# Tidal 48 Hacker News commenters recommended Tidal and 41 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (3 owners). **Verdict:** People recommend it for better sound quality, higher artist royalties, and as a Spotify alternative; critics most often report artist mislabeling and a clunky interface. ## Why people recommend it - Better sound quality than Spotify (7 comments): "Tidal had the music I was looking for (generally higher quality recordings) for the same monthly cost of Spotify." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46543404)) "I've paid for Tidal for a decade because I just like the peace of mind that it's closer to the original recording" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48764254)) "I was shocked at how much I noticed the sound quality of Tidal compared to Spotify" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48771434)) - Pays artists more per stream (6 comments): "I love that they pay the artists way more. Unfortunately Tidal looks similar Spotify, but is somehow janky and less polished." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50251369)) "TIDAL is able to between three and four times the royalties per stream that Spotify does." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983112)) "They pay up to 10x per stream in royalties, and also have a more equitable algorithm" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46652902)) - Strict policy against AI music (5 comments): "The policy seems a lot more reasonable than the straight up dystopian scam that Spotify runs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719674)) "removing the incentives for it seems like the exact correct approach to stemming that tide" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719783)) "A very reasonable policy, prevents AI Slop from flooding the platform" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719257)) - Good replacement for Spotify (4 comments): "Tidal is basically completely satisfying as a Spotify replacement for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50211965)) "I moved over to Tidal recently. Haven't missed Spotify" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47440086)) "I went from spotify to tidal and am very happy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49171875)) ## What people warn about - Artists misattributed to wrong discographies (2 comments): "there's been a big issue with people getting their music intentionally or unintentionally labelled under other artists names" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48719806)) "Tidal being incapable of properly handing multiple artists sharing a name and adding the track to the wrong discography" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47980229)) - Clunky, buggy apps (2 comments): "I love that they pay the artists way more. Unfortunately Tidal looks similar Spotify, but is somehow janky and less polished." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50251369)) "The Tidal and Deezer apps on Windows were absolute dogshit and would constantly bug out" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49526315)) - Lack of open APIs (2 comments): "Music apps especially went downhill, spotify and tidal etc need to offer apis so we can integrate several sources in one app" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48131982)) "They don't offer APIs precisely so that you can't integrate several sources in one app." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48132300)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Spotify](https://hackerapproved.com/p/spotify.md): 299 recommend - [Apple Music](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-music.md): 131 recommend - [Qobuz](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qobuz.md): 31 recommend - [Pandora](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pandora.md): 29 recommend - [Deezer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/deezer.md): 22 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://tidal.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Tidal", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tidal/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).