What does beat-making software really cost?
Twelve programs for making beats and music, from free apps to £800 suites. Some you buy once, some you rent, some are free with limits — so pick how you'd rather pay.
Last checked: 4 Nov 2026 · every price read off the vendor's own page, monthly billing · no affiliate links
The short answer
You can start for nothing: GarageBand (Mac, iPhone and iPad), BandLab and Soundtrap (in the browser), Akai's MPC Beats and the free Fender Studio app all make beats at no cost, with limits such as 16 tracks.
To own the full thing outright: Maschine software is £99, Fender Studio Pro £169.99, Logic Pro £199.99 and Bitwig Studio £339. Ableton Live Suite is £539 and Cubase Pro £500; FL Studio's All Plugins Edition lists at £469.
Updates differ more than prices. FL Studio includes lifetime free updates; Bitwig and Fender include 12 months; Ableton charges for major new versions.
Paying monthly comes in two kinds. Rent-to-own ends with you owning it: Ableton Live Suite at £22.46 a month for 24 months is £539.04, the same as buying. A subscription stops when you stop paying: Logic Pro is £12.99 a month in Apple Creator Studio, Reason+ $19.99.
Read the small print on FL Studio: its free trial has no time limit but won't reopen a saved project, and its rent-to-own plan keeps billing FL Cloud at £8.99 a month after the twelfth payment unless you cancel.
Black Friday has started: on the day we checked, FL Studio All Plugins was £225 (list £469) and Reason 14 Complete $399 (list $799). This page uses list prices.
Names are changing: Studio One is now Fender Studio Pro, and Native Instruments now has the same owner as Akai.
When the cheapest is not the answer
- Workflow matters more than price. Pattern-based programs (FL Studio, Maschine, MPC) and timeline-based ones (Logic, Cubase, Ableton's arrangement view) suit different ways of working; try the free version or trial first.
- Check your computer. Logic and GarageBand are Apple-only; BandLab and Soundtrap run in a browser.
- Sounds and plugins cost extra. Many producers spend more on sample packs and instruments than on the program itself.
- Sales are frequent. Most of these discount heavily around Black Friday; this page uses list prices.
Who made this page
An AI agent read each tool's pricing page in a real browser, switched it to monthly billing, and copied the sentence behind every figure; code checked each sentence was really on the page before it could be used. This page replaces an older list of beat-making software on this site.
There are no affiliate links on this page. If that changes, each paid link will be marked (Ad), with a plain link beside it, and the order will stay what it is: by price, nothing else.
How the numbers are worked out
start = free, the entry edition or one month of the cheapest subscription; own = the fullest edition bought outright; monthly = the lowest rent-to-own or subscription price
| Program | Cheapest way to start | Full version, bought outright | Pay monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| FL Studiolifetime free updates; Fruity can't record audio | £89.00Fruity Edition, one-off (no audio recording) | £469.00All Plugins Edition, one-off (list price; £225 in the Black Friday sale) | £22.00Rent-to-Own Plus: Producer Edition + FL Cloud, £22/month for 12 payments, then you own FL Studio (FL Cloud continues at £8.99/mo until cancelled) |
| Ableton LiveIntro limited to 16 tracks; paid major upgrades | £69.00Live 12 Intro, one-off (16 tracks) | £539.00Live 12 Suite, one-off | £22.46Rent-to-own Live 12 Suite: £22.46/month for 24 months, then you own it |
| Logic ProMac only; also in Apple Creator Studio | £12.99Apple Creator Studio, £12.99/month after a 30-day free trial (includes Logic Pro for Mac and iPad) | £199.99Logic Pro for Mac, one-off standalone app (Mac App Store) | £12.99Apple Creator Studio subscription (Logic Pro, MainStage, Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro and more) |
| GarageBandfree; Mac and iPhone/iPad only | freeFree (Mac App Store) | freeFree: the full app costs nothing | no planno option |
| Bitwig Studio12 months of updates included | £79.00Bitwig Studio Essentials, one-off | £339.00Bitwig Studio (full), one-off | no planno option |
| Reasonlist price shown; Black Friday price lower | £14.91Reason+ subscription, $19.99/month (7-day free trial) · $19.99 | £595.79Reason 14 Complete, one-off (list price; $399 in the Black Friday sale) · $799.00 | £14.91Reason+ (DAW + Rack plugin + all devices), billed monthly · $19.99 |
| Maschine (Native Instruments)software only; hardware sold separately | £99.00Maschine 3 software including Maschine Central library, one-off | £99.00Maschine 3 software, one-off (hardware sold separately via retailers) | no planno option |
| Akai MPCMPC Beats free, 16 tracks | freeMPC 3 Beats, free (16 tracks) · $0.00 | £148.39MPC 3 Desktop, $199 MSRP (free with eligible MPC hardware) · $199.00 | no planno option |
| BandLabfree in the browser and app; Pro adds features | freeBandLab Free (16-track Studio) · $0.00 | no planno option | £11.18BandLab Membership Pro, billed monthly · $14.99 |
| Soundtrapbrowser-based | freeSoundtrap Free | no planno option | £11.99Sound Starter, £11.99/month (7-day free trial) |
| Fender Studio Pro (was Studio One)12 months of updates; free Fender Studio app | freeFender Studio app, free | £169.99Fender Studio Pro perpetual licence (one year of feature updates) | £19.99Pro+ Monthly Plan, billed monthly until cancelled (no perpetual licence) |
| CubaseElements has limited tracks | £83.00Cubase Elements 16, one-off (limited tracks) | £500.00Cubase Pro 16, one-off | no planno option |
Exchange rates. ECB euro reference rates of 3 November 2026: 1 EUR = 0.83358 GBP, 1 EUR = 1.1179 USD, so 1 USD = 0.74567 GBP.
Left out: FL Studio Mobile — a separate mobile app at £14.99; Splice — an add-on: samples from $12.99 a month and rent-to-own plugins, used with any of these; Komplete 360 (Native Instruments) — A plugin subscription rather than a DAW, and its page shows plan names and contents (360 Essentials, Plus, Pro) but no prices..
If you'll recommend one: what each pays you
From each vendor's own affiliate page; none publishes a rate. Ableton, Apple, Bitwig, Reason Studios, Steinberg, Fender, Soundtrap, Akai and BandLab publish no programme. This plays no part in the order.
| Platform | Commission | Cookie |
|---|---|---|
| Image-Line (FL Studio) | Rate not published ('competitive, performance-based commissions'); covers licences and FL Cloud subscriptions | not stated |
| Splice | Rate not published; commission on new subscriptions plus recurring commission on eligible renewals | not stated |
| Native Instruments (Maschine, Komplete) | Rate not published ('competitive commissions across product categories') | not stated |
There are no affiliate links on this page. The research is done by AI agents reading each vendor's own pricing pages. Product names and logos are trademarks of their owners, used only to identify the products compared. No analytics cookies, no tracking scripts, no third-party requests. A personal project, separate from the author's day job.