Entertainment · alternatives
Alternatives to Spotify
23 entertainment tools sit alongside Spotify in this directory. Below is what separates each from Spotify on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 23
- With a free tier
- 13
- Cheaper to start
- 5
- Spotify starts at
- Free, then $6.99/month
Why people look past Spotify
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Spotify entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
Cost climbs steeply across the tiers
Spotify publishes 5 tiers, from Free up to $21.99/month. Teams that outgrow the entry plan can find the next rung a large step, the Spotify pricing page breaks each one down.
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.
Make Your Day
- Starts $6.99 a month cheaper, at Free.
- Sold on a free model rather than freemium.
- 1 tier to Spotify's 5.
Video sharing and streaming platform
- Starts $5 a month dearer, at $11.99/month.
- 2 tiers to Spotify's 5.
Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.
- No free tier, where Spotify has one.
- Starts $2 a month dearer, at $8.99/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
- 2 tiers to Spotify's 5.
All the ways you love music. All in one place.
- No free tier, where Spotify has one.
- Starts $4 a month dearer, at $10.99/month.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
- 2 tiers to Spotify's 5.
Ticket resale marketplace charging both buyers and sellers, with combined fees often a large share of face value
- Sold on a Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers model rather than freemium.
- 2 tiers to Spotify's 5.
Free ad-supported streaming from Roku, with an optional paid live TV add-on layer
- Sold on a Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons model rather than freemium.
- 2 tiers to Spotify's 5.
Every Spotify 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify (this page) | Free, then $6.99/month | Freemium | 5 | |
| TikTokMake Your Day | Free | Free | 1 | vs Spotify |
| YouTubeVideo sharing and streaming platform | Free, then $11.99/month | Freemium | 2 | vs Spotify |
| Amazon Prime VideoWatch anywhere. Cancel anytime | $8.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Spotify |
| Apple MusicAll the ways you love music. All in one place | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Spotify |
| StubHub | Free | Free to browse, two sided transaction fees on buyers and sellers | 2 | vs Spotify |
| The Roku Channel | Free | Free, ad-supported; individual paid channel add-ons | 2 | vs Spotify |
| mpv | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Spotify |
| Infuse | Free, then $1.99/month | Per user per month | 3 | vs Spotify |
| IINA | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Spotify |
| Castro | Free, then $24.99/year | - | 2 | vs Spotify |
| Castbox | Free | - | 2 | vs Spotify |
| Emby | Free, then $4.99/month | Freemium | 2 | vs Spotify |
| Apple TV+ | Free, then $12.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Spotify |
| Crunchyroll | Free, then $7.99/month | Freemium | 3 | vs Spotify |
| Dailymotion | Free | Free | 1 | vs Spotify |
| Philo | $33/month | Per household per month, single plan | 1 | vs Spotify |
| fuboTV | $73.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs Spotify |
| DirecTV Stream | $89.99/month | Per household per month, tiered plans | 3 | vs Spotify |
| Disney+ | $7.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Spotify |
| ESPN+ | $10.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Spotify |
| Discovery+ | $4.99/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Spotify |
| Final Cut Pro | $12.99/month | - | 3 | vs Spotify |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | $22.99/month | - | 4 | vs Spotify |
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 Spotify badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Cheaper than Spotify (5)
Entry price under Spotify's $6.99/month. The record does not say what unit that price is charged in, so confirm per-seat versus flat rate before comparing budgets.
- TikTok , Free
- Infuse , Free, then $1.99/month
- Emby , Free, then $4.99/month
- Dailymotion , Free
- Discovery+ , $4.99/month
What you would be giving up
Spotify is most often brought in for music listening, podcast consumption, playlist sharing, music discovery, background music. 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 Spotify is broadly right and the question is cost, the Spotify 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.
Spotify runs on web, windows, macos, linux, ios, android, smart-speakers. 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 Spotify alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Spotify?
- 23 other entertainment tools are listed in this directory, led by TikTok, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Apple Music. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Spotify?
- 13 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: TikTok, YouTube, StubHub, The Roku Channel, mpv.
- Is there a cheaper alternative to Spotify?
- Yes. 5 of the alternatives below start under Spotify's $6.99/month: TikTok at Free, Infuse at Free, then $1.99/month, Emby at Free, then $4.99/month, Dailymotion at Free.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Spotify?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: cost climbs steeply across the tiers. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Spotify?
- Spotify is most often brought in for music listening, podcast consumption, playlist sharing, music discovery, background music. 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 Spotify?
- 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 Spotify 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 Spotify against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Spotify 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, 23 tools beside Spotify. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.