Spotify has been telling users that a lossless streaming option is “coming soon” for years now. Every one of its major competitors now offers at least CD-quality streaming, and several stream a significant portion of their catalog in high-resolution audio at a price that’s competitive with Spotify.
If you ask Spotify users why they haven’t moved on, most of them will tell you about their painstaking curated collection of likes and playlists. Dreading the prospect of recreating their personal catalogs from scratch with another streamer, they just keep plugging along with Spotify—which, of course, works out nicely for Spotify.
Luckily, there’s good news for anyone who wants to ditch Spotify while taking their playlists with them. There are several apps that will export your Spotify data to a file that you can then import into your new library on every other major streaming platform.
This feature is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best music streaming services.
Here are five apps that can help you move your library from Spotify to a different streaming service.
When you’re finished with our overview, keep reading for advice on picking the right app for you, details about Spotify HiFi (including why it’s so late), and more.
5 apps for transferring your Spotify playlists elsewhere
1. SongShift
SongShift is an iOS-based app that offers the most polished experience for iPhone users. The service supports transfers between Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon Music, Deezer, and Napster. There’s even support for music services that aren’t traditional subscription streamers, so you can also access YouTube, Pandora, Discogs, LastFM, and Hypebot.
SongShift allows you to search for a match when it can’t find one when preparing the transfer, and the actual transfer is remarkably fast once you’ve approved the matches and started the process. There are unlimited transfers via the free version, but the app is packed with ads, and I found the experience to be faster once I upgraded to the paid version.
The Pro Plan goes for $6.99/month or $29.99/year. If you’re looking to cancel Spotify after a a one-time migration, you may just need a single month as a pro subscriber. Users who have active subscriptions to multiple services are more likely to need the pro features on a regular enough basis to justify a yearly subscription.
SongShift is the only one of these services that offers a Family Plan, which allows you and up to 5 other family members to use all the pro features. It’s available for $9.99/month $39.99/year, or $59.99 as a one-time purchase for lifetime subscription.
Just remember that you’ll be using your phone to manage your playlist. SongShift can monitor changes to a playlist on your source streaming service and update the songs on the platforms after you first shared it. That process isn’t automatic, but it worked well for me.
SongShift says that it collects user data but does not link it to an individual’s identity. The service keeps track of changes you make to playlists on your source service and allows you to check its matches before updating the playing on the destination service.
2. Soundiiz
Soundiiz works via your web browser. That makes it easy to use no matter what platform you’re using, but it also means that the company is processing your information on their cloud servers.
The free version is limited to playlists, so you’ll have to upgrade if you want to transfer your saved albums and songs. The Premium Plan goes for $4.50/month or $36.00/year. If you’re looking to move your entire library to a new service, you’ll have to pay.
Paid users can have automatic updating of up to 20 playlists. If you’re a big fan of the influential “Rap Caviar” or “Today’s Top Hits” playlists on Spotify, you’ll be able to seamlessly enjoy them on your new service.
Soundiiz supports the same services as SongShift, but adds Bandcamp, SoundCloud, YouTube Music, Plex, Reddit, iHeart Radio, Anghami, Setlist.fm, and at least a dozen more that I’d never encountered before.
3. FreeYourMusic
FreeYourMusic has built standalone apps for iOS, Android, MacOS, Windows, and Linux. If you don’t use iOS and would prefer not to process your playlists online, then FreeYourMusic will be your best option.
The app is just as fast and accurate as the competition, which means there will always be a few errors that need to be corrected. It’s also a bit more expensive, with the Premium Plan going for $19.99/quarterly, $49.99/year, or $249.99 for a lifetime subscription.
The free version is limited to just 300 songs, enough for a user to figure out if they want to pay for full access. FreeYourMusic supports all the major services and promises to update your playlists on the destination service when changes are made from the source service.
4. Playlisty for Apple Music
Playlisty for Apple Music is an iOS app with a devoted online fan base that loves its $2.99 one-time fee and the fact that the developer collects zero data from its users.
Playlisty is designed to import your playlists into Apple Music from Spotify, YouTube, or Deezer. That’s it. Once you download the app, you can sync 20 tracks before you’re required to pay for the app. Playlisty is designed for users who are making a one-time to Apple Music from Spotify, so there’s not support for updating playlists in an ongoing fashion.
