Comparison

Medium vs Spotify for Creators

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Medium

Access a vast collection of human stories, expert advice, and inspiring insights. Discover new topics, follow your interests, and connect with a global community of readers and writers. Publish your own work and reach a wide audience.

Highlights
  • Distraction-free reading
  • Curated content on tech, culture, news
  • Unlimited story access with membership
  • Personalized reading library
  • Community engagement (claps, comments)
  • Publishing platform for writers
  • Audio versions of stories (Member feature)
Read full description

Welcome to Medium, your home for human stories, useful advice, and inspiring insights. Immerse yourself in a world of wisdom with writing from renowned figures, passionate experts, and fresh voices. Make reading and writing a daily ritual by following your fascinations, discovering new rabbit holes, and reaching readers of your own. Medium is simple social publishing for everyone. + Find your focus with distraction-free reading about everything from taking better pictures to what it’s like to scale a startup. + Stay current with stories about emerging technology, culture, and firsthand accounts of front-page news. + Become a member for unlimited access to millions of stories from our global community of the curious. + Assemble your own personal library by highlighting passages, bookmarking stories, and following writers who share your passions. + Join a community of readers, writers, and thinkers who clap for what they love, respond with insightful comments on thought-provoking stories, and collaborate to create popular publications. + Reach a wider audience by publishing your stories on a platform that serves more than 100M idea-loving people. + Establish a professional presence on a trusted platform, alongside academics, leaders, and experts. + Join the Medium Partner Program to earn money from your writing. + Enjoy a continuous reading experience across your iPhone, iPad, and desktop. + Listen to audio versions of any story on Medium (Member feature). __ Medium Terms of Service: https://policy.medium.com/medium-terms-of-service-9db0094a1e0f Privacy Policy: https://policy.medium.com/medium-privacy-policy-f03bf92035c9 Support: https://help.medium.com

About

Spotify for Creators

This app helps podcast and video creators manage, grow, and monetize their content. It offers tools for audience engagement, performance tracking, and seamless content publishing. Creators can host their shows for free and distribute them across platforms.

Highlights
  • Host and distribute podcasts for free
  • Reach and engage new audiences
  • Monetize content with subscriptions and ads
  • Track podcast analytics and audience insights
  • Manage multiple shows
  • Customize show appearance on Spotify
  • Interact with fan comments and create polls
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

The official app from Spotify that helps creators grow, monetize, and manage their podcast or video show. The Spotify for Creators app (formerly known as Spotify for Podcasters) allows you to host and distribute your podcast for free, use powerful tools to reach and engage new audiences, get paid for your content, and stand out to over 600 million Spotify users. Spotify for Creators is where podcasters and video creators can make meaningful connections with fans and monetize their content. Hosted somewhere else? You can still use our mobile app to manage your show on the go. Fans come to Spotify to discover new podcasts. Tap into this audience by using Spotify for Creators to upload your episodes, connect with your fans, and check out your Spotify podcast analytics. With Spotify for Creators, podcast and video creators can: Grow your community and connect with loyal fans - Like and reply to your favorite fan comments - Get real-time feedback by creating polls on your episodes, and more - Grow your podcast with detailed insights about your show and your audience, and understand where they discover your show through impression analytics Track and manage your show - Get notifications to keep up with your show's activity, including fan interactions, trending episodes, when you hit the charts and other key milestones - Track the performance of your latest episode and get detailed audience insights - Manage multiple shows in one place, and easily switch between all of your shows from one account Customize your show on Spotify - No matter what kind of podcast or video content you’re creating, you’ll get powerful tools to help your show stand out on Spotify and beyond - Draft, manage, and publish content seamlessly, regardless of where you are hosted - Customize how your show and episodes appear on Spotify Get free hosting and RSS distribution Host your podcast with Spotify for free Manage your podcast RSS feed and ensure your podcast audio content is distributed to all major listening platforms Monetize your content (available for creators hosting their content on Spotify for Creators in select markets) For people wondering “how do you monetize a podcast?”, Spotify for Creators has flexible monetization options for audio and video creators, with subscriptions and the Spotify Partner Program (ads and premium video revenue) Need help? We're here for you at https://support.spotify.com/us/creators/ You can also find us on… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spotifyforcreators/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spotifyforcreators X: https://x.com/spotifycreator

