The All-Rounder
Spotify review 2026
Discover Weekly, Release Radar and Jam still set the benchmark for personalised discovery. Spotify Connect drives almost every speaker, car and console. Since the lossless update, Premium streams at up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz – true studio hi-res and Dolby Atmos are still missing.
€12.99 / month
Visit provider Spotify (external link, opens in new tab)Key facts at a glance
- Audio
- Lossless up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz
- Lossless
- Yes
- Dolby Atmos
- No
- Catalogue
- 100M+ tracks
- Payout model
- Pro-rata with 1,000-stream threshold
- Per stream
- $0.003–0.005
- Strength
- Best-in-class recommendation engine
- Best for
- Everyday listeners, playlist lovers, podcast fans
How Spotify ranks in the market
-
Price Rank 6 of 8cheapest service = rank 1
-
Audio quality Rank 5 of 8highest resolution = rank 1
-
Artist payout Rank 6 of 8highest payout per stream = rank 1
Our review
With more than 600 million users, Spotify is the undisputed market leader – and it defends that position mainly through software. Discover Weekly, Release Radar and Jam deliver personalised music without you having to search. Spotify Connect is the benchmark: hardly any speaker, car or TV can’t be controlled straight from the app.
The downside is price. At €12.99 the individual plan is among the most expensive in this comparison, and family costs €21.99. Sound-wise Spotify has caught up with lossless up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz, but true hi-res up to 192 kHz and Dolby Atmos are still missing. Its artist payouts are controversial: tracks with fewer than 1,000 streams a year are no longer paid at all – good against bot streams, bad for newcomers and niche artists.
Our verdict: if you mostly listen in the background, want podcasts and audiobooks in the same app and enjoy being surprised, this is the best all-round package – despite the high price.
Features
- Offline downloads: Yes
- Synced lyrics: Yes
- Podcasts in the app: Yes
- Audiobooks included: Yes 12 hours per month
- Upload your own music: No local files only
- CarPlay & Android Auto: Yes
- Sonos: Yes
- Stream to speakers & streamers: Yes Spotify Connect
Changes at Spotify
- Spotify Premium goes lossless
- Spotify raises prices to €12.99
- Spotify: “Audiobooks+” add-on
- Audiobooks in Spotify Premium for Germany
- Spotify: royalties only from 1,000 streams
- Spotify raises prices to €10.99
Spotify head to head
Against every other service in the comparison – point by point, with a clear recommendation.