The app is beautifully designed and incredibly fast. If you’re looking to do a one-time migration from Spotify to Apple Music, Playlisty is the way to go. You won’t be able to later swap playlists with your friends, but Apple Music users should consider using Playlisty to make the move and installing the free version of SongShift or using Soundiiz for sharing after that.
5. TuneMy Music
TuneMyMusic is another web-based transfer service that allows users to transfer 500 tracks in its free version before requiring a paid upgrade. The app supports Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, Soundcloud, Amazon Music.
The premium subscription ($4.50/month or $24.00/year) allows for unlimited transfers and automatic syncs of future changes for up to 20 playlists on the originating service.
What to know about Spotify switcher apps
Your playlists may vary
Unless you’re recreating your playlists by hand, understand that your results will vary no matter which app you use.
If you prefer the sound of a specific version on Spotify (for example the mastering of the LP version instead of the sound of the song on a greatest hits LP), any of these services might match a different version of the track than the one you wanted.
If this kind of thing will bother you, be prepared to go through and check everything once the transfer is complete. Some of the apps give you the option to check the matches before you initiate the transfer.
Console yourself with the knowledge that you’re still saving a massive amount of time versus recreating each playlist one track at a time.
You’ll be able to share your new playlists
Each of these apps can also help you share playlists with anyone who uses a different streaming service. If you’re a committed Qobuz user and all your friends are still on Spotify, they can send you a playlist in a format that you can open in your own library.
If you can convince your friends to download an app or sign up for one of these services, there are free tiers that will support most users’ playlist sharing needs. This method requires a few more steps beyond just hitting the share button in Spotify or Apple Music and sending a link to a fellow subscriber, but these services offer a workable solution to a particularly irritating modern problem.
Each Spotify switching app handles the transfer process differently
Your choice of transfer tool will also be decided by your platform and personal preferences.
Some services offer a dedicated app to handle the transfers, while others use a web app to make their service as flexible as possible.
Several offer limited services for free, but all require a payment for access to their best features.
What is Spotify HiFi, and what’s the big deal about lossless audio?
Promised more than three years ago, Spotify HiFi was initially described as a way for paid Spotify users to “upgrade” their audio streams to lossless, CD-quality sound. Spotify HiFi was supposed to launch sometime in 2021, but that never quite happened.
If you’re willing to wait, there are reports that Spotify will finally offer a new high-quality audio option “later this year,” but expect the premium service to cost around $5 extra while including a few new playlist options as well. You can read up on the latest developments about Spotify HiFi right here.
In the meantime, Spotify subscribers are stuck with “lossy” streaming, and the lower-than-lossless streaming quality can be bothersome.
While many users don’t hear a substantial difference between the CD-quality (16-bit/44.1 kHz) tracks and the high-resolution ones (up to 24-bit/192 kHz), the audio difference between Spotify’s lossy streams and everyone else’s CD quality is quite stark for most listeners.
If you’re unsure whether you’ll be able to hear the difference after you’ve switched to lossless audio, almost all the competition offers a free trial for potential new users. If you think you might want Tidal but have tried it before and aren’t eligible for that free trial, try one of the other services and find out if you can hear a difference. If your ears can hear an improvement, you can subscribe to Tidal and know that you’ll get the same kind of upgraded experience.
How to pick a new music streaming service
Once you decide to make the move, check out TechHive’s guide to the best music streaming services.
Any one of the major competitors will delivery a robust listening experience, including both CD-quality and high-resolution tracks, so your decision should be based on whether you’re an iOS or Android user, as well as which specific features appeal to you.
Author: James Barber, Contributor
James began his career as music director at college radio station WHRB. Over the past three decades, he’s managed the legendary Georgia rock band Drivin’ N’ Cryin’, signed Grammy-winning recording artist Lisa Loeb as an A&R executive at Geffen Records, and worked as a producer for artists like Ryan Adams. He currently advises the startup music companies Soapbox Studios and 24/7 Artists and writes about the history of the entertainment business on Subastack at Stars After Stars After Stars. As a freelancer, he has contributed to Slate, the Robb Report, and Rick Beato’s Everything Music channel on YouTube.