A guide to house music subgenres: every style, explained
The short answer
"House" is an umbrella over a dozen distinct sounds, and knowing which is which is the fastest way to find music you'll actually love — or to know what you're walking into before you pay a cover charge. This guide indexes every subgenre we've mapped in depth: what defines it, its rough BPM range, and who to listen to first. Each explainer below stands on its own; read the umbrella term first if you're brand new, then branch into whichever comparison matches what you heard on a dancefloor.
Start here
- What is house music? — the four-on-the-floor sound itself, where every subgenre below branches from.
Head-to-head comparisons (the ones people actually search)
| Comparison | What's really different |
|---|---|
| Deep house vs tech house | Warm, soulful chords vs a stripped-back, percussive tool for peak-time DJs |
| Tech house vs techno | House's swing and groove vs techno's harder, more machine-like drive |
| Melodic house vs progressive house | Emotive, cinematic builds (Afterlife-style) vs the longer, more hypnotic arcs of classic progressive |
| Organic house vs deep house | Live instrumentation and acoustic texture vs deep house's more electronic, chord-driven warmth |
| Chicago house vs Detroit techno | Two neighbouring cities, two different origin stories — soulful house vs machine-funk techno |
Single-genre deep dives
| Genre | The one-line pitch |
|---|---|
| Afro house | Polyrhythmic percussion and vocal chants layered over a house foundation |
| Amapiano | South Africa's log-drum sound — not house, but house's closest current cousin |
Beyond the sound: labels and history
- The best house music labels to follow — who's actually pressing the records that define each subgenre today.
- The history of house music — from Chicago's Warehouse to the world, the story behind every branch on this map.
Every entry here uses the same rule: a real BPM range, a real definition, and real artists — no invented facts, no filler genres nobody actually searches for.
Keep reading
Ready to hear it live? See where to hear house music around the world for city-by-city club guides, or the house & techno festival calendar if a festival fits your trip better than a club night.