Qobuz

What hackers pick instead

• SpotifyRecommended for its huge catalog, strong music discovery and apps that work on every device, though critics say recommendations get repetitive and artists are poorly paid.299recommend
• Apple MusicRecommended for strong recommendations and discovery playlists, and for handling local and uploaded music libraries; the most common complaint is a clunky app that launches unprompted.131recommend
• TidalPeople recommend it for better sound quality, higher artist royalties, and as a Spotify alternative; critics most often report artist mislabeling and a clunky interface.48recommend
• PandoraPraised for radio-style discovery that finds similar songs you have not heard before, especially from curated stations. Critics mention skip limits, even on the paid tier, and recommendations that repeat or turn bland.29recommend
• DeezerRecommended for its quality, clear labels on AI-generated tracks, and as an alternative to Spotify. Common caveat: buggy apps, and critics call it good but far from great.22recommend

Every quote

The 37 most detailed of 42 comments. Each links to the original.

1. I want to love qobuz but their ux is horrible as is discovery and they suffer the same problem the others do with their supplied catalog being flooded in fake songs

   Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “How Spotify Made Me Self Host”

2. But Qobuz is still king. I gladly pay their monthly subscription even though their programmers can't even be bothered to code a proper search functionality

   Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “How Spotify Made Me Self Host”

3. they have both downloads and streaming, and apparently pay the artist more than any of the other streaming alternatives

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Fastpotify”

4. Pays artists really well, is EU located, but their applications are still a little rough around the edges

   Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “Deezer says 44% of songs uploaded to its platform daily are AI-generated”

5. It's got a better catalogue for the slightly obscure stuff I like and they pay artists much better.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?”

6. I think it's a good middle ground: you pay a subscription, artists at least get a little something

   Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “If You Can't Hold It, You Don't Own It”

7. I still prefer purchasing tracks via the iTunes Music Store, Qobuz, Bandcamp, and 7digital

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Backing up Spotify”

8. At least both of those sites let you download files and listen to them however you want.

   Recommends · Nov 2025

9. for anything I haven't been able to find on Bandcamp, I've been able to find on Qobuz

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Backing up Spotify”

10. Qobuz puts much more effort into manual curation so I still find awesome weird music

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI”

11. Same, except moved to Qobuz. They have both streaming and you can buy downloads.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Spotify playing ads for paid subscribers”

12. amazing quality, huge offering, but shittiest music discovery platform ever

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “CD Sales Growth Outpaced Vinyl in the First Half of 2026”

13. Qobuz has the highest per-stream pay rate in the industry by like 40%.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “How Spotify Made Me Self Host”

14. Qobuz and 7digital in particular offer drm-free flac downloads

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Backing up Spotify”

15. which they say pays creators more than the alternatives

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “What you can get for the price of a Netflix subscription”

16. have the best audio quality of all streaming platforms

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Fastpotify”

17. Qobuz streams lossless but sucks for music discovery

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Why Sony Can't Bring Back Its Classic Walkman Models”

18. great in everything except personal recommendations

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “A new research shows that 21-33% of YouTube's feed may consist of AI slop”

19. when what I want isn't there, qobuz usually has it.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “How Spotify Made Me Self Host”

20. Just a shame the rest of the ux isn't very good.

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “How Spotify Made Me Self Host”

21. have extensive libraries of high quality music

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “How Spotify Made Me Self Host”

22. Qobuz allows to buy DRM-free song individually

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “How Spotify Made Me Self Host”

23. you mostly get access to everything

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “The lost joy of music piracy”

24. I found Qobuz recommendations really bad too, unfortunately.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Deezer says 44% of songs uploaded to its platform daily are AI-generated”

25. They all have equally worse UI/UX.

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “Fastpotify”

26. I found the interface to be the only one out of the streaming services to give a shit about customers that prefer listening to albums

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “How Spotify Made Me Self Host”

27. including audiophile darlings Qobuz and Tidal -- that beats it in that aspect

    Mixed · May 2026 · in “Last.fm is now independent”

28. We switched off Spotify over a year ago and it's been better in every way.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Disney Raising Prices Days After Confirming Ads Will Now Show Up on Every Tier”

29. The two best places to buy music in my opinion are qobuz and bandcamp.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?”

30. that's were my distributor uploaded the original master flacs to

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Modern Walkmans”

31. which has all the music, but much fewer features

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “2 years building a kids audio app as a solo dev – lessons learned”

32. Qobuz works the same way. Set and forget.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web”

33. It has about as many tracks as iTunes

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “The Death of Spotify: Why Streaming Is Minutes Away from Being Obsolete”

34. great apps for iOS, Android, and web

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Fastpotify”

35. I've been happy with Qobuz as well.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Fastpotify”

36. I cancelled and now use Qobuz.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “User reports show problems with Spotify”

37. Even lossless download stores like Qobuz don't have them.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Backing up Spotify”