Spotify is undoubtedly one of the best audio streaming platforms as it provides a wide range of music discovery and podcasts. Although Spotify has acquired most of the market, Tidal music has extra features like video content. Are you confused between these two music streaming platforms? We’ll discuss Spotify vs Tidal Music in this post.
Spotify is old enough compared to Tidal Music. But, over the years, Tidal Music has evolved much compared to Spotify. You will find different artists and genres in both apps. Both offer features like offline listening, creating playlists, and many more. We’ll compare every feature and see who wins the Spotify vs Tidal Music battle.
Also Read: Spotify vs Apple Music
Spotify vs Tidal Music
It is always hard to choose between these two platforms. We will compare aspects like price, content, quality, and many other things of the music streaming platforms. Let’s start the Spotify vs Tidal Music battle:
Price & Plans:
Spotify and Tidal have similar pricing and plans, but there is a slight difference. If you look at the chart below, you’ll get a clear understanding.
| Platform | Free Plan | Individual | Family |
| Spotify | Yes | $9.99/month | $15.99/month |
| Tidal HiFi | Yes | $9.99/month | $14.99/month |
| Tidal HiFi Plus | No | $19.99/month | $29.99/month |
You will get these features on both platforms:
- 30 days free trial.
- Ad-free musical experience.
- Seamless music.
- Access to all the premium content.
- Download for offline listening.
Spotify charges $9.99/month for one person and $15.99/month for up to six people. On the other hand, Tidal offers you two kinds of premium plans: Tidal HiFi and Tidal HiFi Plus. If you take Tidal HiFi for yourself only, you’ll have to pay $9.99/month, similar to Spotify’s Individual premium plan, and for the family plan, you need to pay $14.99 monthly. The Tidal HiFi Plus plan is slightly more expensive as you need to pay $19.99 monthly for individuals and for families; this price goes up to $29.99 monthly.
Spotify offers free music streaming facility, although it’ll have ads. Tidal does not have certain kinds of features.
Spotify Premium offers you a 320kbps streaming experience, whereas Tidal brings you 9216kbps high-resolution audio support. Here Tidal has a slight edge.
Spotify allows you to import the local files into your Spotify dashboard. But, you cannot do that in Tidal.
After looking at all these facts, I can say that Spotify is a good choice for free listening, and Tidal provides value for the subscription.
Content
Although Spotify is older than Tidal, both platforms have over 85 million audios. These numbers are increasing day by day.
The availability of Tidal’s high-resolution master tracks is increasing day by day. It offers Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio technologies. On the other hand, Spotify has a seamless amount of great podcasts with some great Spotify-sponsored content.
Both platforms have almost all the artists covered; it’d be better if you check for your favorite artist’s availability on the particular platform.
Quality
Spotify has five audio quality settings:
- Automatic – depends on your internet speed.
- Low – 24 kbps
- Normal – 96 kbps
- High – 160 kbps
- Very High – 320 kbps
Tidal is one step ahead in this matter, and it offers:
- Normal – 96 kbps
- High – 320 kbps
- HiFi – 1411 kbps
- Master – up to 9216 kbps
The main thing about the audio streaming platform is the music quality, and Tidal undoubtedly wins this battle.
Discovery
Spotify is well known for its good music recommendation. Artificial Intelligence generated “Discover Weekly” based on your recent listening activity. This playlist contains almost 30 songs. Spotify releases a playlist on brand new released every week on Friday. With daily mixes and trending playlists, we can say that Spotify has great music discovery.
Tidal has been improving its music discovery. It creates playlists like My Mixes based on your listening habits. In the future, it will provide more recommendations for sure. For now, Spotify is ahead of Tidal in Music Discovery.
User Interface
Both platforms have a pretty similar interface. Apps and Desktop versions have a dark theme that looks good. Easily navigable options help users access every feature easily.
You get a sidebar on the desktop version and the same feature in the mobile app below the screen. You can create playlists, listen to playlists and do whatever else it offers. To create a playlist, you just need to drag and drop songs.
Spotify has a Your Library section; you can filter the contents by playlist, artist, and album. Tidal offers the same functionality using a My Collection button.
Social Share
Social sharing is a must needed feature as everyone wants to share their favorite music. Spotify offers you many ways to share a playlist with your friends. You can share the playlist or a song directly on Facebook or Instagram, and you can also copy the link and share it on other social networking sites. A listening party can also be hosted on Spotify. You and your friends can contribute to creating a playlist.
On the other hand, Tidal has limited sharing features. You can only share songs on Facebook and Instagram. There is no option of creating a playlist with your friends or hosting a listening party.
Additional Features
- Spotify has a sleep timer feature. It allows you to set up the timer, and songs will stop playing after that particular time. Tidal music doesn’t have such kind of features.
- You can use Spotify while navigating through Google Maps or Waze. You don’t need to turn off your music. Tidal doesn’t support Google maps, but it does Waze.
- Spotify provides limited information about a song, while Tidal shows detailed descriptions. This feature can be useful if you want to know more about your favorite song.
- Spotify has a good AI-based search system. It will still produce results if you misspell any song or artist’s name. On the other hand, Tidal will not provide any result in that case.
- The availability is also a concern. Spotify is available in more countries than Tidal.
Spotify vs Tidal Music – Which one to choose?
Both apps are good in different aspects. It will all depend on your need. Tidal is undoubtedly the best option if you want to listen to some good quality music.
If you want good music discovery and some additional content, then you can go with Spotify.
If your budget is tight, Spotify’s free version will suit you. Tidal’s HiFi plus plan is a little expensive but worth it.
Spotify offers you some additional features like importing local music and hosting a listening party, whereas Tidal doesn’t have this.
Conclusion
This was a detailed analysis of Spotify vs Tidal Music. I covered all the different aspects in this post; the choice is on you now. I hope your every doubt is now cleared. Still, if you have any doubt, drop a comment below.
Review & Discussion