YouTube Music Alternative
YouTube Music runs in a browser tab or on mobile, with ads and a Premium paywall for offline listening. YTAudioBar is a free, native menu bar / system tray app that streams or downloads anything on YouTube — not just its licensed music catalog — with no ads and no subscription.
| Feature | YouTube Music | YTAudioBar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free tier has ads between tracks; Premium removes them | Always free, no ads, no subscription |
| Desktop app | Web app only — no native desktop app | Native app for macOS, Windows, and Linux — menu bar / system tray, not a browser tab |
| Catalog | Curated, licensed music catalog | Anything on YouTube — music, podcasts, lectures, DJ sets, interviews |
| Offline downloads | Requires YouTube Music Premium | Unlimited, free, in M4A at YouTube's best available quality |
| Background playback | Requires Premium to play with the app backgrounded on mobile | Runs in the tray/menu bar with media key & SMTC/MPRIS support, no restrictions |
| Open source | Closed source | Fully open source on GitHub |
It's not a like-for-like clone — there's no official licensing deal or curated editorial catalog behind it. What you get instead is a lightweight native player (search, queue, playlists, media keys) pointed at YouTube's entire audio catalog, for free, without ever opening a browser.
Curious how it compares to Spotify too? See that comparison, or check the FAQ and download YTAudioBar.