SoundCloud
Ranked 8 of 10 music streaming services by recommenders
People recommend SoundCloud for finding new music through DJ sets and artist uploads, but critics say it hides or deletes music after cancellation and blocks some users.
People recommend SoundCloud for finding new music through DJ sets and artist uploads, but critics say it hides or deletes music after cancellation and blocks some users.
59 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- criticize it
- 39
- approval share
- 34%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 7 years
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Finding new music and DJ sets
“its better and free as well as you tend to get more freedom exploring content from new artist”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What vendor you'd switch out if a better option was available?” “The third best way is at home, with great headphones, and soundcloud/youtube dj sets.”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “I analyzed the lineups at the most popular nightclubs” “Soundcloud one of my primary sources for finding music I enjoy, via DJ sets”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “The Appalling Stupidity of Spotify's AI DJ” - Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “AI Generated Music Barred from Bandcamp”
Artist uploads and exclusive tracks
“It has been used in SoundCloud and also via streaming services/releases via DistroKid.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Show HN: Are You in the Weights?” “a lot of artists have set up MP3 downloads for their music there”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Retro-Tech Parenting” “I love the service and the musicians I have met there.”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “Introduction to Computer Music [pdf]” - Comment from 23 Dec 2025 in “Spotify reportedly investigating Anna's Archive's scraping of their library”
Social feed and timestamp comments
“I actually love SoundCloud's timestamp based comments.”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Kids turned low-traffic NPR Spotify comments into a secret group chat” “Their best feature is social feed”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “SoundCloud Data Breach Now on HaveIBeenPwned” Free tier and ad-free Go+
“its better and free as well as you tend to get more freedom exploring content from new artist”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What vendor you'd switch out if a better option was available?” “The problems with the adblocking stopped after i switched to Soundcloud Go+.”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “Tell HN: YouTube Unplayable Videos with Adblocker”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hides or deletes music after cancelling
“They first hide your songs and as time goes on they start threaten to delete your songs if you dont pay”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “SoundCloud Data Breach Now on HaveIBeenPwned” “Once you cancel they then hold all your music hostage by hiding it and later threat to delete it.”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “SoundCloud Data Breach Now on HaveIBeenPwned” “silent deletes favorites and also blocks songs based on your vpn/geo location”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “SoundCloud Data Breach Now on HaveIBeenPwned” Aggressive copyright claims on mixes
“Soundcloud would be completely irrelevant if they did a good-enough job at enforcing copyright”
Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “Bubble Sorted Amen Break” “Soundcloud has very aggressive copyright claims which is a problem for mixes”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “The lost joy of music piracy” Bot detection and VPN blocking
“Crappy bot detection. You can be sure I'm never paying for such a hostile service.”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “SoundCloud has banned VPN access” “silent deletes favorites and also blocks songs based on your vpn/geo location”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “SoundCloud Data Breach Now on HaveIBeenPwned” Data use and partner sharing concerns
“When I installed the SoundCloud app - for the first time on a new device, that's what's it said: 954 partners.”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Stop Flock” “SoundCloud will end up pissing off their paying customers and AI bots will still be able to scrape.”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “SoundCloud has banned VPN access” “the lack of care for using past data for active accounts doesn't paint them in a very good light”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “SoundCloud Data Breach Now on HaveIBeenPwned” - Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Stop Flock”
Other music streaming services people recommend
The four most recommended other music streaming services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify | 299 | 732 | 29% | 12 | 10 yrs30 owners | — |
| Apple Music | 131 | 270 | 33% | 12 | 1 yr14 owners | — |
| YouTube Music | 58 | 61 | 49% | 12 | — | — |
| Tidal | 48 | 41 | 54% | 11 | 10 yrs3 owners | — |
| SoundCloudThis page | 20 | 39 | 34% | 8 | 7 yrs5 owners | — |
What people said
40 of the 66 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I actually love SoundCloud's timestamp based comments.”
“its better and free as well as you tend to get more freedom exploring content from new artist”
“you still have to go to SoundCloud (prison for music) or CD baby”
“Soundcloud has very aggressive copyright claims which is a problem for mixes”
“Soundcloud is great for this”
“Tried every conceivable player, Spotify, YouTube Music, YouTube, Apple Music (local files), Soundcloud and more, all of them leading to the same thing”
“SoundCloud, YouTube, last.fm... you name it - they are all better.”
“It has been used in SoundCloud and also via streaming services/releases via DistroKid.”
“It's taken two weeks just to get a reply from Soundcloud support”
“a lot of artists have set up MP3 downloads for their music there”
“When I installed the SoundCloud app - for the first time on a new device, that's what's it said: 954 partners.”
“How can anyone reasonably understand what it is their agreeing to in that scenario.”
“I would say it's just ok.”
“I love the service and the musicians I have met there.”
“This audio is embedded from SoundCloud and requires cookies to function.”
“Soundcloud one of my primary sources for finding music I enjoy, via DJ sets”
“Soundcloud would be completely irrelevant if they did a good-enough job at enforcing copyright”
“By continuing you agree to us sharing your data with our 954 partners”
“SoundCloud was a terrible company holding their data hostage”
“The silly move of them was to do that and not allow you to download it”
“the lack of care for using past data for active accounts doesn't paint them in a very good light”
“silent deletes favorites and also blocks songs based on your vpn/geo location”
“Their best feature is social feed”
“SoundCloud is a weird place, people in entertainment have certain strong incentives.”
“Do they take the leftovers from your fridge when you stop buying?”
“Sounds like they are being cool about it by keeping it around for a while and warning you before deleting it.”
“They first hide your songs and as time goes on they start threaten to delete your songs if you dont pay”
“apparently can't downgrade and get back what they once had”
“Once you cancel they then hold all your music hostage by hiding it and later threat to delete it.”
“where you can easily download (albeit youtube making things more difficult in recent years)”
“I can find new good music easily on soundcloud/bandcamp/youtube”
“Some stuff in my library is only posted on SoundCloud”
“Soundcloud these days is nothing but a spambot filled website that have ripped countless users' tracks”
“It works fine, albeit a few annoying popups asking to download the app.”
“encourage absolutely everyone in your surrounding to drop the service”
“this is where i switch back to downloading music off russian pirate websites”
“Crappy bot detection. You can be sure I'm never paying for such a hostile service.”
“SoundCloud will end up pissing off their paying customers and AI bots will still be able to scrape.”
“The third best way is at home, with great headphones, and soundcloud/youtube dj sets.”
“The problems with the adblocking stopped after i switched to Soundcloud Go+.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.