# Deezer Review: Strong Music Catalog, Original Shows, and a Social Twist > Source: > Published: 2026-08-03 14:32:29+00:00 ## Pros & Cons - - Good crop of original content, including video - Live radio - Many fun social features - Good AI tools - - Free tier is virtually useless via browser - Doesn't let you rewind live music ## Deezer Specs | Free Version Available | | | Live Programming | | | Non-Music Content | | | Song Lyrics | Despite a few companies falling by the wayside in recent years, the [streaming music](/streaming-music-services/5359/the-best-online-music-streaming-services) field remains highly competitive. In a competitive market, an alternative streaming music service needs unique features to stand out. When I first reviewed the French company Deezer, it occupied a comfortable, if unexciting, middle ground between Editors' Choice winners [Spotify](/services-players/19266/spotify) (which offers highly tailored content) and [SiriusXM](/streaming-music-services/983/siriusxm-internet-radio) (which focuses on live radio). Retesting the service in 2026 reveals that the platform has shifted its strategy. Deezer has pivoted to 16-bit FLAC audio, excellent curation controls, and a fiery defense against soulless AI music. Overall, Deezer remains a compelling mix of traditional streaming, live radio, and podcasts—and in a shifting music landscape flooded with AI slop, Deezer's bolder direction makes it more worthy of your consideration than ever. ## Platforms, Plans, and Prices Deezer is available on a wide variety of platforms. You can download it as a [macOS](/operating-systems/147719/apple-macos-sonoma) or [Windows](/operating-systems/134264/microsoft-windows-11) desktop app, access it via a web browser, or check it out on an [Xbox](/gaming-systems/129778/microsoft-xbox-series-x), [smart speaker](/smart-home/92422/the-best-smart-speakers), smart TV, [smartwatch](/migrated-99802-smartwatches/9504/the-best-smartwatches), or in a car via Android Auto. Notably, Deezer has discontinued its native Roku app, so Roku users must rely on mobile casting to stream to their TVs. You can sign up using a Google or Facebook account or create a dedicated Deezer account from scratch. Note that if you intend to use the app on a [smart TV](/tvs/11596/the-best-tvs) or Android TV device, you now need a paid subscription to stream on a big screen. The ad-supported Free tier is available only on mobile devices and in [browsers](/browsers/131976/chrome-edge-firefox-opera-or-safari-we-pick-the-best-browser). On that note, Deezer's pricing aligns with competing services. Deezer Free is an ad-supported plan designed for mobile devices. If you listen to Deezer Free on your [phone](/mobile-phones/119938/the-best-phones) or [tablet](/tablets/10395/the-best-tablets), you'll enjoy numerous playlists (with lyrics support for most tracks). However, if you listen to Deezer Free on your browser or desktop app, you'll only hear 30-second song snippets. You can subscribe to a premium account to remove this limit. Next up the ladder is the ad-free Deezer Premium, which costs $11.99 per month. You get a 25% discount with an annual commitment, bringing the price down to $107.99 per year. Premium grants unlimited listening on all devices, unlimited song skips, full lyrics, and offline downloads. A Duo plan gives you two accounts with all of these features for $15.99 per month. Like [Apple Music](/streaming-music-services/67157/apple-music), Spotify, and a few other music services, Deezer has a $19.99-per-month family plan that grants six people access to Deezer Premium. A $5.99 student plan is available for college students aged 18-25. Deezer HiFi is included with all paid plans, which means you can enjoy Deezer's entire music catalog with CD-quality sound. Some HiFi tracks support 360 Reality Audio, which is a nice touch. That said, Deezer lacks the 24-bit/192kHz studio master files offered by competing services, making it a harder sell for audiophiles with high-end [headphones](/headphones/63/the-best-headphones) and equipment. [Amazon Music Unlimited](/services-players/85493/amazon-music-unlimited), Qobuz, and Tidal are the services to turn to for [hi-res audio](/services-players/122361/the-best-hi-res-audio-streaming-services). ## Deezer on Mobile Free listeners on Deezer's mobile app (available on [Android](/gallery/130549/the-best-android-apps-for-2021) and [iOS](/gallery/130620/the-best-iphone-apps-for-2021)) can stream audio at 64kbps or 128kbps, but they cannot enjoy tunes offline and are limited to six track skips per hour. Those are decent offerings, not unlike what you would experience with a free Spotify account. The sound quality improves to lossless (16-bit, 1,411kbps) if you subscribe to a paid tier. A subscription also grants offline listening, which is great if you can't find a signal or want to save money on data. The mobile app has a cool notification system that alerts you to important music happenings. When I logged in to Deezer on Android, the notifications section displayed alerts about new album releases and my subscription information. Deezer lets you upload and stream your MP3 files, with caveats. You can only do this on the web and desktop versions, not on mobile. Additionally, you cannot upload FLAC files, but MP3s up to 200MB are fair game. The audio files are all stored in a dedicated playlist for easy access. ## A Deep Music and Podcast Well If you've used [LiveOne](/software/3642/slackercom-winter-2009) or Spotify, you know roughly what to expect from Deezer. You get a panel-driven interface that lets you explore music by genre (Rock, Soul & Funk, Pop, and so on) or playlist (Acoustic Soul, Blues Women, Rock Workout, and the like). Both categories are populated by a mix of songs from the genres you select when you set up your account. Deezer also features an extensive selection and a range of recommendation categories, all of which are worth perusing. It devotes a section of these to