Woman listening to music
We compare prices for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and more (Picture: Getty Images)

Amid the high cost of living, many will be looking at their bills – including music streaming subscriptions.

You may be a Spotify loyalist, Apple Music fanatic or do everything through your Amazon Prime account – but if you’re keen to cut back on costs, it doesn’t hurt to see how much the major platforms charge.

Here, we’ll take a look at six major music streaming services’ various plans.

We’ll cover price, what free trials they offer, and if there’s a totally free version. – so you can see if you could possibly get a better deal.

Amazon Music Unlimited

Amazon offers a lot of different music plans – a free version, a version free with your Amazon Prime account, and then several paid-for Unlimited options, as follows:

Amazon Music Free gives you access to plenty of playlists and stations, but you can’t pick your song, and there’ll be ads.

Music streaming
How does Amazon Music’s offering compare to other platforms? (Picture: Getty Images)

Amazon Music with Prime is part of your Amazon Prime subscription, and allows you to access 100 million songs ad-free, shuffle play any artist or album, choose songs from a playlist, but you won’t have unlimited skips or the option to listen to the tracks offline.

Amazon Music Unlimited Individual Plan costs £10.99 per month (if you don’t have Amazon Prime) and £8.99 per month (if you do have Prime) for unlimited skips, ad-free and offline listening, and a choice of over 100 million songs and plenty of podcasts.

At the time of writing, there is a free three-month free trial for this plan (usually you just get one free month), before the cost kicks in.

Amazon Music Unlimited Student Plan is £5.99 per month for university and college students. Keep your eyes peeled for free trials, especially if you’ve never used Amazon Music before.

Amazon Music Unlimited Family Plan is £16.99 per month, and delivers the benefits of Unlimited for up to six people on the same account.

At the time of writing, you can get the Family Plan for £10.99 per month over three months, with this limited-time upgrade offer. There may other free trials on offer in future.

Lastly, there appears to be a Single Device Plan for £4.99 per month – which seems to offer Unlimited benefits but for just one Amazon device (such as an Echo, Dot or FireTV).

Check out the plans on Amazon

Apple Music

Apple Music has fewer plans to contend with. There is the Individual, Student, Family and a Voice Plan.

All plans offer 100 million songs, ad-free listening, and the ability to ask Siri to play you any song.

Apple Music Individual Plan is £10.99 per month with a free trial for one month, while the Apple Music Student Plan costs £5.99 per month. Apple Music Family Plan is £16.99, and allows up to six people on the plan.

If you’re looking for a cheaper option, there’s the Apple Music Voice Plan for just £4.99 per month. Apple says it is ‘a streaming service designed for use with Siri that allows you to access more than 100 million songs with just your voice’.

Apple Music app
How much is Apple Music? (Picture: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

P.S. If you’ve recently bought a new Apple device such as an iPhone, Mac or iPad, you can get six months of Apple Music for free.

So if you’ve had to upgrade your phone or needed a new laptop or Apple Watch, have a look on your device or your Apple account for any forgotten, lingering offers.

Check out the plans on Apple Music

Deezer

There is a free version of Deezer, which offers more than 90 million songs, but has ads, doesn’t offer offline listening or let you pick and play any track you feel like, rather offering recommendations and playlists.

If you want full access to the streamer, then consider one of three plans: Deezer Premium, Student and Family.

Deezer Premium costs £11.99 per month after a one-month free trial. You do get 25% off if you pay it as an annual lump sum, which works out as £8.99 a month.

Deezer Student is £5.99 per month and the Deezer Family option costs £17.99 per month, allowing up to six people on the account. Both options also offer one month free.

Check out the plans on Deezer

Spotify

Most of us will be familiar with the Swedish super-streamer Spotify’s green app, but how does it compare to the above competitors?

There is also a free version of Spotify but it won’t be ad-free, nor offer unlimited skips, and you’ll have to listen to set stations/playlists.

Spotify Premium costs £9.99 and does offer ad-free listening, offline listening, the ability to play any song you like, and unlimited skips. There’s also

There’s the Spotify Duo option for £13.99 per month, for two people to share, a Spotify Family plan for £16.99 per month, for up to six people to share, plus a Spotify Student plan for £5.99 per month.

All of these plans offer a one-month free trial to new Spotify Premium users.

Check out the plans on Spotify

Tidal

Tidal, which is partly owned by rapper Jay-Z, offers four plans: HiFi, HiFi Plus, Family and Student.

The standard HiFi plan costs £9.99 per month after a 30-day free trial, and offers access to 100 million songs, is ad-free, has unlimited skips and allows offline streaming.

HiFi Plus is £19.99 per month after a 30-day free trial, and offers the same benefits as HiFi, but the major difference is the sound quality – offering what it calls ‘innovative audio formats’.

The Tidal Family plan starts from £14.99 per month and allows access to up to six people. Students can get the HiFi plan for £4.99 per month or HiFi Plus for £9.99 per month in some regions. Both offer 30-day free trials, too.

Check out the plans on Tidal

YouTube Music

Like many of the options, there is a free version of YouTube Music, but the paid-for version is ad-free, lets you listen to music in the background, and download songs for offline listening.

YouTube Music Premium costs £9.99 per month, after a one-month free trial, while the YouTube Music Family option costs £14.99 per month after the same trial, and allows access for up to five people (all aged 13+).

YouTube Music plan costs £9.99 per month but you get one month free trial

Lastly, there’s one month free on the YouTube Music Student plan, which then costs £4.99 per month.

Check out the plans on YouTube Music

Which is the cheapest overall?

All of the major music streaming platforms offer fairly similar prices – and free trials.

In terms of free trials, Amazon Music goes one step further with its three-month free trial of Amazon Music Unlimited’s Individual Plan – but note this is a time sensitive offer, available at the time of writing.

YouTube Music app
Which of the streaming services offers the lowest prices? (Picture: Thiago Prudêncio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Of all the individual premium plans, based on monthly payment alone, Spotify, YouTube Music and Tidal are all competitive at £9.99 per month (again after the relevant free trial).

It is worth checking out Amazon’s Single Device Plan or Apple Music’s Voice Plan, though, if they align with how you currently listen to your music.

Often, a student plan is low cost – which is great if you’re a student. Tidal and YouTube Music offer the cheapest at £4.99 per month, plus the relevant free trial, too.

But the very cheapest option? Join a family plan with other people – and save a chunk on your monthly fee.

Apple Music, Amazon and Spotify all charge £16.99 for up to six people. Split that figure by six, and you’re paying a much lower £2.84 per month, while still getting the Premium service.

MORE : Spotify launches TikTok-like redesign with new discovery feed, smart shuffle

MORE : Apple to announce major updates at ‘biggest and most exciting’ event ever

MORE : I discovered binaural beats on YouTube – they saved my mental health

Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Share your views in the comments below