As two of the best streaming music services on the market, SoundCloud and Spotify deliver great streaming music services with unique offerings, rich music libraries, and convenient playback control features. But when it comes to selecting one between the two, you may find yourself stuck, as the benefits of SoundCloud and Spotify can be a bit different from each other - they can be suitable for users with different purposes.
Hence, this blog will break down the key differences between SoundCloud and Spotify from several crucial aspects, guiding you to select a better one for yourself to have a more enjoyable music discovery and streaming experience. Now, let's move on and check this full SoundCloud VS Spotify review in-depth!
Overview of SoundCloud and Spotify
Before heading to the platform comparison, you can go through the introduction of both SoundCloud and Spotify to know what services they bring and what their strengths are in advance!
SoundCloud
Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has established itself as the go-to platform for independent artists, producers, and niche music genres. It allows all users to upload music and share it with global audiences. Over the years, SoundCloud has become a hub for discovering fresh, underground music, as you are able to find many unpublished pieces of music delivered by independent musicians on the platform!
Although SoundCloud allows free access to a massive amount of tracks, it also offers premium subscriptions - SoundCloud Go and SoundCloud Go+ - for those who need additional features like offline to download music from SoundCloud and ad-free listening experience. For sure that subscribers can access more music resources on the platform, even stream them with higher quality.
Spotify
Spotify is one of the most popular music streaming platforms around the world, with over 450 million users subscribing to its services today. Over the decades, Spotify has been known for its user-friendly interface, vast music catalog, and algorithmic playlists. The highlight of Spotify can definitely be its powerful music recommendation engine, which will analyze your streaming habits and automatically introduce related playlists, albums, and songs that will fit your taste the most.
Spotify makes its service free for everyone to access. For sure, if you subscribe to its premium services, you can have a more enjoyable streaming experience. For example, for premium subscribers, you can access more features like ad removal, offline playback, shuffle play mode, and more.
SoundCloud VS Spotify: A Detailed Comparison
So what are the exact differences between SoundCloud and Spotify? In the following, the comparison will go through several main aspects to introduce for you. Keep on reading.
Music Library and Algorithmic Recommendations
The strength of SoundCloud mainly lies in its immense collection of independent artists and niche genres. Unlike Spotify, which mainly provides mainstream resources, SoundCloud allows musicians and individuals to share their own works on it freely. Hence, SoundCloud actually provides a music library of more tracks, which reaches over 200 million! Spotify, on the other hand, has a less massive music catalog with only over 70 million tracks. However, they are mostly popular and obscure music.
However, from the algorithms that both platforms applied, things can be different. Spotify has more powerful algorithms, enabling smart machine learning ability to analyze your listening habits, and then delivers tailored playlists like Discover Weekly and Release Radar to let you discover more fresh songs that may be your cup of tea. While SoundCloud is less advanced, which can only offer you personalized playlists and suggested tracks based on your streaming history. Hence, for audiences who want to explore new and fresh music, Spotify can be a better option.
Subscription Services and Pricing
Both SoundCloud and Spotify offer a free trial for audiences to access the streaming services. However, premium tiers are available on both platforms in order to deliver a better music playback experience. Here are the pricing plans and corresponding features for SoundCloud Go and Spotify Premium as your references:
| Platforms | Plans and Pricing | Features |
| SoundCloud | Free Plan | Access to a wide range of tracks with ads |
| SoundCloud Go: $4.99/month | Offers offline listening, ad-free experience, and more features than the free plan | |
| SoundCloud Go+: $9.99/month | Unlocks the full catalog, high-quality audio streaming, and more | |
| Spotify | Free Plan | Basic access with ads, limited skips |
| Spotify Premium: $9.99/month | Ad-free, offline listening, and unlimited skips | |
| Spotify Family: $14.99/month | Same benefits but for up to 6 accounts | |
| Spotify Duo: $12.99/month | Same benefits but for up to 2 people |
Both services have similar price points for their premium plans, but SoundCloud Go is typically seen as less expensive than Spotify Premium due to its more limited catalog of mainstream tracks. So you can just choose the one based on your budget.
More to read: Spotify Free vs. Premium: Should You Pay for It?
Audio Quality
Audio quality can definitely be an important factor while selecting a music streaming service. SoundCloud provides up to 320kbps quality for online music playback, but only if you are a SoundCloud Go+ subscriber. On the other hand, Spotify also offers 320 kbps for Premium users, while for the free trial, the music can only be streamed at 160 kbps. Hence, no matter if you are using SoundCloud or Spotify, going for subscriptions ensures the best streaming experience.