international charts, with 100 top tracks from across the globe, including Brazil, Jamaica, Mexico, and the UK. Fresh Picks of the Week** **presents robust collections of the hottest trending music, divided into various playlist categories like New Dance, Fresh Rap, and Radar Weekly. Deezer's [podcast](/podcasting/150301/the-best-podcasts-for-2024) library is impressive, with hundreds of shows across many topics, including true crime, politics, comedy, and lifestyle. The coolest original content lives in Deezer Sessions, which are EPs recorded live in front of an audience. The artists who have participated in Deezer Sessions include Dua Lipa and George Ezra. Deezer Sessions recalls *MTV Unplugged*, letting you listen to the music or watch the performances. Sessions are found in the Deezer Originals section, which also features exclusive podcasts and eclectic, curated playlists. This may not quite rival LiveOne's extensive video streams, Stories, and informative Artist DNA shows, but it's a step in the right direction, offering something beyond basic music streaming. Like SiriusXM, Deezer offers hundreds of live radio stations from around the world. These include jazz, news, pop, and decade-centric tunes from around the globe. Due to the nature of live radio, you can't skip tracks. You'll also hear ads, because the station, not Deezer, broadcasts them. Still, I wish Deezer could rewind live radio—a powerful feature you get with SiriusXM. The Tune My Music feature serves as a library importer, letting you transfer songs and playlists from other services to Deezer. These include Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, YouTube Music, and [many more](https://www.deezer.com/explore/en-us/features/transfer-playlist/). This handy tool makes transitioning to Deezer a cinch when migrating from a different streaming music service. ## Music Sharing and Games Shaker is Deezer's shared playlist between you and your friends. You create a group, invite people, and co-create playlists, as you can with Spotify. In fact, your friends don't even need Deezer to share music. During testing, I created a group and shared a QR code from the app with friends who don't have a Deezer subscription. You can import tunes from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and other services. It's a wonderful way to share music or expose yourself to unfamiliar tunes. Using a free Deezer account, I fired up Beck's *Modern Guilt* on desktop and mobile. Like Deezer's live radio streams, the default curated streams sounded tinny. Naturally, a Deezer Premium subscription provides much better audio quality than the base streams. Thanks to Deezer HiFi, there's greater audio richness, especially if you listen with quality headphones. The Dirtbombs' *Ultraglide In Black* sounded extremely fresh and lively. The extra audio data makes a notable difference. Deezer's gamified Music Quizzes cater to both solo and group play. While individuals can tackle pop-culture trivia directly within the mobile app, the standout feature is the multiplayer Party Mode. This version is desktop or TV-dependent. With it, you cast the quiz to a central monitor, generating an on-screen QR code that allows up to 100 guests to join and use their smartphones as real-time buzzers. Free users can join in on the fun, too, though they cannot host a Party Mode session. These features make Deezer a fun, social beast, offering some of the most creative "in-room" features among streaming music services. That said, Spotify's student plans include ad-supported [Hulu](/internet-3/20784/hulu). ## AI Tools: Playlist Generation and Deezer's War on Slop Deezer also provides an AI playlist feature similar in function to Amazon Music Unlimited's Maestro tool. Called Playlist with AI, it works by giving Deezer a phrase or idea and letting the [Gemini AI](/ai/158427/chatgpt-vs-gemini-ive-tested-both-and-one-is-definitely-better)-powered feature crank out a relevant playlist. For example, I told Deezer, "I left my groceries at the supermarket," and got an amusing playlist featuring "Antidote" by Faith Marie, "Please Don't Go" by KC & The Sunshine Band, and "What If" by Rhys Lewis. Like Maestro, Deezer's generator also recognizes emoji in your prompts. It works well most of the time, even with silly prompts, and only occasionally produces a dud playlist. On a related note, Deezer continues to expand and improve its recommendation systems, though its relationship with AI has taken a drastic turn from curation tool to active defense mechanism. Earlier this year, Deezer revealed that AI-generated tracks were flooding the platform, accounting for more than 40% of daily music uploads and 90,000 tracks per day. Deezer launched an [AI detection tool](https://www.deezer.com/explore/en-us/ai-music-detector/) to police this. The company now purges AI tracks linked to streaming fraud or those that have not been streamed in for six consecutive months. This defensive approach also protects Deezer's radio feed, Flow. Flow is an algorithm-based recommendation system similar to those offered by Spotify or [YouTube Music](/services-players/96378/youtube-music). You customize your Flow based on your mood, genre, and whether you want more music discovery or more of your favorites in the recommendations. This feature has evolved into the Flow Tuner since I last reviewed it. This upgrade replaces passive listening with an interactive dashboard and granular sliders, letting me explicitly manipulate the recommendation engine's variables on the fly. Our Flow streams contained many disco, funk, alt-rock, classic rock, and 1980s-era tracks—exactly what I wanted. Deezer is also pioneering a pro-artist creative feature called Remix Lab. This tool lets users manually adjust the track's studio stems to change its tempo, reverb, and genre. Unfortunately, it's currently restricted to France. Nonetheless, it's a powerful tool that I'm excited to see expanded to international markets.