Deezer vs. Spotify, Which Is Better?

Spotify is the largest premium music streaming service globally, with 252 million paid users as of Q3 2024. Deezer, with a subscriber base of approximately 20 million, remains a significant player, offering attractive features such as high-quality audio, personalized music recommendations, and SongCatcher for music identification. Finding the perfect music streaming platform is key for any music lover. We’ll take a look at all the differences between Spotify and Deezer to figure out which one fits you better.

Plan and Pricing

Both Deezer and Spotify offer free and paid tiers with similar pricing structures. Let’s explore the features of each tier to help you decide.

Deezer Free vs. Spotify Free

Deezer Free is an ad-supported plan designed for mobile devices, allowing you to access the full library. It limits playback to shuffle mode and restricts users to six skips per hour. Crucially, Deezer Free on the web or desktop (Windows and Mac) only provides 30-second previews, making it impractical for computer based listening.

Spotify also provides a popular ad-supported free tier with access to its entire music catalog on both mobile and desktop. Mobile listening is primarily shuffle-based with a six-skips-per-hour limit. However, the desktop app offers on-demand playback.

Winner: Spotify

While both Deezer and Spotify restrict mobile listening to shuffle mode, Spotify allows you to play specific songs on demand when using the desktop app. This provides significantly more control and flexibility for users who primarily listen on their computers.

Deezer Premium vs. Spotify Premium 

Both Deezer and Spotify offer Premium Individual, Duo, Family (up to 6 members), and Student plans, but with similarities and key differences. Both services offer ad-free listening, offline playback, and unlimited skips. However, Deezer Premium features HiFi (lossless) audio across all paid tiers, while Spotify Premium does not. Deezer also provides a one-month free trial for all paid plans and annual subscription discounts, while Spotify offers a one-month free trial only for Individual and Student plans and doesn’t offer annual discounts directly (though gift cards can be used to subscribe Spotify Premium for $99/year). Spotify’s Student plan in the US includes an ad-supported Hulu subscription, a significant value-add.

Here’s a price comparison of Deezer and Spotify:

Premium Plan	Deezer	Spotify
Individual	$11.99/month or $107.99/year  1 month free trial	$11.99/month  1 month free trial
Duo	$15.99/month or $174.99/year  1 month free trial	$16.99/month
Family	$19.99/month or $218.99/year  1 month free trial	$19.99/month
Student	$5.99/month  1 month free trial	$5.99/month  1 month free trial

Winner: Deezer

While monthly costs are similar, Deezer’s annual discounts can result in cost savings for long-term subscribers. The inclusion of HiFi audio on all Deezer paid plans is a major differentiator for audiophiles. However, the inclusion of Hulu with Spotify’s Student plan provides a compelling alternative for students in the US. The best choice depends on your specific needs and priorities.

Library 

If you’re primarily interested in music, both Spotify (100+ million tracks) and Deezer (120+ million tracks) offer extensive libraries. Deezer may be a better choice if you’re seeking regional music, especially from France and Latin America. However, for podcast and audiobook enthusiasts, Spotify is the clear winner. Spotify’s podcast catalog includes 6 million titles, and its audiobook library is substantially larger and more diverse, featuring many popular titles and authors. Deezer’s audiobook offerings are significantly smaller and geographically limited.

Winner: Spotify

Both Spotify and Deezer offer vast music libraries, and for most listeners, the music experience will be similar on both platforms. Popular songs and artists are generally available on both. While Deezer may have strengths in specific regional music or niche genres, Spotify’s extensive podcast and audiobook catalog sets it apart, offering a much wider selection of spoken-word content.

Music Quality

In terms of audio quality, Deezer Free offers Basic (64kbps) or Standard (128kbps) audio quality with compressed MP3 streams. However, all of Deezer’s paid plans provide CD-quality HiFi sound in the 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC codec, perfect for audiophiles seeking the best possible sound quality.

Spotify streaming quality on the free tier is limited to 160Kbps, and the Premium tier increases audio quality to 320Kbps.

Winner: Deezer

If lossless audio is a priority, Deezer’s paid tiers are the better choice. For casual listeners with standard headphones or speakers, the difference between 320 kbps and lossless audio might not be very noticeable. However, for audiophiles with high-quality equipment and a trained ear, the difference can be significant.

Music Discovery

Both Deezer and Spotify offer personalized music recommendations, but with different approaches. Spotify provides a range of algorithmically generated playlists like Daily Mixes, Discover Weekly, Release Radar, and mixes based on artists, genres, moods, and decades. Deezer offers similar daily mixes, along with themed playlists like Monday Discovery and Sunday Chill, and its unique "Flow" feature. Flow creates an endless, personalized mix that adapts in real-time to your feedback (likes/dislikes) and initial preferences. 

While both platforms use collaborative filtering (recommending music based on similar users' tastes), Spotify's algorithm is more sophisticated, incorporating natural language processing (analyzing lyrics) and raw audio modeling (analyzing melodies) in addition to user activity. This hybrid approach contributes to Spotify's highly regarded recommendation system.

Winner: Spotify

Deezer's discovery features offer potential, but users may need to invest more time in training the algorithm to receive highly relevant recommendations. Spotify provides a more immediate and refined discovery experience, largely due to its vast library of highly curated and specific playlists.

Which is Better?

When choosing between Deezer and Spotify, audio quality is a key differentiator. Deezer Premium offers lossless, CD-quality streaming at 1,411 kbps, appealing to audiophiles. However, Spotify offers advantages in other areas that may be more important to some users. Spotify's free tier is available on more devices, providing greater accessibility. Its podcast library is significantly larger, making it a better choice for podcast enthusiasts. Additionally, many users find Spotify's music discovery features more effective.

If HiFi audio is your top priority, choose Deezer. If device compatibility, podcasts, or music discovery are more important, Spotify is a strong alternative. Fortunately, both offer free trials, enabling you to experience each service firsthand.

How to Transfer Playlists from Deezer to Spotify?

If you need to transfer playlists from Deezer to Spotify, consider downloading Deezer playlists and uploading them to Spotify. To download playlists from Deezer, Ondesoft Deezer Music Converter is your best choice. For Deezer users, no matter for free or Premium users, this smart tool enables you to convert your Deezer songs into several formats including MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, and AAC. Ondesoft Deezer Music Converter is able to download and convert Deezer Music at 5X faster speed, making it really convenient and fast. It allows you to download Deezer Music offline without any limitation, then you can move playlists from Deezer to Spotify with ease.

1. Launch Deezer Music Converter

Download, install and run Ondesoft Deezer Music Converter on your Mac or Windows. Click the Sign in button and log in to your Deezer account.

Click the Key icon to register it if you have purchased a license. If you don't have a license, go ahead with the free trial version.

2. Change output format(optional)

The default output format is lossless M4A. Ondesoft Deezer Music Converter also supports converting Amazon Music to MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV and AIFF.

Output File Name: name the songs with any combination of Title, Artist, Album, Playlist Index, Track Number. For example, if you choose Title and Artist, Tylor Swift's song Lover will be named as Lover Tylor Swift.mp3.

Output Organized: organize downloaded songs by Artist, Album, Artist/Album or Album/Artist.

3. Select music

Follow the on-screen instructions to choose the playlist or album you want to convert.

Click Add songs.

4. Start Conversion

By default, all songs in the playlist/album will be checked. If there are songs you don't want to convert, please uncheck the box. Then click Convert button to start downloading songs to the format you choose.

After conversion, click below folder icon to quickly locate the downloaded songs.