer Premium’s paid service, you’ll be able to enjoy 16-bit FLAC CD-quality audio, but you’ll have to pay £12 per month ($12) for a Premium account. If you don’t get paid, simply subscribe to Deezer Free to pay attention with classified ads and a slightly more limited service.
Read our full Deezer review
Our opinion:
Yes, you might think, but YouTube is rarely just for videos. Launched in 2015, YouTube Music is the video-sharing site’s attempt to compete with Spotify and others for the music streaming crown and, like Spotify, also offers a broad level. Sure, there are classified ads as you’d expect, but not as many as one might worry about on a platform that for a while has become the sole explanation for why some of us have installed ad blockers on our web browsers.
Extras, such as downloading for offline listening, are only paid for (non-students will pay around £12/AU$14/AU$15 per month), so you’re limited to streaming the variety of the service, but there’s a plentiful catalogue to choose from, the design is great and clean, and its variety of music videos is, Of course, unmatched.
If you love videos, YouTube Music is for you.
Read our full YouTube Music review
Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that there are two main omissions on this list: Tidal and Apple Music. As we stated in our FAQ segment below, Tidal no longer offers flexible tiering in the UK or US. You are not eligible for a 30-day free trial as a new member. Apple Music also doesn’t offer a free plan, but you can get great deals on the platform when you buy other products made through Apple. New subscribers get six months free when they buy an eligible HomePod, Beats, or AirPods, for example, and a one-month free trial is offered to new users, regardless of their third-party purchase.
If you’re looking for something a little different, TuneIn Radio might be a little more popular up your street. It’s not a natural music streaming service – it focuses more on radio stations, so consider it a music solution in that way too. like all the appeal that comes from the classic radio format.
TuneIn offers a diversity of stations, adding BBC Radio, NPR, All India Radio, and C-SPAN, as well as news such as CNN and Fox News and a host of podcasts. There are even local and specialty radio stations to choose from. , so that there is something for everyone.
For those who need to pay full price, TuneIn will offer (in addition to its free content) over a hundred thousand ad-free audiobooks, full sports policy on the radio, and over a hundred other ad-free audiobooks. music stations.
With a wide variety of radio applications, this is the most productive of its kind we’ve encountered.
BBC Sounds has replaced Beeb’s iPlayer Radio app, a move that is entirely justified. In addition to the same old BBC radios (Radio 1, Radio 4, 1Xtra, etc. ) that you can listen to live or on demand, it includes all kinds of podcasts, music mixes, live performances and much more. There are plenty of podcasts, exclusive content, even loose audiobooks, not to mention curated playlists, TV soundtracks, and much more. History, comedy, science, sport; There is a huge diversity of high-quality content waiting to be discovered, available for free and available to everyone, at any time.
You can search by genre, then download it and pay attention on the go, while continuing to pay attention where you left off on some other device. The app has had some teething issues and will cause you problems, however, the platform as a whole has become a rich and crafty enough home for the perfect BBC audio output. As the kids say, don’t sleep with BBC Sounds.
SoundCloud is known as the home of emerging artists, so if you need to meet new artists and are waiting to see which bands will succeed, this is the best position to do so. Post Malone and Lizzo started their respective careers on SoundCloud, so you can take it as you see fit. The loose tier offers over 120 million tracks, mixes, podcasts, and more, we can’t guarantee the quality of every single one of them (that’s the challenge with “emerging” artists).
The merit is that you can connect with friends and even artists on the platform, create playlists, and organize them according to your tastes. The problem is, like many free services, you have to make do with ads.
SoundCloud is more of an option of choice, but evidently there’s nothing stopping you from using it as a way to notice unconventional offers while using a more classic service. Still, if you’re tired of conventionality, it might be time to check it out. on SoundCloud.
Most major music streaming facilities offer a flexible tier, with the exception of Tidal (unless you’re lucky enough to live in the U. S. ). Flexible installations inevitably come with classified ads and have more limited features. and audio quality that your facility pays for. For stablemates, they’re pretty tempting.
Keep an eye out and you’ll find loose (or almost loose) one-, two-, three-, or even six-month deals on some paid tiers of streaming services, to check out the sound products before you buy them. Remember when your trial starts and ends, as the maximum will automatically renew and convert to paid subscriptions once it ends, rather than just ending automatically and leaving you where you started.
