Both Spotify and Google Play Music are leading music streaming platforms for people to enjoy millions of songs of all types. However, what exactly are the differences between them? This question seems hard to answer if you are unfamiliar with Spotify and Google Play Music.
Therefore, you can learn the way around the comparison of these two music streaming services from several perspectives here. Better yet, a bonus tip will show you how to download Spotify songs and Google Play Music without Premium. Now, let's walk through the following to get a full idea and see which one is better.
- Heads-up: Google Play Music and YouTube Music
- Google Play Music VS Spotify: Music Library
- Google Play Music VS Spotify: Sound Quality
- Google Play Music VS Spotify: Compatibility
- Google Play Music VS Spotify: Offline Playback
- Google Play Music VS Spotify: Plans and Pricing
- Google Play Music VS Spotify: Overall Comparison
- Bonus Tip: Download Without Premium
Heads-up: Google Play Music and YouTube Music
Before going any further, you should be aware that Google Play Music is unavailable now and was replaced by YouTube Music by the end of 2020. Now, YouTube Music is the only music streaming service of Google. Therefore, the following Google Play Music all refers to YouTube Music.
After Google Play Music was shut down, users of Google Play Music can easily transfer the entire music library to YouTube Music on the web or on the YouTube Music app on Android/iOS devices. If you have purchased some tracks on Google Play Music, they should appear in the UPLOADS section after the transfer. If you have kept pace with some Podcasts, you'll need to use Google Podcasts to follow up though.
Google Play Music VS Spotify: Music Library
First off, the whole music catalog of Google Play Music and Spotify must be a great concern. Accordingly, Spotify boasts more than 100 million songs and 5 million podcasts while Google Play Music enjoys over 100 million songs along with millions of live performances, covers, remixes, DJ sets, and rare recordings.
By the way, both music streaming services will bring up curated mixes for listeners to explore favorites. Moreover, Spotify has podcasts and audiobooks to make its content versatile while Google Play Music doesn't make way for podcasts and audiobooks. Additionally, you need to use Google Podcasts to listen to some podcasts instead.
Winner: Spotify
Google Play Music VS Spotify: Sound Quality
Speaking of the audio quality, both Google Play Music and Spotify utilize AAC codec to encrypt the music streaming. To be clear, Spotify sets its audio quality in 4 tiers including Low, Normal, High, and Very High which are respectively equivalent to approximately 24kbps, 96kbps, 160kbps, and 320kbps.
In comparison, Google Play Music offers audio quality options including Low (48kbps), Normal (128kbps), and High (256kbps). Though the actually listening may vary by hardware, Spotify seems to outperform again.
Winner: Spotify
Google Play Music VS Spotify: Compatibility
Spotify and Google Play Music are supported on a range of devices and enable you to listen to music on almost all devices. To get an idea of the compatibility, you may want to check out the following table and see what devices are supported by them.
Winner: Google Play Music
| Google Play Music | Spotify | |
| Web Browsers | Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Edge, Opera, or Safari | |
| iOS Devices | iOS 14 or later | iOS 14 or later |
| Android Devices | Android 4.4 or later | Android 5.0 or later |
| Mac | macOS X 10.13 or later | macOS X 10.13 or later |
| Windows | Windows 7/8/10/11 | Windows 10 or above |
| Other devices | TVs, Chromecast audio, Smart Displays, Speakers, Gaming Consoles | Cars, TVs, Games Consoles, Smart Watches, Speakers, Voice Assistants |
Google Play Music VS Spotify: Offline Playback
You should be a Premium subscriber to enjoy the benefits, of which one is offline playback. Though Spotify allows free users to download podcasts offline, only active users can download songs, playlists, or albums using the official app and then listen to the downloads offline.
However, you should know that not all songs are available for download on Spotify and Google Play Music. Also, there are some limitations to restricting offline playback even if you subscribe to the plan. Let's check out the following for more information.
