Switching from YouTube Music to Spotify doesn’t have to mean giving up all your playlists and songs. It’s a common headache for anyone changing streaming services, but thankfully, there are quite a few tools—both free and paid—that can help you move your music library without starting over from zero.
You can transfer your YouTube Music playlists to Spotify using online services like, Soundiiz, or Paradify, which automatically match and move your songs in just a few minutes. These tools hook into both your accounts and take care of the transfer for you. Most work by lining up song titles and artists across both platforms.
The whole process is pretty straightforward. You’ll just need active accounts on each service and a little bit of patience. Some tools are free for small playlists, but if you’ve got a monster library or want extra features, you might have to pay a bit.
Key Takeaways
- You can move your YouTube Music playlists to Spotify with third-party tools that match and migrate your songs automatically
- Popular services lik Soundiiz, and Paradify make the transfer process quick and easy
- Not every song will transfer perfectly—some may be missing or mismatched because of platform differences
Essential Steps for Transferring YouTube Music Playlists
Moving your playlists over takes just a few main steps: get both accounts ready, pick a transfer tool, give it the right permissions, and let it do its thing.
Preparing Both Accounts
First, make sure you’re signed in on both platforms. Log into YouTube Music with your Google account and check that your playlists are all there and named how you want. Those names will show up in Spotify, so it’s worth a quick look.
Then, sign in or create your Spotify account. Doesn’t matter if it’s free or premium—both work for migration.
Stable internet is a must here. Spotty Wi-Fi can mess up the transfer and leave you with half-finished playlists. Also, if your playlists are full of rare or YouTube-only tracks, don’t be surprised if some don’t make it over—Spotify may just not have them.
Choosing the Right Playlist Migration Tool
You’ve got options. Free Your Music, and Soundiiz are the big names, each with their own quirks and price tags.
Free Your Music has apps for desktop and mobile and usually nails about 95% of matches. Paradify works straight in your browser, so you don’t have to install anything. Soundiiz supports a ton of platforms and lets you move multiple playlists in one go.
Most offer a free version, but there are limits—like how many songs you can move. Got a massive library? You’ll probably need to pay. Take a minute to compare before you commit.
Authorizing Account Access
These tools need permission to read your YouTube Music playlists and add stuff to your Spotify. You’ll log in with your Google account for YouTube Music, and the tool gets read-only access—it can see your playlists, but not mess with them.
Then, you’ll log in to Spotify when prompted. The tool will ask to add playlists and songs to your account. All this uses official APIs and should keep your info safe.
If you use two-factor authentication, have your phone handy. And just a reminder: don’t ever give your password directly to any of these services—legit ones use secure logins (OAuth).
Worth keeping in mind that OAuth tokens aren’t totally bulletproof either—there have been cases where YouTube OAuth tokens got exposed, so it pays to stick with tools you trust and pull permissions when you’re done.
Executing the Playlist Transfer
After connecting your accounts, pick the playlists you want to move. You can do all of them or just a few. Some tools also let you migrate liked songs and saved albums.
Hit the transfer button, and the tool will start matching songs from YouTube Music to Spotify using info like song title and artist. You’ll usually see a progress bar and a count of matched and unmatched tracks.
The transfer usually wraps up in a few minutes, even for big libraries. If you’ve got thousands of songs, it might take a little longer. When it’s done, open Spotify and double-check that your playlists look right.
While you’re poking around, it’s worth checking out some of the newer social features too—Spotify recently rolled out direct messaging, so you can share your freshly migrated playlists with friends without bouncing over to another app.
Some songs just won’t transfer—if they’re not on Spotify or are YouTube-only stuff like remixes or unofficial uploads. Check the transfer report to see what didn’t make it, and you can always try searching for those tracks manually.
Top Playlist Transfer Tools and Their Features
There are several ways to shift your YouTube Music playlists to Spotify, each with its own pros and cons. Some are web-based like Paradify, others are mobile apps like SongShift, and there are even open-source options if you want more control and no subscriptions.
Using Paradify for Web-Based Transfers
Paradify runs right in your browser and moves playlists between YouTube Music and Spotify. No downloads, no installers—just head to the site, connect your accounts, and pick what to transfer.
There’s also a Chrome extension if you’d rather kick off transfers straight from a YouTube Music tab, which is handy when you’re already browsing a playlist and decide you want it on Spotify.
