Like a lot of services today, Spotify offers a family plan to let several people in a household all sign up at a reduced cost per person. But is Spotify Premium Family a good deal compared to other Spotify plans and competing music streaming services?

Let's review and contrast the pricing for Spotify Premium Family to find out.

Spotify Premium Family's Pricing

In April 2021, Spotify announced a price hike for the Spotify Premium Family plan in the US. Starting in May 2021, the price is $15.99 per month, up from the prior $14.99 per month.

Up to six total people in one household can share a Spotify Premium Family plan. This means that the new monthly price breaks down as follows, depending on how many people you have:

  • 2 people: $8 per person
  • 3 people: $5.33 per person
  • 4 people: $4 per person
  • 5 people: $3.20 per person
  • 6 people: $2.67 per person

Obviously, for each user you bring into a plan, the savings per person drops. But even with just three or four people, the cost per user is quite affordable. Keep in mind that Spotify takes various measures to verify that everyone on a plan is living at the same address, so bringing people in from outside your home is against the rules.

Spotify's Family Plan vs. Spotify's Other Plans

Spotify Premium Family isn't the only option if you're thinking of signing up for Spotify Premium. The company offers other plans that might be a better fit, depending on your situation.

The standard Individual plan provides Premium benefits for one person and costs $9.99/month. Meanwhile, Spotify Premium Duo is for two people living under one roof and costs $12.99/month.

If you're an eligible student, you can also sign up for Spotify Premium Student. This plan for an individual costs $4.99/month. In addition to Premium benefits, it includes access to Hulu's ad-supported plan and Showtime streaming.

See our full explanation of Spotify's subscription plans for more information.

It's easy to do the math with these plans. If you only want to share Premium with one other person, Spotify Premium Duo is a better deal. It works out to $6.50 per person, compared to $8 per person if two people split Spotify Premium Family.

And if you are eligible to share Spotify with even one other person, you should do so, as it's always cheaper than the $10/month price for the Individual plan.

Also, be aware that Spotify raised all of its prices in the UK and EU in May 2021, so the breakdown may be slightly different depending on your region.

Spotify Premium Family vs. Other Streaming Services

Spotify isn't the only streaming service around, and many others offer shareable family plans as well to keep the cost down. How do these compare?

Let's take a look at two examples. Of course, there are other streaming services, like Amazon Music Unlimited and YouTube Music, that also offer family plans. Most are pretty similar, so the best choice for you may depend on which services or ecosystems you primarily use.

Read more: The Best Music Streaming Services for Audiophiles

Apple Music Family

Apple Music, one of the biggest competitors to Spotify, offers a family subscription that also supports up to six people. The current price is $14.99/month, which breaks down to the following, depending on the number of people you have:

  • 2 people: $7.50 per person
  • 3 people: $5 per person
  • 4 people: $3.75 per person
  • 5 people: $3 per person
  • 6 people: $2.50 per person

You'll need to set up an Apple Family Sharing group to use this plan, which also lets you share other Apple services like purchased App Store apps, iCloud storage, and more.

Notably, Family Sharing does not require all users to live at the same address (though they do need to live in the same country). So if you want to add a family member that lives across the country, plus a friend who lives nearby, that's within the rules for a family plan on Apple Music.

Meanwhile, if you use a lot of other Apple services, signing up for Apple One can provide even more value. The Family plan, which costs $19.95 per month, lets up to six people access Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple Arcade. You also get 200GB of iCloud storage to split.

Since you can share Apple One with anyone, and it includes a lot more than Spotify Premium Family for just a few dollars more per month, it's an attractive deal. But it's not the right fit unless everyone involved is deeply entrenched in Apple services.

Tidal Family

Tidal is another competitor in the music streaming sphere, known for its optional hi-fi streaming, inclusion of music videos, and some exclusive content. It offers two Family plans, depending on whether you want regular or high-quality streams.

Tidal Family Premium costs $14.99 per month and includes access for six total people. Thus, the pricing breaks down exactly the same as Apple Music mentioned above. Premium offers 320kpbs streams, which is the same as Spotify Premium but higher than what Apple Music offers (256kbps).

Tidal's Family HiFi plan, which costs $29.99 per month, includes the service's lossless sound quality at 1411kbps. You also get access to Master Quality audio for supported tracks, which Tidal claims is as good as the master recording. Here's how this price breaks down per person:

  • 2 people: $15 per person
  • 3 people: $10 per person
  • 4 people: $7.50 per person
  • 5 people: $6 per person
  • 6 people: $5 per person

Read more: Tidal vs. Spotify: Which Is the Best Streaming Music Service?

Tidal doesn't require that all members live in the same household, so it seems you can share a Tidal Family subscription with any friends and family you like.

Is Spotify Premium Family Worth It?

Considering everything above, is Spotify Premium Family a good deal?

On its face, yes: Spotify Premium Family provides access to all the music your family wants, even offline, with no ads. This makes it extremely cost-effective compared to buying digital music downloads. However, it might not be the best option for you.

Compared to the price of other music streaming services, Spotify's $1 per month price increase isn't that consequential. At most, two people sharing the Family plan will pay $0.50 more per person than on other services like Apple Music. As you add more people, these differences go down to a few cents, which is negligible.

Thus, if you currently subscribe to Spotify Family and still like it, it's not worth the hassle of migrating to another service just to save a few cents per month. And if you aren't signed up for any services yet, we recommend using the free trial for all of them to see which works best for you.

Read more: How to Transfer Your Music From Spotify to Apple Music

The most limiting factor of Spotify Premium Family is that you can only add people who live at the same address. If you want to save money by sharing a plan with friends who don't live with you, look elsewhere.

In terms of value for money, it's hard to beat Apple One if you're an Apple fan. The extra $5/month cost over other family music plans gets you a lot of extra value, and you don't have to live together to take advantage of it.

Enjoy Music Streaming With Family

Now you can make an informed decision about whether Spotify Premium Family is the right choice for you. For three or more people in one household, it's a great option. But if you want to share with people outside your home or are a big Apple user, consider looking elsewhere for more value.

Thankfully, you aren't tied to one service when you start using it. It's easy to cancel your subscription to try something else.

Image Credit: Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock