Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Spotify vs Amazon Music

Spotify 4.8★ · Free to download 75
Winner Spotify
Amazon Music 4.7★ · Free + IAP 60

Spotify offers a more robust and widely praised music streaming experience, despite its aggressive push for premium, while Amazon Music struggles with technical issues and a confusing free tier.

Full reviews: Spotify · Amazon Music

Spotify is generally preferred for its vast music library and personalized playlists, though free users face numerous ads and limitations. Amazon Music, while appreciated by some for its ad-free premium experience, is plagued by technical glitches, poor shuffle functionality, and a confusing free tier that often requires a paid subscription for basic features.

Head to head

Features and Content edge: SpotifyR1R12R18R20
Spotify Spotify users appreciate its extensive music library and good personalized playlists, with some noting its superiority over competitors like Apple Music R20R23. However, free users often complain about not being able to pick specific songs, limited skips, and podcasts autoplaying unwanted content R1R12R18R25. Some also feel that new music recommendations have declined .
Amazon Music Amazon Music is praised for its delightful selection and having a wide range of songs and albums, with some users finding it superior to Spotify in terms of selection and ad-free listening in its paid tiers . However, many users report issues with incomplete albums, missing songs, and a lack of higher bitrate audio options for all songs .
Ease of Use and User Experience edge: SpotifyR2R7R18R25
Spotify Spotify is generally seen as easy to use, with some users calling it the 'best app in the world' . However, many free users find the experience frustrating due to forced random play, limited skips, and the inability to select specific songs R18R25R40R57. There are also complaints about the shuffle not being truly mixed and playing the same songs repeatedly R2R7.
Amazon Music Amazon Music receives mixed reviews for ease of use. Some praise its clear, concise, and excellent layout . However, many users find the platform confusing, difficult to navigate, and report issues with the search bar . The library arrangement and adding music are also cited as terrible .
Reliability and Performance edge: SpotifyR19R23R42R45
Spotify Spotify is generally reliable for many users, with some stating it has 'never let me down' R23. However, a significant number of users report technical issues, including the app being slow to load, freezing, switching to unpicked content, and going into offline mode despite having a connection R19R42R45.
Amazon Music Amazon Music frequently suffers from reliability and performance issues. Users report the app being very slow to load and play songs, freezing, crashing unexpectedly, and kicking them out . Some also experience bugs like weird sounds, songs skipping midway, or playing parts of different songs .
Price and Value edge: SpotifyR3R6R9R10
Spotify Spotify's free tier is heavily criticized for an excessive number of ads, often every 1-2 songs, and limited functionality, leading many to call it 'terrible without premium' R3R6R9R10. Premium is considered expensive by some R13.
Amazon Music Amazon Music's free tier also faces criticism for frequent ads and limitations, with some users feeling it's 'basically pandora' . Many users, especially Prime members, are frustrated by having to pay extra for 'Unlimited' to access basic features like specific song selection or ad-free listening, which they feel should be included .
Pick Spotify if

You prioritize a vast music library, good personalized recommendations, and a generally smoother user experience, and are willing to pay for premium to avoid ads and unlock full features R20R23.

Pick Amazon Music if

You are already heavily invested in the Amazon ecosystem with devices like Echo Dots, and are willing to pay for the 'Unlimited' tier to get an ad-free experience and specific song selection .

Evidence note: Both apps have a free tier, but the reviews for both are heavily skewed by negative experiences from free users, primarily concerning ads and feature limitations. Amazon Music's reviews also show significant frustration from Prime members who expect more features without an additional 'Unlimited' subscription.