We recommend that you opt for higher-quality streams (for which you’ll need to pay a fee), but if you’re just a casual listener (or on a very tight budget), free music streaming services also make more sense than paying. for something. You use it lightly.
We have verification services in London and Reading, where our team of experienced in-house examiners checks most of the AV and hi-fi equipment that arrives at our doorsteps.
Of course, when it comes to streaming facilities, a dedicated listening device is rarely very necessary, as only a computer or smartphone is needed. However, we made sure to check each streaming platform with a variety of speakers and headphones, and use them on iOS, Android, and desktop apps. What is vital in our evaluation procedure is that each service is compared with the most productive in its value and category. Which Hi-Fi system? It’s all about comparative verification, so we keep our winners close by to allow for unbiased comparisons between new installations and those we know have performed very well in the category.
We are independent and do our best to make sure we listen to each proposal to the best of our ability. So we’ll be testing many other types of music and giving each service an extended listening time. Of course, it’s not just about the sound quality. If a service has unique and notable features (including smart skills, maintaining playlists, or being able to tip your favorite artists), we’ll make sure some of our tests come through. to compare claims made through the platform.
All judging verdicts are agreed between the entire team, rather than an individual evaluator, to eliminate any non-public preferences and ensure we are as thorough as possible. There is no input from PR firms or our sales team when it comes to verdicts. or star ratings in our reviews.
Yes, it is, for U. S. users. U. S. Unfortunately, he abandoned it.
According to Tidal. com, starting April 10, users who were on Tidal’s free tier will need to upgrade to a paid subscription at $11 per month. This may not happen automatically, so if you enjoy Tidal for free in the U. S. , you’ll still be able to enjoy Tidal for free. In the U. S. , you may not face an unforeseen bill in April. Instead, your access to Tidal will be suspended until you upgrade to a paid plan.
Speaking of which, there’s good news for Tidal lovers. As part of a move to simplify its subscription tiers, Tidal won’t keep its spatial, lossless, high-resolution audio content locked at £20/$20 per month “HiFi Plus”. paywall. Instead, all of this will transfer to a single single user plan billed at £11/$11 per month. Student and family plans are still available at £5/$5 and £17/$17 per month respectively. .
So, can you still make Tidal for free? If you’re a new user, you can enjoy a 30-day trial of any Tidal plan of your choice. Anyone who develops symptoms before April 10 will be charged the value of the selected package at the end of the test.
What you’re probably wondering after reading the article above is whether you deserve to stick with the mix and fully invest in a paid edition of one of the above installations (or a service we haven’t indexed here, such as Apple Music or Tide).
Without a doubt, the experience of enjoying a paid club is particularly greater than any free edition. Free Spotify might be fun for a while, but many other people eventually get tired of the lack of control and classified ads infiltrating their music. The edition of each of the above platforms has limitations, whether it be classified ads, limited playback and customization, or the removal of features such as downloading and listening to classified ads offline. Additionally, your chances of getting high-resolution single tracks are somewhat limited across the board. .
However, keep in mind that the economy is in a tough spot lately (haven’t you noticed?), so costs are rising for peak streaming services. Free iterations can have some drawbacks, but a significant monthly savings is a big plus.
Indeed it is, yes. If you subscribe to Amazon Prime using a paid subscription, you will be able to access Amazon Music Prime at no additional cost. It’s necessarily a light edition of Amazon Music Unlimited, and while there are no ads, it’s only available on SD. quality instead of CD or high resolution and you can only play by combining artists, albums, or playlists. If you want to take it to the next level, choose Amazon Music Unlimited, which costs £9. 99/$9. 99/AU$9. 99 without an existing license. Prime membership or £8. 99/$8. 99/AU$8. 99 with one.
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Harry McKerrell is a copywriter at What Hi-Fi?. During his tenure at the publication, he wrote countless news articles, as well as articles, tips, and reviews of products ranging from floor speakers and music streamers to on-ear headphones, wireless headphones, and portable DACs. He has covered hi-fi logo launches and client generation, as well as major industry events such as IFA, High End Munich and, of course, the Bristol Hi-Fi Show. When he is not at work, he can be found playing hockey, playing the piano, or looking for strange dog puppies.
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