Device Compatibility and Availability
Currently, both SoundCloud and Spotify is compatible with a wide range of devices, including smartphones, desktops, and smart speakers. They can also support integrations with devices like Google Home, Alexa, and Apple's AirPlay. By comparison, Spotify covers a bit wider as it is also available on many car systems, giving you a smooth music streaming performance on the way.
In addition, both services are great for global access, when SoundCloud is available in over 190 countries, and Spotify can also be accessed in more than 180 regions. However, the availability of content can vary based on licensing agreements in different countries on both platforms.
Target Audience and User Base
Hence, based on the attributions of these two platforms, actually, it is obvious that SoundCloud and Spotify are great to use, but they are suitable for audiences with different purposes. For example, for artists, musicians, and listeners who enjoy discovering underground and independent music, or even share their own creations, SoundCloud can be a palace.
By comparison, Spotify caters to a broad audience, especially for casual listeners. Its advanced algorithmic playlists and vast music library can be perfect for those who want convenience, personalized music recommendations, and access to mainstream artists as well as music genres. Spotify can surely offer you countless resources and give you a smooth and quality-guaranteed streaming experience both online and offline.
Comparison Table: Core Differences of SoundCloud and Spotify
To draw a simple conclusion, the following chart has collected the most crucial differences distinguishing SoundCloud and Spotify, helping you to be much clearer about which service to select:
| Features | SoundCloud | Spotify |
| Music Library | 200M+ tracks, focuses on independent & underground music | 70M+ tracks, mostly mainstream with some niche genres |
| Subscription | Free SoundCloud Go ($4.99) SoundCloud Go+ ($9.99) |
Free Spotify Premium ($9.99) Spotify Family ($14.99) Spotify Duo ($12.99) |
| Audio Quality | 320 kbps (SoundCloud Go+) | 320 kbps (Spotify Premium) |
| Music Discovery | Great for discovering indie music, user-generated content | Excellent curated playlists and algorithmic recommendations |
| Device Compatibility | Desktop, Mobile, Smart Speakers | Desktop, Mobile, Smart Speakers, Gaming Consoles, Car Systems |
| Global Availability | 190+ countries | 180+ countries |
| Ideal For | Indie music fans, experimental genres | Mainstream music listeners, curated playlists |
Can I Transfer Playlists Between SoundCloud and Spotify?
If you want to change from one platform to another someday, don't worry, because there is also a helpful tool that can let you easily transfer playlists between SoundCloud and Spotify. Here, TuneFab All-in-One Music Converter is highly recommended.
TuneFab All-in-One Music Converter combines multiple mainstream music streaming services, allowing you to access the full music libraries and download your favorite playlists in one go. It will output music downloads in regular audio files in universally supported formats such as MP3, M4A, etc., and then you can transfer and upload the files to other music platforms, in order to realize the playlist transfer without missing any of your favorite tracks.
Highlights of TuneFab All-in-One Music Converter
- Accessible to multiple mainstream music web players and the full libraries;
- Output songs, playlists, and albums in mainstream formats such as MP3, M4A, etc.;
- Maintain uncompressed audio quality at up to 320kbps at max;
- Accelerated technologies are applied to guarantee 35X or even faster batch playlist downloading speed to boost efficiency;
- 100% secure and clean in-app performance to ensure your device safety.
You are able to follow the brief guide below to try downloading playlists from Spotify (as an example) for transferring to other platforms like SoundCloud below:
STEP 1. Open TuneFab All-in-One Music Converter and select Spotify. You are able to log in to the built-in Spotify web player to access all Spotify playlists.
STEP 2. Add any playlist you like to the conversion list by dragging them to the right panel.
STEP 3. In the converting list, you are able to customize the output parameters such as the quality and format in your preferences.
STEP 4. Simply tap the "Convert All" button, and TuneFab All-in-One Music Converter will batch download Spotify playlists for you right away.
Once you get the downloaded local music files, directly upload them to the targeted platforms like SoundCloud, and you can safely move all your playlists to a new platform without losing your favorite songs.
Conclusion
To conclude, as both SoundCloud and Spotify offer unique advantages, you are able to choose the one depending on what you're looking for in a music streaming service. SoundCloud is ideal for those who want access to indie, underground music, while Spotify is more attractive for its vast music catalog and personalized listening experience. Ultimately, your choice will depend on whether you prefer discovering fresh talent or enjoy a more mainstream, algorithm-driven music service.
