Pandora vs. Spotify, Which One to Pick?

Pandora or Spotify? Indeed a very stretchable and time-consuming debate. How about we make it easy for you to choose among the two rivals? We will take a look at both of these platforms in detail and compare them so that you can decide which one to go for among the two.

CONTENT Part 1. Overview: Spotify and PandoraPart 2. Difference between Pandora and SpotifyPart 3. Which is Better? Spotify or Pandora?

Part 1. Overview: Spotify and Pandora

Spotify and Pandora are two of the biggest music streaming apps.

Pandora came out quite a while ago in 2005. It is a type of customized music streaming radio station based on an algorithm that selects your playlists based on the artists you listen to and your music taste. This was a spectacular idea back in the days that allowed users to listen and find new music based on their listening habits which sound ordinary now but was a pretty complicated and innovative idea.

Spotify is quite similar. Based on the same principle, It was launched in 2005 and is more versatile. Spotify offers copyright music from record labels and media companies. Spotify provides a free value-added service model with two streaming music: Spotify Free (160kbit/s) and Spotify Premium (320kbit/s or more).

So, what are the pros and cons of these two music giants? In the rest of the article, we will compare Pandora vs. Spotify in detail.

Part 2. Difference between Pandora and Spotify

Spotify vs. Pandora: Music Library & Steaming Quality

If we compare Spotify and Pandora in terms of the music library and the streaming quality, Spotify is better than Pandora.

Why is Spotify better than Pandora in this case? Well, it is because when it comes to the music library, Pandora has 1,000,000+ songs. In contrast, Spotify has a clear lead with a music library of approximately 30 Million songs that give you more songs and playlists to explore, showing that Spotify is more versatile and has a more comprehensive range of music.

Streaming quality is also better in Spotify. Spotify offers 160kbps and 320kbps music streaming quality for free and premium users, respectively. In comparison, Pandora offers only 64kbps and 192kbps for free and premium users, respectively.

Winner: Spotify

NOTE: Learn more about what is kbps?

Pandora vs. Spotify: User Experience and User Interface

The user interface in both applications is quite remarkable.

In Pandora, your playlists are displayed as a set of records in a jukebox, and everything is quite beautifully organized to give a classic music look. Very easy to navigate user experience. When it comes to Spotify, the user interface is well-matched. Dark themed and well organized.

The only drawback in the user experience in Spotify is that to look at your friends' live listening activities and create new folders for playlists, you have to use Spotify on a desktop. Apart from this, it is also straightforward to use.

Winner: Pandora

Features of Free Members on Spotify and Pandora

Spotify Free and Pandora Free both cost nothing and have limited features. Spotify free comes with ad-interruptions and skip limits. The same is the case for Pandora free. But you can't listen to specific songs on Pandora's free subscription. You can only listen to custom stations. You can also share your playlists in Spotify Free but not in Pandora Free.

Winner: Spotify

NOTE: Want to have Spotify premium for free forever? Try this tutorial on how to get free Spotify premium.

Spotify Premium vs. Pandora Premium: Features & Price

Premium for Student

Both Spotify and Pandora offer a separate premium subscription for students. Both cost the same $4.99, and the features are also quite similar. There's no significant difference in this premium plan between the two. You can listen to ad-free music offline and make playlists on both platforms and share them with your friends on social media platforms.

Premium Individual

Spotify and Pandora Premium Individual memberships also cost the same $9.99 per month and have comparable features. Both of these provide ad-free music listening. Pandora also has no ads in this membership. You can also make and share your favorite playlists on both platforms, along with unlimited offline music listening and no ad-interruptions.

Spotify Premium Duo vs. Pandora Premium Military

Spotify Premium Duo offers two separate premium accounts for members of the same family. It also consists of a unique feature.

This feature is "Duo Mix," which creates a playlist algorithmically for both the users and keeps updating it. Apart from these, all the features are identical to Premium Individual membership. You can listen to ad-free songs, share your playlists, and download your favorite songs and playlists to listen to them offline. This membership costs $12.99 per month.