Frequently asked

Which app has fewer ads on its free tier?
Neither app is praised for a low ad count on its free tier; Spotify users frequently report ads every 1-2 songs, while Amazon Music users also complain about frequent ads and being pushed to subscribe R3R6R13R21.
Can I pick specific songs on the free versions?
No, both apps severely limit specific song selection on their free tiers; Spotify users complain about not being able to pick songs and being forced to listen to random ones, and Amazon Music users also report not being able to choose songs in their playlists without a membership R18R25R40R57.
Which app is more reliable and less glitchy?
Spotify appears to be more reliable overall, though some users report occasional freezing, slow loading, or unexpected content changes; Amazon Music, however, is frequently described as very slow, glitchy, crashing often, and kicking users out R19R23R42R45.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R1] Spotify 1/5 · US Disappointing: I listened to some really good songs in my curated daylist while driving however by the time I got to my destination my daylist changed and I couldn’t pull up the songs I had just listened too. Now I can’t pull them up and they are gone forever
  2. [R12] Spotify 3/5 · US NEEDS AN UNLIKE BUTTON!!!: I and others have been forced to listen to podcasts we don’t want to and there is no way to stop it from auto playing! Spotify REFUSES to fix this issue! FIX IT ALREADY SPOTIFY!!!
  3. [R18] Spotify 3/5 · US Para Spotify: Te doy 3 estrellas porque no puedo volver a reproducir mi música y me pone músicas que no estan en mi lista espero que algún día cambie eso Spotify porfavor Spotify combínalo las personas que no tienen dinero para pagar Spotify no pueden hacer lo que ya escribi cámbialo porfa
  4. [R20] Spotify 5/5 · US Amazing download now !💖💅: Amazing work I love this app all types of music I use it more that’s Netflix💅
  5. [R2] Spotify 4/5 · US Shuffle/ dj: Needs to be actually mixed. He needs to stop playing the same thing.
  6. [R7] Spotify 1/5 · US No proper rotation of songs: I have over 7,000 songs and it fails to cycle through , I hear the same 40 songs all the time
  7. [R25] Spotify 2/5 · US Get rid of premium and let people skip songs at any time: I like Spotify but tbh I want to skip the songs at any time js not wait a whole day js to skip 6 songs and then listen to random songs I don’t even have in any of my playlists
  8. [R19] Spotify 2/5 · US Tech issues: I have always experienced tech issues on this platform. I love Spotify, just wish it worked more smoothly. I will be watching a podcast , then it switches to another one I didn’t pick. It tends to freeze up, then hop to another screen when it finally works again. Very glitchy platform
  9. [R23] Spotify 5/5 · US Quality of App: This app has never let me down! It has always had the songs I’ve been looking for! And the personalized playlists are pretty good!!
  10. [R42] Spotify 3/5 · GB Good but now it’s slow: Suddenly it takes ages to load. What’s up ?
  11. [R45] Spotify 3/5 · GB Can you fix this: I’ve been using Spotify for a while but sometimes it puts me on offline mode while I have full WiFi and mobile data and it gets really annoying but except from that I really love the app and I defo recommend premium family plan
  12. [R3] Spotify 3/5 · US Anuncios: Muchos anuncios cada dos canciones
  13. [R6] Spotify 3/5 · US Eh: It’s great but maby lil less ads
  14. [R9] Spotify 3/5 · US Be nicer to free listeners: Without premium it’s trash so it’s bad for children or people without money.
  15. [R10] Spotify 1/5 · US Terrible without premium: This app is terrible without premium
  16. [R13] Spotify 2/5 · US 2 many commercials: Too many commercials and expensive
  17. [R21] Spotify 3/5 · US No lo sé: Yo me pregunto por qué hay muchos anuncios? Apenas le doy skip y ya hay otro Osea solo por que uno no tenemos premium no significa que nos traten muy diferente, Y lo de que lo máximo deberían skips no me gusta es molesto, y lo máximo de escoger las canciones es muy molesto.
  18. [R40] Spotify 2/5 · US Random: Literally lets you pick what you listen to for a little, but when you are out of skips, or you picked songs too much they just play songs completely different from what you listen to.
  19. [R57] Spotify 3/5 · GB okay: i don’t like how i cant pick any songs i like

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store