If You’re Already Watching YouTube Daily, This Subscription Swap Just Makes Sense

Subscriptions are everywhere these days, and it seems like it’s only a matter of time before someone finds a way to put a stop to the air we breathe. Additionally, as prices continue to rise, companies are pushing monthly costs as high as possible without making massive cuts. Over time, this adds up, and the subscription juggling is a fact of life for many consumers. You may have to pay a month to watch past Netflix seasons stranger things Put your Disney+ on hold until The Mandalorian and Grogu Hits the latter serve.

But there’s one subscription some people may want to subscribe to, at least those who spend a good deal of their free time watching YouTube. Google’s ubiquitous video platform was once free, but these days it charges a subscription fee in the form of YouTube Premium for users who want to avoid ads and access a number of user experience improvements.

What you may not have realized is that a full-bodied YouTube Premium subscription, which costs $16 at the time of this writing due to recent price increases, also includes unlimited access to the platform’s music streaming solution, YouTube Music. For at least some heavy YouTube users this means the ability to forgo a separate subscription to Spotify, Apple Music, or another music streamer.

However, the compromise isn’t right for everyone. Whether YouTube Music is suitable for your needs depends largely on how much you value its lacking features compared to the competition, as well as how willing you are to let YouTube’s platform logic dictate the music you listen to. Here’s how YouTube Premium with YouTube Music compares to your existing music service, and how to figure out if a single subscription is a better deal for you.

The first thing you should know about YouTube Music is that it doesn’t have a high-resolution library, even though that feature has become basic table stakes for the competition. Spotify, which dragged its feet on high-resolution for years, finally added its own lossless capabilities last year (it’s not bit-perfect lossless, but if you’re splitting that particular hair, YouTube Music is not for you and you can safely stop reading this article). However, lossless audio is a relatively niche feature that you can’t really take advantage of without audiophile-grade playback equipment. If you listen to music on your AirPods via iPhone, you’re not getting lossless playback in the first place.

YouTube Music tops out at 256kbps resolution, which will be noticeable to some ears compared to the 320kbps other services offer before falling into lossless quality. The bottom line is, if you already listen to music on YouTube and don’t have any issues with sound quality, YouTube Music will be a perfect fit for you in that regard.

Other differences between YouTube Music and Spotify or Apple Music tend to be more subjective. While those services allow you to build a more traditional music library, YouTube Music organizes things much like the video streaming side of the platform. You subscribe to artists instead of following them, and subscribing to an artist on YouTube subscribes to them on YouTube Music as well. Playlists also move between both sides of the house. For those who want their taste in video content to influence their music recommendations, and vice versa, this could be a boon. But if you prefer some separation between church and state in this regard, it’s a big headache. Just because you’ve watched a video about the Drake and Kendrick beef doesn’t mean you want to have songs from all three of Drake’s unheard new albums blasting into your ears while you jog.

But YouTube’s logic gives YouTube Music one big edge: its user-uploaded library. In addition to most of the same major label offerings you’ll find on almost any modern music streamer, YouTube Music is home to the largest user-uploaded collection of hard-to-find tracks in the world. That leaked single from your favorite artist that was never officially released? YouTube Music has it. Anything you would do to experience that Coachella set again? Don’t bother looking on Spotify – YouTube Music has you covered and it’s no coincidence that YouTube was the official streaming partner for Coachella in 2026. Speaking of the Drake and Kendrick beef, all the songs from that kerfuffle went to YouTube long before their arrival on other streaming services because both emcees uploaded their own to one-up each other in real time. The ability to add these types of tracks to your existing playlist is a structural advantage that no competing service can match. Same thing for music videos, because, you know, it’s YouTube.

YouTube Music also includes a robust podcast library, which includes many audio-forward offerings that exist only on Google’s platform in the form of user-generated video essays and documentaries. Even among widely syndicated podcasts, many of them can only be viewed as videos on YouTube. This gives the platform an edge over Spotify, although Big Green has focused heavily on strengthening its video podcast library in recent years, and has scored a complete win over Apple Music, as Apple users must get their podcasts from the separate Apple Podcasts app.

Because YouTube Music was born from the ashes of Google Play Music, it carries over the functionality of its predecessor as a cloud player for your local files. Its two primary competitors also allow local uploads, but they’ll combine your MP3 files with the streaming tracks in your library. YouTube Music breaks everything down, so you can separate your uploads and browse only the songs you want by artist, album, etc. If you still have a digital music library from the days of iTunes or Napster (fellow kids, how about you?), YouTube Music is a great way to continue enjoying them without wasting storage space on your smartphone.

If you’ve only got the platform’s music service with a YouTube Premium subscription, it may not be worth replacing your Spotify or Apple Music subscription. But you are also getting a better experience on YouTube. It’s easy to get your money’s worth from YouTube Premium if you’re already an avid YouTube user. In addition to never seeing a pre-roll or mid-roll ad again, you can skip sponsored segments from your favorite creator by using the Jump Ahead button that intelligently skips you to parts of the video that other users also skip. Then there are perks like background play and offline downloads that let you have more control over where and how you enjoy YouTube videos.

It is that combined value that makes this comparison worthwhile. YouTube Premium isn’t cheap at its new price of $16 per month, especially compared to Spotify’s $13 asking price, or Apple Music’s $11 tag. But if you’re already paying for it, and if YouTube Music offers an experience that meets your preferences, you can cut the standalone music subscription from your monthly budget without any worries. Others may find it advisable to cut the contract with their current music service and sign up for YouTube Premium to take advantage of its unique mix of content and features.