Best Spotify Alternatives: Free to Use and Ad-Free Music Apps

Frustrated with the continuous ads of Spotify while listening to your favourite song and looking for its alternative? Here are the top Spotify alternatives for free. 

I’m writing this blog because I can understand your problem, as I too have faced this. You don’t need to suffer the same way; I have shared a list of the top free music apps to use.

Take a look at the free music streaming apps and choose one that fits your criteria, and start listening to your favourite songs with Spotify’s alternative without a subscription.

Top 5 Alternatives to Spotify for Free

1. YouTube Music

YouTube Music has recently released its weekly music chart data, and K-pop Demon Hunters lead the golden chart with 72.3 million views. However, YouTube is changing its ranking pattern due to the new update from Billboard, which will prioritize on-demand streams instead of ad-supported on-demand streams.

Features

• It consists of a huge library of music with videos and remixes for online music streaming. It has over 100 million songs in its library.
• Features like personalized playlists and auto-play are also available.
• Both paid and free plans are available. Paid ones are ad-free.
• Offline mode is only available with the subscription.
• Available on both Google Play and Apple Store.

Pros

• Easy integration with YouTube by using the same email account.
• The feature of personalised song suggestions is available.
• YouTube Music added a new recap feature.
• Subscribed users have the facility to listen to songs ad-free.

Cons

• Free users don’t have the feature of ad-free music feature.
• A premium subscription is needed for downloading the songs.

2. Audiomack

Audiomack is coming up with a new plan, i.e., Pro tier for its 1 million artists. Seyi Vibez became the platform’s most-streamed African artist by 2026 with 2.2 billion streams.

Features

• You can download music and playlists to listen offline.
• A large number of mixtapes, albums, and playlists are available for free.
• Skip and repeat features are available.
• You can find top charts and trending tracks based on your location.

Pros

• You can follow your favorite artists, and it will suggest songs from their collection.
• It comes with cross-platform support for Android, iOS, and web browsers. It is the best Spotify alternative free for PC.
• An uploading option is available, which means you can upload your song as well.

Cons

• Comes with ads on the free version.
• Low streaming quality in some of the songs.
• The quality of the tracks may vary as artists have the facility to upload their songs.

3. Deezer

Deezer has a news section for information related to the music industry. Recently, Deezer, along with Ipsos, conducted a study with 9000 people, which shows the inclination of 100% AI music over human-sung songs. It also shows that 50,000 fully AI-generated tracks are uploaded daily, and it has a 34% engagement rate.

Features

• Personalized Flow radio and playlist curation.
• Lyrics display, and high-resolution audio options are available.
• Streaming music for free with a personalized playlist.

Pros

• Large catalog with global tracks.​
• Strong recommendation engine.​
• Cross-device sync for background play.

Cons

• Limited offline access without a subscription.
• Regional content restrictions.​
• Interface feels outdated.

4. Audius

Audius is an artist-centric platform. It aims to create an environment for artists and give them a platform to monetize their work. It launched Artist Coins in late 2025, which encourages them to create more songs and make their own crypto token.

Features

• Blockchain-based copyright-free music apps for direct artist payout.
• Decentralized playback without middlemen.
• Social feeds and trend charts.

Pros

• Ad-free music streaming is free.​
• Supports indie creators directly.
• No login needed for basic browsing.

Cons

• Smaller mainstream library.​
• App stability issues in beta.
• Niche appeal over broad streaming.

5. Shazam

The USP of Shazam is its instant song identification. It can track songs while listening. With this feature, it can provide you with the exact track, artist, and version within seconds. YouTube also comes with this feature. Shazam has added a new feature in which users can directly listen to the most popular part of a song, without listening to the full song.

Features

• It has a feature called Auto-Shazam Mode, which allows the device to find out which song is playing in the background.
• It has a lyrics scrolling feature that allows artists to sing along.
• Sharing songs on platforms like Instagram Stories and Reels, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and TikTok with a single tap is available.

Pros

• Instant song identification with the details about the artists and song title. It also works in offline mode.
• Sharing directly to any other app is a useful feature.
• Works on several devices, including iOS, Android, macOS, and Apple Watch.
• It has its own Global Top 200 Chart of songs, from which you can listen to the trendy songs.

Cons

• Background play for free music apps is not available.
• Doesn’t contain every song. It comes with a limited song collection.
• Ads & limited features in the free version
• Dependency on another source for full playback is a major drawback.

Comparison Table for a Quick Overview

App Name	Google Play Rating	Music Library	Offline Mode	Storage Facility	Ads
YouTube Music	4.6/5	100M+ songs, music videos, remixes	No (premium only)	Uses device storage for downloads (premium only)	Yes
Audiomack	4.8/5	Large indie catalog, mixtapes, albums	Yes (free)	Saves music locally within the app	Yes
Deezer	4.2/5	Global mainstream and regional tracks	No (premium only)	Offline storage is available only with a subscription	Yes
Audius	4.6/5	Indie and artist-first music catalog	No	Streaming only, no local storage	No
Shazam	4.6/5	Song identification database (not full streaming)	No	No music storage, saves song history only	Yes

Overview of the Spotify Alternatives

• If you are searching for an app offering free offline downloads with storage, go for Audiomack.
• YouTube Music and Deezer come with an offline storage option, but only with the paid subscription.
• People looking for ad-free music streaming apps like Spotify for free can choose Audius.
• Shazam is a music tool that will redirect you to another app for streaming a full song.

Choose the best among the five according to your need and desire.

How to Decide the Best Music Apps without Premium?

When choosing the best music app, you need to look at features that will make your music experience better. Here are some of the tips you can follow before choosing the best alternative to Spotify.

1. Offline listening: Check whether the app allows download and storage options. This will allow you to listen to music for free even without an internet connection.
2. Library: Look for a platform with a wide song option, from popular hits to independent artists.
3. Ads: Go with ad-free music apps for interruption-free listening.
4. Audio quality: Do a quality check, as quality can increase and decrease your music listening experience.
5. Playback control: Features like background play, unlimited skips, and repeat give you full freedom to listen to whichever song you want while doing different activities.
6. Music discovery: Personalized recommendations, trending charts, playlists, or song identification tools help find the best music.

These are some of the features that you should look for in a free music streaming app. This will help you find the best music tool. The free music streaming apps mentioned in this article have both paid and free features. If you can pay for the app, I’d recommend you go with YouTube Music as its paid version has all the features mentioned for the best alternative to Spotify.

FAQs

1. What is the best free Spotify alternative?

YouTube Music is the best alternative to Spotify, according to me, as it comes with all the features packed in a single platform. The subscription fee is also comparatively lower than most counterparts. 

2. Is there a Spotify alternative that is completely free?

For a completely free Spotify alternative, you can go with Audiomack. Its features, pros, and cons are mentioned in the article.

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