If you only look at each catalog’s cheapest verified country, Spotify wins: Individual is ₦1,600 / $1.18 in Nigeria, while Apple Music Individual bottoms out at ₹139 / $1.45 in India. Both figures were checked August 29, 2026.
If you live in the United States, the result flips. After two 2026 price hikes — Spotify in February, Apple on July 17 — Individual is $12.99 on Spotify and $11.99 on Apple Music. Apple is a dollar a month cheaper on the plan we actually track. A lot of “Spotify vs Apple Music 2026” pages still quote Apple at $10.99. That number died in July. MacRumors, The Verge, and Music Business Worldwide all reported the US Individual move from $10.99 to $11.99 on July 17, 2026, with Family going to $19.99 and Student to $6.99. Our storefront check on August 29 matches the new Individual sticker.
And if you live in India, the Philippines, or Hungary, stop arguing. The Individual prices we verified are the same local number on both services.
The raw board: Spotify vs Apple Music. What follows is the country-by-country story most US listicles never run.
Which is cheaper, Spotify or Apple Music?
Dated Individual rows only, verified August 29, 2026:
| Product | Cheapest verified country | Local price | USD | vs US |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify Individual | Nigeria | ₦1,600 | $1.18 | −91% |
| Apple Music Individual | India | ₹139 | $1.45 | −88% |
The next rungs:
| Product | 2nd cheapest | 3rd cheapest | US price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify Individual | Pakistan $1.37 | India $1.45 | $12.99 |
| Apple Music Individual | Turkey $1.88 | Philippines $2.73 | $11.99 |
Same-country snapshots, because “which is cheaper” is a local question:
| Country | Spotify Individual | Apple Music Individual | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $12.99 | $11.99 | Apple Music by $1 |
| United Kingdom | £12.99 = $17.61 | £11.99 = $16.25 | Apple Music by ~$1.36 |
| India | ₹139 = $1.45 | ₹139 = $1.45 | Tie |
| Philippines | ₱169 = $2.73 | ₱169 = $2.73 | Tie |
| Hungary | 2,190 Ft = $6.97 | 2,190 Ft = $6.97 | Tie |
| Turkey | ₺99 = $2.07 | ₺89.99 = $1.88 | Apple Music by ~$0.19 |
| Nigeria | ₦1,600 = $1.18 | not verified | Spotify (only dated row) |
| Pakistan | Rs 379 = $1.37 | not verified | Spotify (only dated row) |
Full tables: Spotify and Apple Music.
Two caveats so the table does not lie to you:
- Apple Music has fewer verified countries (29 Individual rows versus 42 for Spotify). Nigeria and Pakistan are Spotify-only on our board. That is why Spotify “wins” the cheapest-in-catalog contest. It is not proof Apple Music is expensive there; it is a data gap.
- Family and student are different invoices. We track Spotify Family in the US at $21.99. We do not currently store Apple Music Family as a dated row. Apple’s published US Family list price after the July 17, 2026 hike is $19.99 — cheaper than Spotify Family on that public sticker, but it is not in our verified Individual table, so we are not mixing it into the ranking above.
Are these the same product?
No. Same job (play music), different companies, different catalogs in the margins, different extras.
Spotify’s paid plan is still the discovery and playlist product. It is also the only one of the two with a real free tier: ads, shuffle-first on phones, no offline. If you will not pay, that is the whole comparison.
Apple Music’s Individual plan has long included lossless audio and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos in the monthly price — you are not upsold a “HiFi” add-on. It is also the one that sits inside Apple One and the iPhone music app. Switching Apple ID countries to chase a cheaper price is painful in a way Spotify region changes are not: Apple makes you zero the store balance and cancel active subscriptions first, and iCloud Music Library is genuinely at risk. Details: cheapest country for Apple Music.
Student plans are closer than they used to be. After the 2026 hikes, both US student stickers sit at $6.99. Bundled extras differ (Hulu on Spotify Student in the US; Apple TV+ on Apple Music Student), so the “free extra” is the real student differentiator, not the dollar.
Where each one is genuinely cheap
Music is one of the last categories where regional pricing still looks like 2018. India at $1.45 is about 89% off the US Spotify price and 88% off the US Apple Music price. Nigeria’s Spotify row is 91% off. That is a different universe from ChatGPT, where the “cheap country” is now a 19% discount.
Turkey is no longer a secret for either. Spotify Individual there is ₺99 ($2.07). Apple Music is ₺89.99 ($1.88). Both are cheap in dollar terms. Both still require a payment method that matches the storefront. Spotify’s September 2025 terms also say you should use the service in your country of residence — running a foreign-market account is a terms problem even when the card goes through. More: why is Spotify cheaper in Turkey and Spotify 2026 price increase.
The UK is the other way: both cost more than the US once you convert (£12.99 and £11.99). Cheap-country hunting is not a universal American hobby. Brits are already overpaying relative to the US sticker.
How do you actually pay for each one?
Spotify: official country pages, cards, and a long list of local methods (UPI in India is the one people actually use). Spotify discontinued its own gift cards, so the old “buy a cheap-country card” path is dead. App Store and Google Play credit did not work as a signup method on the Spotify rows we verified.
Apple Music: you are almost always billing an Apple ID. That is annoying if you wanted to keep music off your Apple account, and useful if you already hold App Store credit. Apple’s own support pages list redeemed App Store Card balance as a valid subscription payment in India and several other countries. The card must match the account country.
Paying from a cheap country you do not live in is a terms-and-payment problem on both sides, not a VPN trick. Spotify says residency. Apple says the Apple ID country plus a payment method it accepts there.
What a VPN can and cannot do here
A VPN can show you a foreign price page. It cannot mint a Nigerian debit card or an Indian UPI handle. Checkout still wants a local method. Spotify will also look at where the account lives. We do not recommend VPN-based music arbitrage; the honest saving is the price already printed for your country.
The bottom line
US listeners: Apple Music Individual is cheaper today — $11.99 versus $12.99 — after both companies raised prices in 2026. Stay on Spotify if the playlists, podcasts, and social graph are worth the extra $12 a year, or if you actually use the free tier and would never pay Apple.
India, the Philippines, Hungary: the Individual prices we verified are the same. Pick the app you already like.
Nigeria and other Spotify-cheap markets where we have no Apple Music row: Spotify is the dated number we can stand behind. Apple Music may well be cheap there too; we have not checked it yet.
See the live board: Spotify vs Apple Music. Worth-it for Spotify on its own: Is Spotify Premium worth it.
Our methodology, sources, and refresh schedule: methodology.