Scoring sheet
How we scored Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music
Every score in Spotify vs Apple Music vs YouTube Music comes from this sheet: the tools we considered, the scale for each criterion, and the evidence and date behind each score.
This page shows the working behind Spotify vs Apple Music vs YouTube Music. It lists the criteria, the weights, what each score means and, for every service and criterion, the score and the source behind it.
Everything here comes from desk research on October 21, 2026: the three companies' US pricing pages, help centers and support articles, plus dated news reports where a company's own page could not be read. We did not use the apps hands-on, run listening tests or check the catalogs title by title. Each score below names its source.
The question and the reader
The question, in the reader's words: "Spotify vs Apple Music vs YouTube Music: which one should I pay for?" Search autocomplete in October 2026 also shows "spotify vs apple music price", "spotify vs apple music sound quality", "spotify vs youtube music" and "best music streaming service for families". We asked four AI models (GPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, through their APIs with web search on) five versions of the question in October 2026, which gave 20 answers.
The reader lives in the US and is choosing one music subscription for themselves or their household, or deciding whether a free plan is enough. They already know all three names. They want to know what each really costs, what they give up with each, and which one fits the devices they own.
The field
The question names three services, so this page scores those three. Other services came up in the AI answers, mostly on the family-price and sound-quality questions: Amazon Music Unlimited, Tidal, Deezer and Pandora. Qobuz is recommended for sound quality by review pages the answers cite, such as What Hi-Fi and CNET. They are listed on the page as not scored, and belong in a full ranking of music streaming services.
Criteria and weights
These were set before any service was scored.
| Criterion | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 25 | The US monthly price for one person and for a family, plus a student plan and a two-person plan |
| Devices | 20 | Official apps and support on 13 kinds of device people play music on |
| Sound quality | 15 | The best audio format the regular paid plan streams: lossy, lossless, hi-res lossless, and Dolby Atmos |
| Free plan | 15 | What you can do without paying |
| Library and sharing | 15 | Uploading your own files, moving playlists in and out, collaborative playlists and listening together live |
| Beyond music | 10 | Podcasts, audiobooks and music videos in the same app and plan |
Why these weights: the three services cost within $1 a month of each other for one person but $3 a month apart for a family, which is $36 a year, and price is the one cost every reader pays, so it counts most. Whether a service plays on the speakers, watch, TV and car you already own decides whether you can use it at all, so devices come next. Sound quality and the free plan count the same: sound quality matters to people with wired or hi-fi equipment, and much less over ordinary Bluetooth headphones, which don't carry lossless audio; the free plan decides whether you need to pay at all. Library and sharing matter to anyone with a collection or a household that shares playlists. Podcasts and audiobooks count least, because some readers want them in the same app and others prefer a music-only app. Podcasts are free in all three companies' apps, so the podcast points score having them in the same app as your music, a convenience, not something you pay for.
Not scored:
- Recommendations and discovery. Reviewers and the AI answers we sampled praise Spotify's recommendations most, but we found no independent test with a published method that compares the three, and we didn't run one. The page says so rather than scoring it.
- Catalog size. All three companies say they offer more than 100 million tracks, and we didn't check a fixed list of albums against the three catalogs. YouTube Music also plays covers, live recordings and remixes uploaded to YouTube; the page describes that, but a count of uploads isn't a fair score.
- Artist pay. The services don't publish comparable per-stream rates.
What each score means
Price: the sum of three parts, up to 10
- Individual plan, monthly (up to 5): 5 for $9.99 or less, 4.5 for $10.99, 4 for $11.99, 3.5 for $12.99, 3 for $13.99, and half a point less for each further dollar.
- Family plan for six people, monthly (up to 3): 3 for $16.99 or less, 2.5 for $17.99, 2 for $18.99, 1.5 for $19.99, 1 for $20.99, 0.5 for $21.99, 0 above that.
- Cheaper routes (up to 2): 1 for a student plan at $6.99 a month or less, and 1 for a two-person plan.
Prices fall between the steps only if a service charges an odd amount; none does. Annual plans aren't scored: we could read no US annual price for any of the three (see the notes under each service).
Devices: one check for each kind of device, scored out of 10
Each check is an official app or an officially supported integration listed on the company's own pages. Casting a phone to a speaker over AirPlay, Google Cast or Bluetooth doesn't count, because every service can do that.
- iPhone app
- Android app
- Windows desktop app
- Mac desktop app
- Web player
- Amazon Alexa speakers
- Google Nest speakers
- Sonos speakers
- Apple HomePod, played natively rather than through AirPlay from a phone
- A smart TV or streaming-device app
- Apple Watch, playing on the watch itself
- Wear OS watch app
- Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (one check, both needed)
The score is the number of checks passed, times 10, divided by 13, to one decimal. 13 checks is 10; 10 checks is 7.7; 7 checks is 5.4.
