Entertainment · alternatives
Alternatives to Apple Music
22 entertainment tools sit alongside Apple Music in this directory. Below is what separates each from Apple Music on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 22
- With a free tier
- 13
- Cheaper to start
- 9
- Apple Music starts at
- $10.99/month
Why people look past Apple Music
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Apple Music entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for Apple Music carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 13 of the 22 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Music for everyone
- Can be used without paying; Apple Music cannot.
- Starts $4 a month cheaper, at $6.99/month.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
- 5 tiers to Apple Music's 2.
Make Your Day
- Can be used without paying; Apple Music cannot.
- Starts $10.99 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a free model rather than subscription.
- 1 tier to Apple Music's 2.
Video sharing and streaming platform
- Can be used without paying; Apple Music cannot.
- Starts $1 a month dearer, at $11.99/month.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than subscription.
Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.
- Starts $2 a month cheaper, at $8.99/month.
Ticket resale marketplace charging both buyers and sellers, with combined fees often a large share of face value
- Can be used without paying; Apple Music cannot.
- Sold on a Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers model rather than subscription.
Free ad-supported streaming from Roku, with an optional paid live TV add-on layer
- Can be used without paying; Apple Music cannot.
- Sold on a Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons model rather than subscription.
Every Apple Music alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Music (this page) | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | |
| SpotifyMusic for everyone | Free, then $6.99/month | Freemium | 5 | vs Apple Music |
| TikTokMake Your Day | Free | Free | 1 | vs Apple Music |
| YouTubeVideo sharing and streaming platform | Free, then $11.99/month | Freemium | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| Amazon Prime VideoWatch anywhere. Cancel anytime | $8.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| StubHub | Free | Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| The Roku Channel | Free | Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| mpv | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Apple Music |
| Infuse | Free, then $1.99/month | Per user per month | 3 | vs Apple Music |
| IINA | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Apple Music |
| Castro | Free, then $24.99/year | - | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| Castbox | Free | - | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| Emby | Free, then $4.99/month | Freemium | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| Crunchyroll | Free, then $7.99/month | Freemium | 3 | vs Apple Music |
| Dailymotion | Free | Free | 1 | vs Apple Music |
| Philo | $33/month | Per household per month, single plan | 1 | vs Apple Music |
| fuboTV | $73.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs Apple Music |
| DirecTV Stream | $89.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs Apple Music |
| Disney+ | $7.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| ESPN+ | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| Discovery+ | $4.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Apple Music |
| Final Cut Pro | $12.99/month | - | 3 | vs Apple Music |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | $22.99/month | - | 4 | vs Apple Music |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Apple Music badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Cheaper than Apple Music (9)
Entry price under Apple Music's $10.99/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- Spotify , Free, then $6.99/month
- TikTok , Free
- Amazon Prime Video , $8.99/month
- Infuse , Free, then $1.99/month
- Emby , Free, then $4.99/month
- Crunchyroll , Free, then $7.99/month
- Dailymotion , Free
- Disney+ , $7.99/month
What you would be giving up
Apple Music is most often brought in for music listening, music discovery, playlist creation, offline listening, family entertainment. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Apple Music is broadly right and the question is cost, the Apple Music pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Entertainment category lists everything the directory holds, and best entertainment tools ranks them.
Apple Music runs on ios, macos, windows, android, web. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Apple Music alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Apple Music?
- 22 other entertainment tools are listed in this directory, led by Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Apple Music?
- 13 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, StubHub, The Roku Channel.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Apple Music?
- Yes. 9 of the alternatives below start under Apple Music's $10.99/month: Spotify at Free, then $6.99/month, TikTok at Free, Amazon Prime Video at $8.99/month, Infuse at Free, then $1.99/month.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Apple Music?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Apple Music?
- Apple Music is most often brought in for music listening, music discovery, playlist creation, offline listening, family entertainment. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Apple Music?
- None of the entertainment tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Apple Music alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Entertainment, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Apple Music against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Apple Music covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every entertainment tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Entertainment category, 22 tools beside Apple Music. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.