Tidalvs
FL Studio
FL Studio: Digital audio workstation sold with free updates to your edition for life
Tidal
High fidelity music streaming
As of 30 August 2026, Tidal starts at $10.99/month. Tidal is a subscription-based music and video streaming service featuring high-fidelity, lossless audio quality and high-definition music videos. Softwr lists it under Music. Tidal is made by Block Inc, launched in 2014, available on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
Overview
What Tidal does
Tidal is a subscription-based music and video streaming service featuring high-fidelity, lossless audio quality and high-definition music videos.
What people use it for
- Streaming music in HiRes lossless up to 24-bit 192 kHz and Dolby Atmos
- Offline listening to a personal library
- Casting lossless audio to supported hi-fi hardware over TIDAL Connect
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Tidal.
- TIDAL has no permanently free listening tier; after a 30-day trial a paid subscription is required
- The subscription renews automatically on a monthly basis
- Lossless quality on external hardware needs TIDAL Connect and a supported device
- The iOS app requires iOS 17 or later
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Tidal
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- TidalvsREAPER
REAPER: Full digital audio workstation with a 60 day evaluation and a USD 60 personal licence
- TidalvsAbleton Live
Ableton Live: Digital audio workstation built around a Session View for arranging ideas live
- TidalvsLogic Pro
Logic Pro: Apple's digital audio workstation, sold outright on Mac and by subscription on iPad
Pricing
What Tidal costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
HiFi
$10.99 /mo
- Lossless audio
- Downloads
HiFi Plus
$19.99 /mo
- Master quality
- Direct artist payouts
Capabilities
Features
HiFi streaming
Master quality
Music videos
Exclusive content
High-end audio systems
Integration with High-end audio systems
Smart speakers
Integration with Smart speakers
Download protection
Download protection security feature
Account security
Account security security feature
Web support
Available on web
Ios support
Available on ios
Android support
Available on android
Desktop support
Available on desktop
Behind it
Who makes Tidal
- Company
- Block Inc
- Based in
- New York, NY
Keep looking
Where to go from Tidal
- Tidal alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Tidal pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Tidal badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Music softwareThe full category
- Best Music softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Music software for
Compare Tidal with
- REAPER
- Ableton Live
- FL Studio
- Logic Pro
- Deezer
- Amazon Music
- YouTube Music
- Bandcamp
- iHeartRadio
- Pandora
- DistroKid
- TuneCore
- Ardour
- Bitwig Studio
- Cubase
- Deezer
- Bandcamp
- iHeartRadio
Other Music software
Full digital audio workstation with a 60 day evaluation and a USD 60 personal licence
Free, then $60/one-time9 researched notesDigital audio workstation built around a Session View for arranging ideas live
From $99/one-time11 researched notesDigital audio workstation sold with free updates to your edition for life
13 researched notesApple's digital audio workstation, sold outright on Mac and by subscription on iPad
Free, then $12.99/mo10 researched notesFlat annual subscription music distribution where artists keep 100% of streaming royalties
10 researched notesMusic distribution owned by Believe, offering both a 0%-royalty annual subscription and an older pay-per-release model side by side
10 researched notesGPL workstation whose source is free and whose prebuilt binaries are paid
Free, then $1/mo12 researched notesModular DAW with a native Linux build and a 12-month upgrade window rather than a subscription
From $99/one-time12 researched notesSteinberg workstation with the strongest score editor of any DAW, now licensed without a USB dongle
From $99.99/one-time12 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Tidal, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Tidal
Tidal alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Tidal pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Tidal
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Tidal badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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