Sound quality
- 10: hi-res lossless up to 24-bit/192 kHz and Dolby Atmos spatial audio, both included in the regular plan.
- 8: lossless plus one of hi-res lossless above 48 kHz or Dolby Atmos.
- 7: lossless up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz or 48 kHz, with neither hi-res nor Dolby Atmos.
- 4: lossy only, at 256 kbps or more at the top setting.
- 2: lossy only, below 256 kbps at the top setting.
Free plan
- 10: play any song you choose, as often as you like, on phones and computers, with the music carrying on when you switch apps or lock the phone. Ads are fine.
- 7: as 10, but on phones the time you can pick songs is capped and the app falls back to shuffle with limited skips.
- 4: you can pick songs, but on phones the music stops when you leave the app or lock the screen.
- 1: no on-demand music, only live or programmed radio.
- 0: nothing without a subscription.
Library and sharing: five checks, 2 points each
- Upload your own music files to a cloud library that plays on your other devices.
- Import playlists from another service with a tool built into the app or website.
- Export your own playlists to another service with a tool the company offers.
- Collaborative playlists that friends can add to.
- Listening together live, with a shared queue or synced playback started from the app.
Beyond music: three parts, up to 10
- 4: podcasts in the same app.
- 3: audiobook listening included in the regular individual plan.
- 3: official music videos in the app.
Scores
Spotify: total 7.3
| Criterion | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 6 | Premium Individual $12.99 a month (3.5); Premium Family $21.99 a month for up to six accounts (0.5); Premium Student $6.99 a month with Hulu (With Ads) included (1); Premium Duo $18.99 a month for two people at one address (1). All from Spotify's US Premium page. Spotify raised its US prices earlier in 2026, Individual from $11.99 to $12.99 (Variety, April 2026). Spotify sells no US annual plan on that page. 3.5 + 0.5 + 2 |
| Devices | 9.2 | 12 of 13. iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac and web player (supported devices); Alexa, for Premium (Spotify on Alexa, marked "For: Premium"); Google Nest (Spotify on Google devices); Sonos (Spotify on Sonos); TV apps (Spotify on TV); Apple Watch with playback on the watch for Premium (Spotify on Apple Watch); Wear OS (Spotify on Wear OS); CarPlay and Android Auto (Spotify Premium page). Missing: HomePod, which plays Spotify only through AirPlay |
| Sound quality | 7 | Premium streams lossless FLAC up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz; the top lossy setting is about 320 kbps (audio quality). Lossless covers "most of the Spotify catalog" (Premium benefits). No hi-res above 44.1 kHz and no Dolby Atmos music |
| Free plan | 7 | Free, with ads. Since September 2025 free listeners can pick any song on phones for a daily "on-demand time" Spotify doesn't publish, then fall back to limited skips (TechCrunch, September 2025). Free streams at up to about 160 kbps in the apps (audio quality) |
| Library and sharing | 6 | No cloud upload: your own files play only from the device they're stored on (local files) (0). Import from other services in the app, through TuneMyMusic (importing playlists) (2). No export tool from Spotify; third-party apps only (0). Collaborative playlists (collaborative playlists) (2). Jam, a shared live queue started by a Premium user (Jam) (2) |
| Beyond music | 10 | Podcasts in the app (4). 15 hours a month of audiobooks from a catalog of more than 700,000 titles on Premium Individual, and for the plan manager only on Duo and Family (Spotify's audiobooks page) (3). Thousands of music videos on Premium (music videos) (3) |
Apple Music: total 6.9
| Criterion | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 6.5 | Individual $11.99 a month (4); Family $19.99 a month for up to six people (1.5); Student $6.99 a month with Apple TV included (1). No two-person plan (0). All from Apple Music's page. Apple raised all three on July 17, 2026, from $10.99, $16.99 and $5.99 (MacRumors). Apple One bundles start at $21.95 a month (same Apple page), and Apple One Family is $27.95 (MacRumors). Apple lists no annual plan on its page. 4 + 1.5 + 1 |
| Devices | 9.2 | 12 of 13. iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, HomePod, Apple TV, CarPlay, Android and a Windows app from the Microsoft Store, and the web player at music.apple.com (Apple Music's page); Sonos, Amazon Echo, Google Nest and smart TVs (same page); Alexa in the US (Play Apple Music with Alexa); smart TV, game console and streaming-device apps (Apple Music on TVs and consoles); Android Auto since 2018 (Android Central). Missing: Wear OS |
| Sound quality | 10 | Lossless (ALAC) across the catalog, and Hi-Res Lossless up to 24-bit/192 kHz where available (Apple says it is "making its entire catalog" available in lossless at different resolutions), and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos on thousands of tracks, all in the regular plan (Apple Music's page; About lossless audio; About Dolby Atmos) |
