Spotify vs SoundCloud: Who delivers the best service?
When we talk about Spotify vs SoundCloud both dominate the music streaming landscape, but they cater to different audiences and needs. Spotify’s strength lies in its vast library, spanning music, podcasts, and audiobooks, making it a one-stop destination for diverse content consumption. Additionally, Spotify offers slightly better audio quality, appealing to audiophiles seeking top-notch sound fidelity. On the other hand, SoundCloud shines as a platform for independent artists and underground music, fostering a vibrant community of creators and listeners. Its focus on discovery and user-generated content sets it apart, providing a unique space for emerging talents to thrive. Ultimately, the choice between Spotify and SoundCloud boils down to individual preferences, whether it’s access to mainstream hits and premium features or a more grassroots music experience. So, let’s try to Compare Spotify vs SoundCloud.
What is Spotify?
Spotify is a widely used platform for enjoying music and podcasts, offering a vast library of content for listeners. With options ranging from curated playlists to personalized recommendations, users can easily discover new tracks tailored to their tastes. The platform offers two account types: free and premium, with premium unlocking additional features and a broader selection of music. For those seeking access to premium features without a subscription, downloading the Spotify Premium APK or Spotify Lite Mod APK can provide an alternative means to enjoy an enhanced listening experience.
What is SoundCloud?
SoundCloud is a music streaming platform that was founded in August 2007. It gives budding artists, rappers, and singers an opportunity to bring their voice to masses. If you want to listen to people who can not upload their songs on a highly-rated platform, then SoundCloud is a good option for you. It is largely popular for its underground and indie music. It gives to new singers to bring their own voices to people. The platform is very popular for self-produced content, making it a house for underground music.
Who delivers the best service?
Both Spotify and SoundCloud offer great services. Both want to see their user happy. Now we have to make a comparison between both to determine which of them is providing what to the user.
Spotify vs SoundCloud: Interface
Spotify:-
SoundCloud:-
Spotify vs SoundCloud: Free Features
Spotify:-
Spotify
1. Limited Library Access
2. Paly songs in the background
3. Skip 6 songs per hour
4. 128kbps audio quality
5. Repeated Ads
6. Manual Search
7. Can’t skip ads
SoundCloud:-
SoundCloud
1. Limited Library Access
2. Paly songs in the background
3. Unlimited Skips
4. 128kbps audio quality
5. Upload limit of 3 hours of audio
6. File sizes cannot exceed 4GB
7. Download 100 Songs
So the winner in free features is SoundCloud.
Spotify vs SoundCloud: Price & Planes
Spotify and SoundCloud offer free plans with ads. But in premium version users do not face any ads.
Spotify:-
| Planes | Spotify |
|---|---|
| Individual | $10.99/month |
| Duo | $14.99/month |
| Family | $16.99/month |
| Student | $5.99/month |
SoundCloud:-
| Planes | SoundCloud |
|---|---|
| SoundCloud Go | $4.99/month |
| SoundCloud Go+ | $9.99/month |
So the winner in pricing is SoundCloud. But Spotify Premium has better features.
Spotify vs SoundCloud: Content
Spotify and SoundCloud have their own niche in terms of content. It is up to the user how he compares both. We have compared Spotify And Soundcloud content wise keeping your needs in mind.
Spotify
Spotify claims to have 100 million tracks and over 5 million podcasts. Spotify has a lot of features to help you discover new artists and songs. As Discover Weekly is a Spotify feature that brings you new tracks and songs every Monday based on your date, is the best example. Another feature of Spotify is Daily Mix playlist that lets you access new songs on the daily basis and you can create playlist for enjoyment. Spotify does it all on your history, it uses its algorithm to check which artists you follow, and based on that it creates playlists.
SoundCloud
According to 2024 report, SoundCloud has 375 million tracks from 40 million artists. SoundCloud has over 76 million monthly active users from 190 countries. SoundCloud also has playlists similar to Spotify’s like Daily Mix. SoundCloud is a great resource for discovering unofficial music mixes and mashups.
So the winner in Content is SoundCloud. It has a lot of content then Spotify.
Spotify vs SoundCloud: Sound Quality
Spotify
Spotify is very serious about sound quality. Spotify plays with 6 different sound qualities in different conditions. So, let us discuss about it.
In the free version, you can access AAC(Advanced Audio Codec) 128kbit/s in the web player, on a desktop, mobile & tablet depending on your network connection. If your net is low you can play songs in 24kbit/s, if your net is normal you can play up to 96kbit/s, and if your network connection is very good you can play up to 160kbit/s in the free version.
On the other hand, if you are on the premium version of Spotify you can access up to AAC(Advanced Audio Codec) 256kbit/s in the web player. Like the free version the premium version is the total game depending on network connection. If your net is low you can play songs in 24kbit/s, if your net is normal you can play up to 96kbit/s, if your network connection is good you can play up to 160kbit/s, and if your net connection is very good you can play songs up to 320kbit/s in the free version.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud offers 96kbps to 320kbps sound quality with 320kbps being the highest sound quality. Free users get opportunity to listen to music at very low quality such as 65kbpsOpus/Ogg Vorbis(Opus and Ogg Vorbis are both open-source, lossy audio codecs that are designed to provide high-quality audio). On the other hand Go+ subscription users, use standard quality sound like 256kbps AAC(Augmentative and alternative communication), which is equivalent to an mp3 encoded in 320kbps.
So the winner is Spotify because Spotify provides a better quality of sound than SoundCloud.
Spotify vs SoundCloud: App Availability
Spotify:-
Spotify is available on desktops, iOS Devices, and Andriod devices. You can download Spotify for desktop from any browser, for iOS devices from Apple Store, and for Android devices from Google Play Store.
SoundCloud:-
SoundCloud is also available on desktops, iOS Devices, and Andriod devices. You can download Spotify for desktop from any browser, iOS devices from Apple Store, and Android devices from Google Play Store.
Conclusion
If you like new artists unavailable on a highly rated platform, then you can use SoundCloud. Other hand Spotify is a bigger platform than any other, on Spotify a lot of content is available for users. Some features of Spotify are very interesting for users, users enjoy these features on Spotify.