Top Audius Alternatives for Seamless Music Streaming

Audius stands out as a unique streaming music player, allowing users to create playlists without a login, share them as hyperlinks, and even integrate with Matrix rooms. Its ability to queue songs, play history, and organize with drag and drop, alongside supporting various media formats (YouTube, Vimeo, .mp3, .oga, .wav, .mp4, .webm, .ogg URLs), makes it a versatile tool. Audius also boasts offline functionality as a pure HTML5 app, plays Imgur "Most Viral" as a video stream, and offers a built-in web scraper for custom web channels. However, if you're looking for different features, broader music libraries, or a more traditional streaming experience, several excellent Audius alternatives are available.

Best Audius Alternatives

Whether you're seeking vast music libraries, enhanced social features, or open-source solutions, these alternatives offer diverse options to elevate your music listening experience.

Spotify

Spotify is a leading freemium music streaming service offering an extensive library of content from major record labels. It's available across a multitude of platforms including Mac, Windows, Linux, Web, Android, iOS, and many more. As a comprehensive Audius alternative, Spotify excels with features like music streaming, a massive music library, podcast player, internet radio, unlimited music, create playlist, curated playlists, music discovery, collaborative playlists, and offline mode. While Audius offers unique browser-based features, Spotify provides a more traditional, expansive, and widely adopted streaming platform with rich discovery tools.

Last.fm

Last.fm is a music community website known for its personalized internet radio and recommendation system, "Audioscrobbler." It builds a detailed profile of your listening habits, offering features like Last.FM Scrobbler, music discovery, real-time statistics, Spotify integration, and personalized recommendations. Available on Mac, Windows, Web, Android, iOS, and BSD, Last.fm serves as a powerful Audius alternative for users focused on music discovery, tracking listening habits, and engaging with a community based on shared musical tastes, rather than just playlist creation and sharing.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a freemium platform that simplifies music sharing for artists and labels, taking the hassle out of distributing music. It’s available on Windows, Web, Android, iOS, Android Tablet, and iPad. As an Audius alternative, SoundCloud is particularly strong for music discovery, community interaction, and music upload, making it ideal for both listeners and creators. While Audius focuses on personal playlist management and local media, SoundCloud offers a vast network for discovering new and independent artists, along with features like audio recording, podcast hosting, and self-hosted music options.

Google Play Music

Google Play Music was a Google service allowing users to upload their personal music collection and access it on the web, Android, iOS, Chrome OS, Android Tablet, and iPad. Though it has largely transitioned to YouTube Music, its legacy features as an Audius alternative included collaborative playlists, music discovery, a personal music library, music streaming, offline functionality, and personalized recommendations. While Audius offers direct URL support and local file management, Google Play Music focused on cloud-based storage of personal music collections integrated with a streaming service.

Deezer

Deezer is an internet-based music streaming service with a freemium model, offering content from major record labels. It's accessible on Windows, Web, Android, iOS, Java Mobile, Blackberry, Windows S, Android Tablet, Windows Phone, iPad, and Kindle Fire. As an Audius alternative, Deezer provides a comprehensive music library, apps with Chromecast support, hi-fi sound, lyrics, offline mode, personalized recommendations, and unlimited music. Unlike Audius's focus on local file and URL handling, Deezer provides a curated streaming experience with a vast commercial music catalog and integrated features like automatic lyrics finder and internet radio.

Pandora

Pandora Radio is a free, ad-supported internet radio service utilizing the Music Genome Project to personalize recommendations based on song attributes. Available on Mac, Windows, Web, Android, iOS, Blackberry, Android Tablet, Windows Phone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Kindle Fire, Pandora is a strong Audius alternative for those seeking a personalized radio experience. While Audius offers direct control over playlists and local files, Pandora excels at effortless music discovery through its unique algorithm, creating personalized channels rather than user-curated playlists.

Libre.fm

Libre.fm is a free and open-source web-based project focused on helping users track, share, and discover music with friends and meet new people who share their taste. It provides features like music discovery, music streaming, and real-time statistics. For users seeking an open-source Audius alternative with a community-driven approach to music discovery and sharing, Libre.fm offers a compelling option that aligns with principles of transparency and user control, similar to Audius's self-contained HTML5 app nature but with a stronger social and tracking focus.

Jamendo

Jamendo is a community offering free, legal, and unlimited music published under Creative Commons licenses. It's a platform for artists to share their music and for users to download their favorite tracks. Available on Web, Android, iOS, and Blackberry, Jamendo serves as an excellent Audius alternative for those specifically seeking royalty-free music and a platform that supports independent artists. While Audius focuses on personal media management, Jamendo offers a vast library of legal, free-to-download music, making it ideal for content creators and listeners seeking new, open-licensed music.

YouTube Music

YouTube Music allows users to easily find and discover new music, providing playlists and recommendations based on context and tastes. Available on Web, Android, iOS, Android Tablet, and iPad, YouTube Music is a strong Audius alternative, especially given Audius's support for YouTube URLs. YouTube Music offers a massive catalog of official songs, albums, playlists, and artist radios, alongside live performances and remixes. It features DRM-free content, internet radio, a lockscreen widget, lyrics, music discovery, and YouTube background listening, making it a comprehensive solution for streaming music and video content.

Sonerezh

Sonerezh is a free, open-source, self-hosted, web-based application designed for streaming your music anywhere. Available for Linux, it offers a music player and music streaming capabilities. As an Audius alternative, Sonerezh appeals to users who prioritize self-hosting and full control over their music library, similar to Audius's "offline" HTML5 nature but with a server-based approach. It’s ideal for those with extensive personal music collections who want to stream their own media securely and privately, rather than relying on third-party services.

Ultimately, the best Audius alternative depends on your specific needs. Whether you prioritize a vast commercial library, community-driven discovery, open-source control, or personalized radio, the options above provide a diverse range of features to enhance your music streaming experience. Explore each to find the perfect fit for your listening habits.