Let’s Talk PlaylistOwl vs. artist.tools: Which One’s Actually Worth Your Money?

Hey, fellow artist. Let’s have a real conversation here.

So you’re looking at playlist curator tools, and you’ve probably come across artist.tools. They’re positioning themselves as the “PlaylistOwl alternative,” but we need to flip that script and show you why we think PlaylistOwl is actually the smarter choice for most independent artists. Let’s break it down, no BS.

First, Let’s Address the Elephant in the Room: The Price

This is where things get really interesting.

PlaylistOwl: One-time $69 payment. That’s it. You own it forever. All updates included. No monthly bills eating away at your budget.

artist.tools: They’ve got a free tier (which is nice) but you have to upgrade to see the contact data of Playlist Curators and their paid plan is $15/month. That’s $180 per year. Every. Single. Year.

Here’s the math that’ll make you think: After just 5 months on artist.tools, you’ve already spent more than PlaylistOwl’s entire lifetime cost.

“But What About That Free Tier?”

Yeah, artist.tools has a free plan. We’ll give them that. But here’s the thing, the free tiers are usually pretty limited. You get a taste, but not the full meal. And once you need the real features (which you will), you’re back to that $15/month grind.

With PlaylistOwl, you get EVERYTHING from day one. No features locked behind a paywall. No “upgrade to see this data” messages. Just pure, unlimited access to find those playlist curators.

Bot Detection: Here’s the Real Secret

Okay, this is where artist.tools likes to flex. They’ve got bot detection built in. Cool story, but here’s a little secret they don’t want you to know:

You can check if playlists are botted for FREE using SubmitHub’s playlist checker at https://www.submithub.com/playlist-checker.

Why pay $15/month for something you can literally get for free elsewhere? That’s like paying for a weather app when you can just look outside.

With PlaylistOwl, we show you when playlists were last updated and their real-time metrics. If a playlist hasn’t been touched in 6 months or has weird follower patterns (also free on submithub), you’ll see it immediately.

So you get PlaylistOwl for finding curators + free SubmitHub for bot checking = saving money while getting better results. That’s just smart business.

Feature Comparison: The Real Deal

Feature	✅ PlaylistOwl	🤔 artist.tools
Lifetime Access	✅ $69 forever	❌ $15/month forever
Contact Finding	✅ Emails, socials, submission links	✅ Similar features
Search Speed	✅ Good search speed	⚠️ Depends on their servers
Mobile Design	✅ Built for desktop & mobile	✅ Built for desktop & mobile
Updates Included	✅ All future updates free	❌ Only with active subscription
Money-Back Guarantee	✅ 60 days, no questions	❌ No refund policy
Free Bot Detection	✅ PlaylistOwl + Submithub	⚠️ Not free but built in bot detection
Learning Curve	✅ Dead simple to use	⚠️ More complex interface
Free Bonuses	✅ 3 strategy guides included	❌ Just the tool

The “Advanced Features” Question

artist.tools loves to talk about their advanced search filters and all the extra data they track. And sure, if you’re a data nerd who wants to analyze every possible metric, that might sound appealing.

But here’s what we’ve learned from talking to actual artists: Most of you just want to find good playlists with real contact info, fast. You don’t need 47 different filters and demographic breakdowns. You need results.

PlaylistOwl gives you exactly what you need:

• Find playlists in your genre
• See if they’re active
• Get their contact info
• Move on with your life

We built this for artists, not data scientists.

Let’s Talk About What Really Matters

After 2 years, here’s what you’ll have spent:

artist.tools: $360 (and counting…)
PlaylistOwl: $69 (and you’re done)

That extra $291? That could be:

• A whole EP mixed and mastered
• Months of targeted social media ads
• New plugins for your DAW
• Actually promoting the music you’re trying to get playlisted

Which investment makes more sense for your career?

The “But They Have More Features!” Argument

Look, we get it. artist.tools has bot detection alerts, keyword rankings, artist monitoring, CSV exports… it’s a lot.

But ask yourself: Are you trying to become a playlist data analyst, or are you trying to get your music heard?

We believe in the 80/20 rule. PlaylistOwl gives you the 20% of features that get you 80% of the results. And that’s what actually matters.

Our Honest Take

Both tools can help you find playlist curators. That’s a fact. But the question is: which one respects your budget and your time?

Choose artist.tools if:

• You love spreadsheets and data analysis
• You don’t mind monthly subscriptions
• You want to track competitor playlists
• You have $180/year to spend on this forever

Choose PlaylistOwl if:

• You want to pay once and be done
• You value simplicity and speed
• You need it to work perfectly on mobile
• You’d rather invest saved money in your actual music
• You want those 3 free strategy guides to actually learn the game

The Bottom Line

We’re not here to trash artist.tools. They built something that works for some people. But we built PlaylistOwl for the artists who are tired of subscriptions, tired of complexity, and tired of paying forever for tools they need.

$69. One time. Lifetime access. Desktop and Mobile-ready. Dead simple to use.

Your future self (and your bank account) will thank you.

Ready to stop renting and start owning your playlist marketing tool? Join the hundreds of artists who’ve already made the switch to PlaylistOwl. With our 60-day guarantee, you’ve literally got nothing to lose.

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Quick note: Prices and features mentioned are based on what we’ve seen as of early 2025. Always good to double-check, but we’re pretty confident in our lifetime deal staying lifetime.