Pandora Premium Military does not offer any duo mix-like feature or two separate accounts. It is just like the Pandora Premium Student regarding features and has a higher price than the Premium Student, $7.99 per month.

Premium Family

Spotify Premium Family and Pandora Premium Family both offer six separate accounts. Spotify Premium Family provides additional features like blocking explicit music, Spotify kids account for ages 12 and under, and a mixed playlist known as "Family Mix."

On the other hand, Pandora Premium does not allow you to block explicit music. It does not have a kids account but has a shared exclusive playlist. All the other features are the same as the premium duo or military memberships and are present in both of them. Both of these memberships cost the same $14.99 per month.

Pandora has an additional membership, "Pandora Plus," that costs $4.99, but you can only listen to customized stations and not specific music. It has limited offline listening. It can be considered an inferior version of Pandora Premium Student, where Premium Studentallows you to listen to particular songs instead of a customized radio station.

Winner: Spotify

NOTE: If somehow you're tired of the premium and decide to end the subscription, you can follow the instruction of these two tutorials on How to Cancel Spotify Premium and How to Cancel a Paid Pandora Subscription.

Pandora vs. Spotify: Music Download Options

Both Pandora and Spotify offer to download music only to the premium members.

Pandora Plus subscription comes with an additional offline mode in which you can listen to your three most frequent playlists offline, but you cannot download songs of your choice.

You can only download the songs of your choice in premium and family subscriptions for Pandora. The download format is AAC or MP3, depending on the quality. Likewise, you can download your favorite music and playlists on Spotify Premium subscriptions. However, the output format is encrypted OGG Vorbis to protect the Spotify content.

Is there any way to own Spotify music in MP3 format? Yes, you can use the Spotikeep Converter, easy-to-use software to download and convert songs, playlists, and albums from Spotify to MP3. To begin with, please free download the converter according to your computer's operating system.

After the installation, just copy the Spotify URL of the music or playlist you want to download, then paste it on the SpotiKeep Converter. Hit the "Add Files" button to display your chosen Spotify music. Next, click on the"Convert All" button to start downloading and converting. In this way, you'll be able to put your Spotify music to an MP3 player to enjoy anytime and anywhere.

Launch it and paste the link of your Spotify song or playlist to download and convert it into MP3. Spotikeep is a fast and reliable converter for Spotify. This way, you can save your favorite Spotify playlists for future use even if you cancel the subscription.

Winner: Pandora

Spotify vs. Pandora: Discovering New Songs

Spotify has Daily and Weekly mixes. These are custom-made playlists. Spotify itself makes these playlists based on the type of music that you listen to. Every week and daily, Spotify has some new recommended songs for you in the form of playlists. The algorithm of Spotify allows it to choose the perfect playlists for you that contain the recently listened songs and similar to that genre as well to make an excellent playlist.

Pandora, on the other hand, works differently. You select a radio by yourself, and then Pandora finds you similar stations like the one you made. Using the Music Genome Project, Pandora considers the songs' instruments to find the best songs that match your choice. If you rate songs as thumbs up or down, Pandora knows what kind of content you like and dislike and creates playlists accordingly.

Winner: Spotify

Pandora vs. Spotify: Music Sharing

Is Pandora or Spotify better when it comes to music sharing? Well, in the case of Spotify, you can share your playlists with anyone using social media, even if you have a free membership. It is so easy to do. All you have to do is to go to a particular song or playlist that you desire to share and click the three dots to tap on the share option, and that is it! You can share your playlist anywhere on social media.

On the other hand, free users can't do so on Pandora. Only premium subscribers can share their playlists. This gives Spotify the advantage in terms of music sharing.

Winner: Spotify

Part 3. Which is Better? Spotify or Pandora?

Pandora vs. Spotify, which is the best? The answer to this question depends on the users' preference. Spotify performs better in many aspects like music library size and steaming quality, features of free users, and music discovery. On the other hand, if you care more about user experience and music download options, just go for Pandora.

Both are the best in the business and very comparable. Both have almost the exact subscription costs and features; you may prefer anyone over the other based on your preference.

So, what do you think? Which music app do you prefer? Please leave us a comment if you have anything to share with us on this topic.