Prime Music vs. Pandora vs. Spotify


Amazon Prime Music vs. Pandora vs. Spotify vs. Slacker Radio

Alright, so the days of tuning your over-the-air radio to your radio station of choice are fast becoming a memory. Thanks to technology, we now live in the future where music is streamed through our TVs and phones, and TINY little bluetooth speakers.

For most of us, streaming music is streaming music—whether it comes from Apple, Pandora, Spotify or any number of other services—but which service actually gives you the most bang for your buck? I compared Amazon Prime Music to Pandora, Spotify, and Slacker Radio to see who provides the best service, sound, and selection for the best price.



In our house, we pay for both Amazon Prime (which includes Prime Music) and Pandora, but I have a number of friends who also swear by Spotify and Slacker Radio—so I thought I compare them all.

Price Points

    Free

    All but Amazon Prime offer a free music streaming service. Of course the free services come with commercials between every few songs, so once that begins to annoy you, you may want to start looking at some of the paid (commercial free) accounts.
    I can tell you that Pandora's free account plays commercials every 3rd or 4th song (which gets a little annoying after an hour of play).

    Under $50

    Slacker is the only service among the four that has a commercial-free subscription for under $50. At $48 a year you get commercial free access to thousands of songs with unlimited skips, ESPN radio, and offline listening (which is a pretty good deal). At "thousands of songs" though, their music catalog isn't nearly as large as the others. 

    This is probably the best choice for those who don't mind less of a music selection but do want sports radio.

    $50-$100


    Pandora Plus is the next cheapest music streaming service. If paid yearly, it'll cost you $55. If paid monthly, it'll cost you $60 a year (or $4.99 a month). For that price you get commercial free access to a catalog of 40 million songs that you can listen to both online and offline (although your offline access is limited to three stations). Like the free version, you can create stations based on your favorite songs or artists. You also have unlimited skips and a higher quality audio.

    This is probably best for those who want the full 40 million song catalog and are okay with listening to the music Pandora chooses. We have Plus and it only gets annoying when the stations start to veer off course & you have to retrain them to play the music you want.

    Amazon Prime makes it just under the wire, costing $99 a year. Amazon's streaming music catalog isn't as large as Pandora's or Spotify's, but it's continuing to grow. For most people this is considered an 'add on' to the other Amazon Prime benefits. Still their play list consists of over 2 million songs and you get the same commercial free access as you do from the other paid streaming services. You also have unlimited skipping and the ability to listen offline. You can also listen to music On Demand, a benefit that Prime Music has over Pandora Plus.
    If you want this option from Pandora or the other services, you need to step up to their Premium packages.

    For an additional fee, Amazon will give you access to 10 million songs via their Prime Music Unlimited service. The cost for which varies. If you have an Echo or other Amazon device, you can subscribe for $48 a year. If you don't have one of Amazon's devices, an individual subscription costs $79 a year for Prime members or $9.99 a month ($120 a year) for non-Prime members.  There's also a Family subscription, good for up to 6 people. That costs $149 a year, and is a good deal if you have 6 family members who want to share the service. Given the other subscription services, Prime Music Unlimited may be worth it if you own an Echo, Dot, or Tap (or if you have a big family).



    At twice the cost of Pandora's Plus package, Pandora Premium offers two additional perks: On Demand play and the ability to create playlists (not just stations based on the artists you like). You can also listen to your music offline without the limits that are placed on the Plus service. But at $120 a year (vs. $60 for Pandora Plus), you might ask yourself if those perks are worth it.

    Spotify Premium also rings in at the $120 a year mark. It pulls from the same 40 million song catalog that Pandora does and also lets you listen to music On Demand and create your own playlists. Like the other offerings you can also listen to your music offline.

    Slacker Premium seems to follow suit with the same price point ($120 a year) and the same offerings: On Demand play, playlist creation, offline listening. They don't appear to have access to the same music catalog that Pandora and Spotify do, though, claiming access to "thousands of songs and albums" rather than 40 million.

Side by Side comparison



Offerings Amazon
Prime		 Pandora Spotify Slacker
Yearly cost $99 Free
Plus: $55-$60
Premium: $110-$120		 Free
Premium: $120		 Basic: Free
Plus: $48
Premium: $120
Commercial Free Yes Free: No
Plus: Yes
Premium: Yes		 Free: No
Premium: Yes		 Basic: No
Plus: Yes
Premium: Yes
Selection 2+ million songs 40 million songs 40 million songs Thousands of songs
Play On-Demand? Yes Free: No
Plus: No
Premium: mobile only		 Free: No
Premium: Yes		 Basic: No
Plus: No
Premium: Yes
Audio Quality not specified Plus & Premium:
"higher quality"		 Premium:
"High Def"		 Plus & Premium:
320 kpbs
Create Stations based
on favorite artists?		 Yes Yes not specified not specified
Create Play Lists? Yes Free: No
Plus: No
Premium: Yes		 Yes not specified
Unlimited skipping? Yes Free: No
Plus: Yes
Premium: Yes		 not specified Basic: No
Plus: Yes
Premium: Yes
Listen offline? Yes Free: No
Plus: Yes (limited)
Premium: Yes		 Free: No
Premium: Yes		 Free: No
Plus & Premium: Yes
Free extras All other Prime benefits No No News
ESPN radio
Add-ons Unlimited Echo: $48/yr
Unlimited: $79/yr
Family: $149/yr




*Just FYI, the Amazon links above are referral links.

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