How to Cancel Spotify Premium (and Keep Your Playlists)

If you want out of Spotify Premium, the process is straightforward — but there are a few gotchas that can cost you money or leave you scrambling to save your library. This guide walks you through cancellation on every platform and tells you exactly what you keep (and lose) when you drop to the free tier.

What do you actually lose when you cancel?

Canceling Spotify Premium downgrades you to the free, ad-supported tier. You do not lose your account, your playlists, your Liked Songs, or your followers. Everything you've curated stays intact — Spotify's own support page confirms you keep your playlists and saved music when your account goes free.

What you do lose:

• Offline downloads. Any tracks saved for offline listening stop working the moment your Premium period ends.
• On-demand playback on mobile. Free tier on phones forces shuffle mode on most playlists.
• Audio quality. Free accounts stream at a lower bitrate.
• Ad-free listening. You'll hear ads every few songs.
• Audiobook hours. Premium Individual includes a monthly audiobook listening allowance (about 15 hours, as of June 2026); the free tier doesn't.

If you primarily listen on a laptop or desktop web browser, the free tier is actually decent — you get on-demand playback there. Mobile is the bigger downgrade.

How do you cancel Spotify Premium?

Step 1: Figure out how you signed up

The cancellation path depends entirely on where you originally subscribed:

• Signed up at spotify.com or through the Spotify app directly? Cancel on Spotify's website (account page).
• Signed up through Apple (iOS App Store)? Cancel through iPhone Settings → your Apple ID → Subscriptions.
• Signed up through Google (Android Play Store)? Cancel through Google Play → Subscriptions.
• Signed up through a carrier or partner bundle (e.g., a mobile/internet provider deal)? You'll need to cancel through that partner — Spotify can't cancel a partner-billed plan for you.

Not sure which applies to you? Log into your Spotify account, open your plan page, and look under your payment details. If it says payment is through Apple, Google, or a partner, that's where you need to go.

Step 2: Cancel on Spotify's website (direct subscribers)

1. Go to spotify.com in any browser and log in.
2. Click your profile icon in the top-right corner, then select Account.
3. Open Manage your plan (Spotify may show Change plan first).
4. Select Cancel subscription (sometimes labeled Cancel Premium).
5. Spotify will show you a retention screen with offers — a discounted rate or a pause option. Ignore these if you're committed to leaving and click Continue to cancel.
6. Confirm by selecting Yes, cancel. You'll see your last day of Premium access and get a confirmation email.

Step 3: Cancel through Apple (if you subscribed via iOS)

1. Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap your name at the top, then tap Subscriptions.
3. Find Spotify in the list and tap it.
4. Tap Cancel Subscription and confirm.

Apple processes the cancellation immediately, but you retain access through the end of the billing period you already paid for.

Step 4: Cancel through Google Play (if you subscribed via Android)

1. Open the Google Play Store app.
2. Tap your profile icon, then Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions.
3. Select Spotify and tap Cancel subscription.
4. Follow the prompts to confirm.

Step 5: Confirm the cancellation

No matter which method you used, check for a confirmation email from Spotify. Log back into your account and verify the plan status shows a cancellation date. If it still shows "Premium" without an end date, the cancellation may not have gone through.

What happens after you cancel?

Your Premium access continues until your next billing date, then your account automatically switches to free. There is no prorated refund for unused days if you cancel mid-cycle — Spotify lets you use the service through the period you paid for, then stops billing.

If you cancel while you're still inside a free trial (a $0 trial), the downgrade happens right away rather than at a future billing date.

Should you switch instead of dropping to free?

If you're leaving Spotify because of cost, it's worth knowing what the current plans actually run before you decide. Spotify raised prices across the board in January 2026, so the numbers may be higher than you remember.

Most major music streamers — Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, YouTube Music — land in a similar range for individual plans, though family and bundle deals vary. Amazon Music comes bundled with Prime for some subscribers, which can make it effectively free if you already pay for Prime. If you're weighing a move to Apple's service, our Spotify vs. Apple Music breakdown compares catalog, sound quality, and price head to head, and the Experience Index scores how painful each service is to leave when the day comes.

If a student rate or a different plan tier would solve the problem, you don't have to cancel at all — you can switch plans from the same page. Check current Spotify plans →

The bottom line: canceling Spotify takes about two minutes once you know which path applies to you, and your playlists will be waiting if you ever come back.

Frequently asked questions