SoundCloud API vs Spotify API

Two free Music APIs compared on access, reliability and developer ratings, using data from our daily health checks.

The verdict

Choose SoundCloud API if you want faster responses.
Choose Spotify API for its data: View Spotify music catalog, manage users' libraries, get recommendations and more.

	SoundCloud API	Spotify API
What it does	With SoundCloud API you can build applications that will give more power to control your content.	View Spotify music catalog, manage users' libraries, get recommendations and more.
Provider	SoundCloud Developers	Spotify
API key	OAuth	OAuth
HTTPS	Yes	Yes
CORS (browser calls)	Unknown	Unknown
Status today	Online · 440 ms	Online · 1611 ms
Uptime (30 days)	Up	Up
Developer rating	Not rated yet	Not rated yet
Price	Free / free tier	Free / free tier

With SoundCloud API you can build applications that will give more power to control your content.

Strengths

View Spotify music catalog, manage users' libraries, get recommendations and more.

Retrieve metadata from Spotify content or control playback

Strengths

Prototyping or a tutorial? Pick the one that needs no API key (neither does, so compare their free tiers).
Calling from a web page? You need CORS. Otherwise route requests through your own server or a serverless function.
Going to production? Favour HTTPS, a strong uptime record and a provider with clear rate limits and terms. Check each API's docs before you commit.
Still unsure? Both are free to try: send one request to each and compare the data you get back.