We compare the features, cost and catalogue of the two streaming services to help you decide where to spend your subscription money.
French company Deezer were one of the first music streaming services launching just one year after Spotify in 2007. Today, Deezer is available in 180+ countries around the world, with 16 million active users. Ad-supported streaming with limited features is available for free, while a Deezer Premium subscription will grant access to limitless streaming.
In the US, for individuals, Spotify comes in two flavours: Spotify Free and Spotify Premium. Spotify Free is the audio company’s ad-supported music streaming model, while for a monthly subscription Spotify Premium gives listeners all the features they need.
For this comparison we’ll be looking at Deezer Premium and Spotify Premium as these most closely represent the features users are after from a typical music streaming service today.
Features
Both streaming services offer the same basic features such as ad-free listening, offline and on-demand playback, letting you listen to any song, anywhere, with unlimited skips.
Both Deezer Premium and Spotify Premium allow streaming of MP3 files at up to 320kbps. Deezer offer hi-fi streaming with a Deezer HiFi account. At $5 extra per month, Deezer HiFi gives listeners access to 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC files, which is notably less than most other hi-fi streaming services such as Amazon Music and Apple Music who top out at 24-bit/192 kHz for no additional cost over regular subscriptions.
Spotify have announced a HiFi streaming tier, however we are still waiting for the feature to launch, and have no word yet on the maximum bitrate available or potential price increase above Premium memberships. With the competition for hi-fi music streaming from streaming services such as Amazon Music and Apple Music, it’s likely Spotify will drop any initial plans they had to include a price increase for the feature.
Catalogue
The number of tracks on both services are similar, with Spotify claiming over 70 million tracks and Deezer at over 73 million.
Price
For individual memberships in the US, Spotify Premium and Deezer Premium are both $9.99 per month. Deezer HiFi is $5 extra, at $14.99 per month.
Both services offer various discounts for families, students and bundles with other subscription services.
Conclusion
Spotify Premium and Deezer Premium largely offer the same content and features for the same price. If you’re after hi-fi music streaming I’d suggest services such as Amazon Music and Apple Music, or waiting to see Spotify’s offering, over the more expensive and worse quality Deezer HiFi.
