How to get Google Music for free

Find out how to sign up to the free version of Google Play Music or get the free trial of Google Play Music Unlimited

Google’s answer to Spotify is called Google Play Music, a music streaming service that costs £9.99 per month and gives you unlimited access to millions of songs. You can get Google Play Music for free, though. Here we show you how.

How to get the Google Play Music free trial

The best way to get Google Play Music for free is by taking advantage of the 30 day trial. It is completely ad-free and you’ll have access to the entire library with unlimited skips.

You can sign up for the trial by clicking here, but be sure to cancel before you’re charged. You can cancel the subscription right away and continue using your 30 day trial confident that you won’t have to pay the £9.99 at the end of it.

How to get the free version of Google Play Music

For a truly free version of Google Play Music, you can go to the same sign-up page on which you’ll find access to the free trial (here) but instead of clicking subscribe you need to click ‘No Thanks’.

You’ll still need to add a card or Paypal account, but as long as you don’t buy any music from the Play store you won’t be charged.

There’s a major catch here, though. Unlike the likes of Spotify and Deezer, Google’s free version is not at all like it’s paid for version. You won’t get access to the streaming library at all (with Spotify and Deezer you get ads, a set number of skips and other limited features with the free version but otherwise access to the same service).

Instead, you’ll be able to upload up to 50,000 of your own songs to Google Play Music that you’ll be able to listen to across all of your devices including iOS. These can be MP3 files you’ve purchased from anywhere. You’ll also get recommendations based on your tastes. 

While still a very useful service, it’s probably not quite what you were expecting from a free version of Google Play Music (it surprised us, too). If a free music streaming service is what you’re after, you won’t find that from Google. Instead you’ll need to look to Spotify or Deezer