Winner: Google Play Music
| Google Play Music | Spotify | |
| Restrictions | The downloads are DRM-protected and only playable in the YouTube Music app. | The downloads are encrypted and only allow listeners to play back in the Spotify app. |
| You can download unlimited tracks on up to 10 devices at a time. | You can download up to 10,000 tracks on each of up to 5 different devices. | |
| You must go online at least once every 30 days to keep the downloads. | You must go online to keep the offline songs at least once every 30 days. | |
| Offline tracks will be unavailable once the subscription expires or is canceled. | Downloads will be unplayable if the subscription is unavailable. |
Google Play Music VS Spotify: Plans and Pricing
Listeners can unlock more features with Spotify Premium and YouTube Music Premium. Luckily, both music streaming services offer a one-month free trial that lets you experience Premium benefits and see whether you're into subscribing to the plan. As is shown in the table, the plan and pricing are quite similar and the benefits all include ad-free listening and offline playback. It seems that there is a tie in this aspect.
| Google Play Music | Spotify | |
| Plans and Pricing | Individual: $9.99/month for 1 account Individual: $99.99/year for 1 account Family: $14.99/month for 5 accounts Student: $4.99/month for 1 account |
Individual: $9.99/month for 1 account Duo: $12.99/month for 2 accounts Family: $15.99/month for 6 accounts Student: $4.99/month for 1 account |
| Benefits | Ad-free music listening Download songs for offline playback Background playback |
Ad-free music listening Download songs for offline playback Unlimited skips |
Google Play Music VS Spotify: Overall Comparison
If you don't want to go through tons of words, you may take a look at the comparison table below to get an overall idea of the differences between Spotify and Google Play Music. Then, see which one makes your heart race.
| Google Play Music | Spotify | |
| Music Library | 100 million songs | 100 million songs and 5 million podcasts |
| Catalog | Music, MV, Radio, Live Performances | Music, Podcasts, Radio, Audiobooks |
| Music Quality | 48kbps, 128kbps, 256kbps | 24kbps, 96kbps, 160kbps, and 320kbps |
| Free Benefits | Ad-based music listening Access the whole library |
Download Podcasts Ad-based music listening Access the whole library |
| Premium Benefits | Ad-free music listening Download songs for offline playback Background playback |
Ad-free music listening Download songs for offline playback Unlimited skips |
| Plans and Pricing | From $4.99/month to $14.99/month | From $4.99/month to $15.99/month |
| Paid users (2022) | Around 80 million subscribers | Around 205 million subscribers |
| Availability | Available in 100+ countries and regions | Available in 184 countries and regions |
Bonus Tip: Download Without Premium
Both Google Play Music and Spotify require a Premium subscription to enjoy more features like offline playback and ad-free listening. Actually, it's unnecessary if you ever come across the following music experts.
TuneFab YouTube Music Converter comes with an in-built YouTube Music web player that lets you directly download songs, albums, playlists, mixes, and music videos from YouTube Music even without Premium. It can remove DRM protections and enable batch downloads to MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, and AIFF at a 35X fast conversion rate. Then, you'll be able to enjoy ad-free and high-res music playback on any device without restriction.
TuneFab Spotify Music Converter is an easy-to-use downloader that enables you to download all your favorite Spotify music to MP3, M4A, FLAC, or WAV at up to 320kbps without Premium including songs, albums, playlists, audiobooks, and Podcasts. With its advanced hardware acceleration, the download speed can reach up to 35X faster than ever. After that, you're able to enjoy DRM-free and lossless offline listening anywhere at any time.
Better yet, the downloads via both converters are available forever. You'll be able to keep your music collections as long as you don't delete them. Since the downloads are no more tied to DRM protection, that means you can transfer, share, and play your favorite songs on any device like Car Audio, MP3 Players, USB sticks, Speakers, and so on.
Conclusion
Now that you've got all the ideas above, which one do you think it's better? Spotify attracts much more people than Google Play Music does thanks to its rich music catalogs. However, their features are indeed similar. If you like browsing through YouTube, it may be a better idea to get both YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium. Or, if you're more a listener than a watcher, Spotify could be your nice partner.