Screenshots

Medium4 screens
Spotify for Creators4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Spotify for Creators at none against Medium's 6. Spotify for Creators also leads on review sentiment (74% vs 62%). Medium's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Medium sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Spotify for Creators asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Medium against 4.8 for Spotify for Creators. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 157K and 118K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 62% of Medium's written reviews are positive against 74% of Spotify for Creators's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on October 19, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Medium versus Spotify for Creators: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMediumSpotify for Creators
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (157K ratings)4.8 (118K ratings)
Positive reviews62.4% of reviews74.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings157K — better118K
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#19 — better#54
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size242 MB65 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperA Medium CorporationSpotify

Customer experience

Medium

All ratings157,246 ratings
Positive96.6%
Neutral1.8%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews829 reviews
Positive62.4%
Neutral10.4%
Negative27.3%

Spotify for Creators

All ratings117,751 ratings
Positive96.6%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews2,012 reviews
Positive74.3%
Neutral7.3%
Negative18.5%

User reviews

Medium

From 157K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📚 Excellent content and writing quality
  • 🌐 Wide variety of topics and perspectives
  • 🧠 Thought-provoking and informative articles
  • 🤓 Useful for learning and personal growth
  • 🎨 Clean and minimalist design

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Paywall limits access to content
  • 📥 Difficulty finding and accessing past articles
  • 🔍 Lack of effective search and filtering options
  • 🤖 Concerns about AI-generated content
  • 🖥️ Suboptimal experience on larger screens

Spotify for Creators

From 118K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Seamless podcast distribution
  • 👍 Great for beginners
  • 👍 Customizable podcast features
  • 👍 Helpful customer support

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy recording and editing
  • 🐛 Unreliable connection during group recordings
  • 🔋 High battery consumption
  • 🔒 Lack of accessibility features
  • 👎 Aggressive branding and monetization

Bugs and requests

Medium

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • Login and authentication issues
  • Syncing and data loss problems
  • Compatibility problems with newer OS versions
  • Unreliable push notifications

Requested features

5 requests
  • Offline reading mode
  • Better organization and navigation of content
  • Improved personalization and recommendation system
  • Integration with other platforms and services
  • Enhanced writing and publishing tools

Spotify for Creators

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Recordings getting lost or corrupted
  • Inconsistent performance across devices
  • Inability to delete or recover deleted content
  • Syncing issues between mobile and web versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Pause and resume recording functionality
  • Advanced audio editing tools
  • Ability to manage multiple podcasts
  • Improved podcast discovery and analytics
  • Better integration with external audio tools

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Medium

Subscriptions5
  • Medium Membership1 Month trial$4.991 Month
  • Medium Membership$4.991 Month
  • Friend Membership$14.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Medium Membership1 Year trial2 variants$49.991 Year
  • Friend Membership$149.991 Year
None

Spotify for Creators

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Medium free?
Medium is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Spotify for Creators free?
Spotify for Creators is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Medium or Spotify for Creators?
Medium and Spotify for Creators are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 157K and 118K ratings respectively.
Do Medium or Spotify for Creators have ads?
Spotify for Creators shows ads; Medium does not.
Which is updated more often, Medium or Spotify for Creators?
Medium ships an update weekly, and Spotify for Creators weekly. Most recently, Medium was updated on October 19, 2026 and Spotify for Creators on October 19, 2026.
Which is more popular, Medium or Spotify for Creators?
Medium currently peaks at #19 in the App Store charts, and Spotify for Creators at #54. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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