Media · paid tool
Adobe Audition alternatives
Audio workstation for recording, mixing, and restoring podcasts.
Free alternatives
Highest score first. The score weighs licence openness, repository activity, traction, feature coverage, and cost; factors without data are left out and the rest are reweighted.
Audacity
Ranking score 90.7/100
Multi-track audio recorder and editor for podcasts and music.
- Licence
- GPL-3.0
- Platforms
- macos, windows, linux
- Self-hostable
- No
- Repo activity
- Last release September 30, 2026
- GitHub stars
- 18,840
- Last verified
- October 24, 2026
Why this rank
Score breakdown for Audacity Factor Points Weight Licence opennessGPL-3.0 licence (open); not self-hostable 17.5 25% Repository activityLast activity 0 day(s) before 2026-10-26 25 25% Popularity18840 GitHub stars 18.2 20% Feature coverage6 of 6 curated capability tags covered 20 20% Costfree pricing model 10 10% Points add up to the score. Factors without data are left out and the remaining weights are renormalised.
Ardour
Ranking score 85.1/100
Digital audio workstation for recording, mixing, and mastering.
- Licence
- GPL-2.0
- Platforms
- macos, windows, linux
- Self-hostable
- No
- Repo activity
- Last commit October 26, 2026
- GitHub stars
- 5,383
- Last verified
- October 24, 2026
Why this rank
Score breakdown for Ardour Factor Points Weight Licence opennessGPL-2.0 licence (open); not self-hostable 17.5 25% Repository activityLast activity 0 day(s) before 2026-10-26 25 25% Popularity5383 GitHub stars 15.9 20% Feature coverage5 of 6 curated capability tags covered 16.7 20% Costfree pricing model 10 10% Points add up to the score. Factors without data are left out and the remaining weights are renormalised.
Qtractor
Ranking score 74.4/100
Linux audio workstation for arranging MIDI and recorded tracks.
- Licence
- GPL-2.0
- Platforms
- linux
- Self-hostable
- No
- Repo activity
- Last commit October 26, 2026
- GitHub stars
- 607
- Last verified
- October 24, 2026
Why this rank
Score breakdown for Qtractor Factor Points Weight Licence opennessGPL-2.0 licence (open); not self-hostable 17.5 25% Repository activityLast activity 0 day(s) before 2026-10-26 25 25% Popularity607 GitHub stars 11.9 20% Feature coverage3 of 6 curated capability tags covered 10 20% Costfree pricing model 10 10% Points add up to the score. Factors without data are left out and the remaining weights are renormalised.