Which is the best Spotify Premium account for you?

When it comes to Spotify, there’s plenty of premium plans to choose from. However, if you want to get the most out of your money, you’ll need to consider who you’re sharing your music streaming with and how you’re going to split your account.

We’ve compared the four different Spotify Premium options – Individual, Duo, Family and Student – to help you choose the right subscription to suit your finances and listening habits. We also have a similar guide on which Netflix plan is the right one for you, and you can also find out how much mobile data Spotify uses here. 

If you’ve not done so already, you can sign up for an account for free over on the Spotify website, and then pick the plan you want from there.

The lowdown on Spotify plans

First things first, if you haven’t already tried it out yet, consider the free option of Spotify. You still get access to a large library of music, but you’ll have to put up with a number of restrictions. These include both visual and audio advertisements, only being able to shuffle play songs, a limited number of skips and no way to listen to tunes offline.

If all that sounds like too much of a compromise then Premium is absolutely the way to go. You can see a more detailed comparison between Spotify Free and Spotify Premium here.

To be clear, every Premium account on Spotify offers the following:

• Ad-free music listening
• Offline play
• Unlimited skips

All of the plans also offer one month free trials, so you can try out the benefits of Spotify Premium without having to part with any money whatsoever.

Though Spotify offers joint accounts, you can only register one payment option. Therefore be sure to think about how you’d like to split the cost of your chosen Spotify Premium account. You can either get people to set up a simple standing order, pay via PayPal and split the cost through here, or use something such as Monzo. The max amount of people you can have one one account is six.

In addition, all these people will need your registered email address and password – so be certain these are details you’re comfortable sharing. For example, don’t use a sensitive password, such as one you use for internet banking.

We’ve also totted up the annual equivalent cost of each plan to help with your financial concerns. Most plans are monthly rolling and can be cancelled anytime – with the exception of Spotify Individual which offers both monthly and annual options (though paying for a year’s worth doesn’t get you any discount).

It’s worth noting that we’ve seen customers be emailed about these prices changing from 30 April, with most plans jumping up by £1 per month, and £2 per month for the Family plan. For existing customers, these prices will kick in from June onwards. 

Spotify Premium Individual

Cost: £9.99/US$9.99 per month (adds up to £119.88 or US$119.88 per year)

Best for: Working professionals who don’t want to share an account

Don’t want to share your account with anyone and aren’t a student? Go for the standard Premium plan. With ad-free listening, unlimited skips, the ability to favourite and curate playlists and of course download tunes, you can keep this account all to yourself.

You can also get the meditation and mental health app Headspace included with the subscription price for three months, which then bumps up your subscription to £14.99 per month after that. Sign up for Spotify Premium with Headspace here.

If you’re thinking about sharing your Premium benefits with a friend, then think again. Spotify detects when someone is logged into two devices, and will log you out if you try to listen simultaneously.

If you can coordinate your music time, then it’s worth trying. But if not, consider some other alternatives.

Spotify Premium Duo

Cost: £12.99/US$12.99 per month (adds up to £155.88 or US$155.88 per year)

Best for: Couples or a pair of roommates – excluding students

Premium Duo is the newest Spotify account on the block, and is primarily geared towards two people living at the same address such as couples or close friends. Not only do you get a profile each for your own personalised tastes, but you also gain access to Duo Mix, a regularly updated curated playlist which incorporates both individuals music tastes.

Premium Duo only works for two people living at the same address, so don’t get a shared account with someone who you aren’t living with. Spotify conducts random GPS checks, and if it finds you flouting the rules you could be banned from your account.

Spotify Premium Duo is the natural cost-saving choice if you and another person you live with both want Premium, as it’ll only cost you £5.99 per month each rather than £9.99 each. The exception to this rule are students – who still fare better with their own dedicated Premium Student subscriptions.

Spotify Premium Family

Cost: £14.99/US$14.99 per month (adds up to £179.88 or US$179.88 per year)

Best for: Families and between three to six roommates – including students

If you’re under a roof with up to five others, then the Premium Family option is by far be the most cost effective Spotify subscription. Like Spotify Duo, you get numerous accounts (up to six), an automatic Family Mix with mixed curated tunes as well as access to Spotify Kids. Spotify Kids is for children up to age 12, and includes an entire library that is family-friendly and free of expletive music.

It’s only worth getting Premium if you’re planning on splitting the account between three or more individuals, or if you desperately want access to Spotify Kids. Otherwise, Spotify Duo is the more cost-friendly alternative between two people. Again like Duo, this account is only for people living in the same address – not friends outside of it.

If you split this account evenly, at most you’ll be paying £4.99 if you’re in a team of three, and at the least £2.50 in a group of six. Therefore, the more sharers you can get on a family plan, the more cost-effective it will be. This plan is also a cheaper option for groups of three-to-six university roommates rather than individual student accounts.

Spotify Premium Student

Cost: £5.99/US$5.99 per month (adds up to £71.88 or US$71.88 per year)

Best for: Individual university students

Take advantage of that student discount whilst you can. Spotify Premium Student offers all the benefits of Spotify Premium Individual at nearly half the price, if you’re at university. Again, this isn’t really the account you want if you’re planning on sharing – with the exception of playing music communally such as at parties.

If you want to share, weigh up how many people you’re thinking about splitting with. If it’s more than two other people, go for Spotify Premium Family. Spotify Premium Duo isn’t worth it if you’re both students.

Spotify Premium Student also offers a cracker of a deal – Headspace is thrown in for free for the entire time you have a student subscription. That’s a massive saving, and a much bigger trial than the three months offered on standard accounts. Sign up for Spotify Premium Student with Headspace here.

To get a student account, you’ll need to verify your status with your university email address and a document with proof of your enrollment status – see more in Spotify’s terms and conditions.

Which Spotify account is the best?

Well, that all depends on your situation. If you’re an individual or student who isn’t interested in sharing, then Spotify Premium Individual or Spotify Premium Student will be perfect for you – especially with the inclusion of the Headspace trials.

If you’re in a group, then it depends how many of you there are. For between three to six people in the same household (students or not), the Spotify Premium Family account is by far the most cost-effective option. If you’re in a couple, then you should only go for Spotify Duo if you’re not students – as otherwise two individual student accounts still costs marginally less.