After a decade of streaming music through Spotify, I gave up the app for good and switched to Tidal. I was tired of Spotify’s high prices, bloated app, poorly implemented AI features, and irrelevant algorithms.
I wasn’t going to switch to YouTube Music. I don’t like how Google crams video content into its “music” app.
Tidal’s music-first approach, lower prices, and minimalist app design appealed to me, and since I switched, I can say I won’t be going back unless both apps undergo significant changes.
Switching to Tidal was the right choice for me. I still appreciate Spotify’s broad library of content, I listen to podcasts from time to time using the app.
However, I wanted to pay for an app dedicated to streaming music, not an app dedicated to streaming anything in audio format.
Here’s why I’ve been listening to more music than ever since switching to Tidal.
6
I’m paying less for my music
Tidal is the service of choice if you just want to listen to music
Tidal is cheaper than Spotify. That’s right, the streaming service that distributes more money to artists and lets you stream music at a higher quality is cheaper. It’s not a big difference, $1 to be exact, but it still lowers my monthly bills.
Not only is Tidal cheaper, but there are no confusing subscription tiers. Tidal offers a single subscription for $10.99 a month, Family for $16.99 a month, and Student for $5.49 a month.
Spotify also offers a Basic subscription for $10.99 a month that doesn’t include audiobooks, but you must subscribe to a premium tier, then cancel your subscription, then switch to the Basic plan.
If you cancel the Basic plan, you can’t resubscribe unless you repeat the process.
I tried to make use of the audiobooks, but Spotify’s measly 15 hours of audiobook listening time didn’t cut it. Why should I have to wait a whole month to continue listening?
Even if you subscribe to the Basic plan, Spotify doesn’t offer the same streaming quality as Tidal. Spotify is planning to (finally) introduce Hi-Fi streaming, but it will cost you an extra $5/month on top of your subscription.
By switching to Tidal, I’m paying less for more features. It was a no-brainer decision for me, and this was before I started investigating the app’s features.
5
Tidal’s music quality is better and fits however you listen
I don’t need to worry about Hi-Fi music burning through my mobile data
Despite it being one of Tidal’s flagship features, I didn’t consider the better streaming quality a significant draw for me.
I listen to music through Bluetooth earbuds the most, which makes the higher audio quality irrelevant.
However, since switching to Tidal, I’ve started streaming music over Wi-Fi to my home speakers more, and the difference in quality is noticeable.
Tidal can stream music at three quality levels:
- Max (Up to 24-bit, 192 kHz). Uses Hi-Res Free Lossless Audio Codec to store music.
- High (Up to 16-bit, 44.1 kHz). Uses Free Lossless Audio Codec to store music.
- Low (Up to 320 kbps).
While you’re listening to a track, Tidal displays the current streaming quality. It can switch dynamically, so if you change from playing via Bluetooth to Wi-Fi, it will switch from Low to Max if Max is your setting.
I’ve set all my music to download at Low to save storage space, stream over Wi-Fi at Max, and over my data connection at Low.
So not only will you notice a significant increase in music quality in the right setting, but you don’t have to sacrifice storage space on your phone or cut into your data cap.
I’m loving the better sound I experience at home; Spotify has nothing on this right now.
4
No AI features that bloat the app and raise prices
Using the app is a breath of fresh air after Spotify
Source: Spotify
One of my biggest complaints about the Spotify app in 2025 was AI bloat. While its AI Playlist is sometimes useful, it ends up being more wasted screen space.
I wouldn’t mind it if Spotify had implemented AI in useful ways (perhaps to improve recommendations?), but in the end, I’m just paying for poorly implemented features I don’t use.
After scouring the app from top to bottom, I can’t find any AI-powered features in Tidal.
Strangely, Tidal did offer an AI-powered playlist generator beta in 2023. However, there’s been no news of the feature reaching the stable app, and some users have noticed it has disappeared from their beta builds.
For now, I’ll enjoy my AI-free app.
While Tidal doesn’t offer AI-powered features on its app, it still hosts AI-generated music.
3
Tidal keeps relevant music recommendations front and center
It shows me recommendations, and that’s it
Spotify hooked me in 2015 with its music recommendations. Thanks to tools like Song Radio, Recommended Tracks, and Discover Weekly, I could find new tracks every week.
Tidal feels like a throwback to this simpler era. On its homepage, you can access daily custom playlists, recommended new tracks, personal radio stations, your most listened tracks, suggested new albums, and more.
My only gripe is that I can’t reorganize this page. I have to scroll past “Popular playlists on Tidal” to see my personal radio stations.
Tidal doesn’t clutter its landing page with podcasts, audiobooks, and videos. It’s just music recommendations.
I haven’t noticed a change in the quality of music recommendations compared to Spotify. I imported my entire Spotify library to Tidal, and it picked up on my favorite artists within a week.
I can only expect the recommendations to improve as I use the app.
2
A simple search function gets me where I need to go
Spotify needs to learn that it shouldn’t cram recommendations into every screen
Open the Search tab on the Spotify app, and it will show you recommendations, live concert notifications, a search bar, and six search categories, of which one is for music.
Compare this with Tidal’s, which cuts out the fluff and shows you search categories for different genres, moods, and decades. It’s useful, simple, and gets me exactly where I want quickly.
There’s not much more to say about this except to reiterate how wonderful it is to use a streaming app that helps me find the music I want without shoving irrelevant content in my face.
1
Tidal’s music library is just as impressive as Spotify’s
My biggest concern about switching to Spotify was losing music. I knew Spotify’s library was larger, but it was hard to calculate how much I would lose before making the switch.
In the end, out of the 3,209 tracks in my Spotify library, Tidal was only missing 10.
A deep dive into the saved albums (which don’t count towards this track number) revealed a mixed bag. Some albums were gone (I’m particularly feeling the loss of the early Whitesnake albums), but Tidal also revealed a few I didn’t know existed.
I used TuneMyMusic to transfer my library from Spotify to Tidal. This cost me $5.50, but I justified it with the savings from my cheaper Tidal subscription.
Tidal integrates TuneMyMusic into its account creation steps, so transferring my music library took just a few minutes. The only catch was that it mixed up all my Liked Songs, but as I mostly listen to it on shuffle, I won’t complain too much.
Tidal is the best app for streaming music
Although I’m happy to leave Spotify behind, I still use it to listen to podcasts for free. When it comes to music, I’m sticking with Tidal.
If you use an app like Spotify or YouTube Music to only listen to music, I recommend you follow in my footsteps and make the switch to Tidal. You won’t regret it.