| Free plan | 1 | No free on-demand plan; a one-month free trial for new subscribers. Apple Music Radio's live stations are free to listen to (Apple Music's page) |
| Library and sharing | 10 | Sync Library keeps up to 100,000 of your own songs in the cloud for subscribers (Apple Music User Guide) (2). Transfer from other services in the app or on the web (transfer to Apple Music) (2). Export your own playlists to YouTube Music from Apple's Data and Privacy page (transfer a copy of your playlists) (2). Collaborative playlists and SharePlay in CarPlay (Apple Music's page) and on FaceTime calls (Apple's SharePlay guide) (2 + 2) |
| Beyond music | 3 | No podcasts in the app (they live in the separate, free Apple Podcasts app) and no audiobooks: Apple's page sells this as "no distractions like podcasts and audiobooks" (0 + 0). Music videos (3) |
YouTube Music: total 6.2
| Criterion | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 7 | YouTube Music Premium $11.99 a month (4); family plan $18.99 a month for the manager and up to five people at one address (2); a student plan (1). No two-person plan (0). YouTube's pricing pages wouldn't load from our US connection ("Music Premium isn't available in your country"), so the individual and family prices are as reported by TechCrunch and Variety on April 10, 2026, when they rose from $10.99 and $16.99. YouTube offers a student plan in the US (student plan help), but we couldn't confirm its price: search results show $5.49 a month and some guides $5.99, both below the $6.99 line. The YouTube Premium student plan rose to $8.99 in April 2026, so this point needs a browser check before the page is published. YouTube Premium Family rose from $22.99 to $26.99 and Premium Lite from $7.99 to $8.99 the same day (TechCrunch). The free trial is one month (Sonos's YouTube Music page). Family size from YouTube's family plan help. YouTube offers prepaid annual plans for individuals in the US (annual plans), but we couldn't read their price. 4 + 2 + 1 |
| Devices | 6.9 | 9 of 13. iPhone and Android apps, web player and an installable web app for computers, Wear OS, Google Nest speakers, and music in the YouTube app on smart TVs and streaming devices (YouTube Music on other devices); Sonos, with the full catalog for Premium and only your uploads for free accounts (Sonos's YouTube Music page); HomePod natively through Siri for Premium members since October 2023 (9to5Google); CarPlay and Android Auto for Premium members (same YouTube help page). On Nest speakers, free listeners get radio-style mixes with six skips an hour. Missing: Windows and Mac apps (the installable web app doesn't count), Alexa (no YouTube Music option in YouTube's help pages), and playback on Apple Watch: the Apple Watch app launched in 2020 as a remote for the phone (iMore), and in June 2026 playback still needed the iPhone (WebProNews) |
| Sound quality | 4 | The top setting is 256 kbps AAC or Opus, lossy; there is no lossless option (audio quality help) |
| Free plan | 4 | Free with ads: on-demand songs and music videos with unlimited skips, but no background play for music on phones; background play, downloads and audio-only mode need Premium (What is YouTube Music?) |
| Library and sharing | 8 | Upload up to 100,000 of your own songs, which play ad-free and in the background even without Premium (uploads help) (2). Built-in transfer from other services in the app (transfer playlists) (2). Export your own playlists to Apple Music through Google Takeout (copy your playlists) (2). Collaborative playlists (make or edit a playlist) (2). No live group listening: YouTube's help pages describe none, and the tools that offer it are third-party browser extensions (0) |
| Beyond music | 7 | Podcasts in the app (4). No audiobooks (0). Music videos, plus the covers, live recordings and remixes uploaded to YouTube (3) (What is YouTube Music?) |
How close the call is
Spotify leads Apple Music by 0.4 points (7.34 to 6.92 before rounding). Apple Music wins sound quality and library features and costs $1 a month less; Spotify wins the free plan and the extras.
- The smallest change that swaps them: moving 4 points of weight from Beyond music to Library and sharing gives Spotify 7.18 and Apple Music 7.195, both shown as 7.2.
- Moving 5 points from Free plan to Sound quality gives Spotify 7.34 and Apple Music 7.365.
- With the free plan left out and the other weights scaled up to 100, Apple Music scores 7.96, Spotify 7.40 and YouTube Music 6.62.
That last case is the reader who has already decided to pay, which is why the page names Spotify best overall but tells anyone who will pay that Apple Music scores higher for them, unless they want podcasts and audiobooks in the same app or wear a Wear OS watch. YouTube Music stays behind Spotify under any single weight change of 10 points or less. It would pass Apple Music if 10 points moved from Sound quality to Free plan.