It matches songs by searching for the title and artist on the Spotify side. That works most of the time—expect about 85% accuracy for standard tracks.
Remixes, live versions, or regional releases can throw it off, though, and the same goes for anything that’s uploaded by fans rather than released officially.
One thing Paradify does that a lot of the other tools don’t: if you step away mid-transfer or your browser crashes on a big playlist, you can pick up right where you left off.
It remembers what’s already been moved and just finishes the rest, which saves you from duplicate songs or starting over. Comes in clutch for libraries with hundreds of tracks.
You’ll see which songs didn’t match before you wrap up the transfer, so you can hunt them down manually if you really want that one track.
Authentication is handled through the official Spotify and Google OAuth flows, so you’re never typing your password into Paradify itself—the usual secure login screens pop up, and you can revoke access anytime from your account settings.
Pricing is pretty straightforward. There’s a free tier that’s good for trying it out on a smaller playlist, and a paid plan (monthly or yearly) if you’ve got a bigger library or want to move multiple playlists without limits. The yearly option shakes out cheaper if you’re planning to keep it around for syncing or future transfers.
Mobile Solutions: SongShift and Others
SongShift is for iOS and lets you move playlists without a computer. Free transfers are limited, but for $4.99 you get unlimited moves and more control.
It matches by song and artist, usually hitting 80-85% accuracy. If it gets a match wrong, you can fix it yourself. It’s nice that it works in the background, so you don’t have to babysit the app.
There’s also FreeYourMusic, which uses ISRC codes instead of just text matching. That bumps accuracy up to about 97% since it’s looking for the exact recording. It’s a $14.99 one-time purchase and works on both iOS and Android.
Browser Extensions and Open-Source Options
Soundiiz is a popular open-source tool. It gives you basic transfers for free, and premium starts at $4.50 a month for more features and faster speeds.
No need to install anything—these run in your browser and connect via official streaming APIs. Works on Windows, Mac, Linux, whatever you’ve got.
Free versions usually limit how much you can transfer at once or per month. Pay for premium if you want to move everything at once or set up automatic syncing between platforms.
Troubleshooting and Optimizing Your Migration
Don’t expect perfection on the first try. Sometimes songs just don’t match, and it’s good to know why—and what you can do about it—if you want your whole library on Spotify.
Handling Unmatched Songs and Errors
Most tools give you a report after the transfer, showing what worked and what didn’t. Songs might not match for a few reasons.
YouTube Music has a lot of user uploads—fan remixes, bootlegs, unofficial stuff—that Spotify just doesn’t carry. Those won’t transfer, plain and simple. Sometimes, regional licensing gets in the way too—a song available on YouTube Music in your country might not be on Spotify at all.
If you’re missing tracks, try searching for them manually. Sometimes they show up under a different album or with a slightly different artist name. Try searching by just the song title or just the artist.
When it comes to YouTube-only songs, you’ve got two real options: keep YouTube Music around for those, or look for alternate versions on Spotify—maybe a live take or a cover that scratches the same itch.
Improving Transfer Accuracy
Clean up your playlists before you start. Get rid of duplicates, fix any typos, and remove broken or unavailable songs. It sounds tedious, but it really helps.
Use transfer tools with better matching algorithms. Free Your Music and similar apps can handle weird spellings, alternate artist formats, and other quirks. They usually hit 95% or better for standard songs.
If you want to avoid slowdowns or hiccups, try running transfers during off-peak hours. If the tool stalls, just close and reopen it—most save your progress so you won’t have to start over.
And if you’ve got a huge library, don’t try to move it all at once. Smaller batches are easier to manage and make it simpler to spot and fix any errors.
Data Management and Privacy Concerns
Transfer tools need you to log in to both your YouTube Music and Spotify accounts. Stick to well-known services with transparent privacy policies. Always double-check what permissions a tool wants before you hit “allow.”
Most reputable playlist migration services don’t hang on to your music data. They just peek at your playlists long enough to transfer them, then wipe that info. Still, it’s smart to skim the privacy policy and see how your data’s actually handled.
Your original YouTube Music playlists aren’t changed during the process. These tools just make copies, so nothing’s lost if you want to try the transfer again.
If you’re done with the transfer and won’t use sync features, go ahead and revoke those app permissions. You can do this in your Google and Spotify account settings—just remove access for any third-party tools you don’t need anymore.
