Top Alternatives to GarageBand

Audacity is a powerful, free, and open-source cross-platform audio editor and recording software. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for manipulating audio files, mixing tracks, applying effects, and recording sound from various sources. Ideal for beginners and experienced users alike, it's a versatile solution for a wide range of audio tasks.

LMMS is a free and open-source digital audio workstation (DAW) that provides comprehensive tools for music production. It allows users to compose, mix, and automate music, offering features like a piano roll, beat/bassline editor, sampler, and support for various plugins. Ideal for both beginners and experienced producers seeking a cost-effective solution.

FL Studio is a comprehensive Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) offering a complete music production environment. It provides tools for composing, arranging, recording, editing, mixing, and mastering professional-quality music, making it suitable for beginners and experienced producers alike.

Ardour is a powerful, open-source digital audio workstation designed for professional audio recording, editing, and mixing. It offers comprehensive tools for musicians, engineers, and producers.

Adobe Audition is a comprehensive digital audio workstation and audio editor designed for professional audio mixing, mastering, and sound effect design. It combines multitrack, waveform, and spectral editing capabilities in a single integrated package.

REAPER is a comprehensive and efficient digital audio workstation (DAW) known for its flexibility, power, and affordability. It offers extensive multitrack recording, audio and MIDI editing capabilities, built-in effects, and deep customization options, making it suitable for musicians, audio engineers, and producers.

Ableton Live is a powerful digital audio workstation (DAW) for macOS and Windows, designed for music creation, production, and live performance. It uniquely combines a traditional linear arrangement view with an innovative non-linear session view.

Reason is a comprehensive Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) renowned for its virtual studio rack workflow, allowing musicians and producers to create, record, mix, and master music with a wide array of virtual instruments, effects, and mixing tools. Its intuitive, visual interface simulates a hardware studio environment, fostering creativity.

Sony Sound Forge is a professional digital audio editor designed for high-quality audio production across various professional audio tasks, including recording, editing, processing, and mastering.

Logic Pro is a powerful digital audio workstation designed for macOS, providing a comprehensive environment for professional music production, recording, editing, and mixing.

Cubase is a comprehensive digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for professional music production. It offers powerful tools for recording, editing, mixing, and mastering audio, along with extensive MIDI sequencing capabilities.

Audiotool is a free, powerful online Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) accessible directly in your web browser. It offers a comprehensive suite of virtual instruments, effects, and mixing tools, allowing users to create and produce music collaboratively. Its integrated publishing platform simplifies sharing and discovering new tracks within a vibrant community.

Sony ACID Pro is a professional digital audio workstation (DAW) renowned for its innovative loop-based music creation capabilities and robust audio editing tools.

Avid Pro Tools is the industry-standard digital audio workstation (DAW) for composing, recording, editing, and mixing music and audio for film, TV, and other media. Known for its powerful features and professional-grade tools.

Bitwig Studio is a comprehensive Digital Audio Workstation designed for music creation, production, performance, and DJing across multiple platforms. It emphasizes flexibility and efficiency through innovative tools like its modular environment, The Grid, and a fluid workflow for both linear arrangement and non-linear clip launching.

Mixcraft is a comprehensive digital audio workstation (DAW) for Windows, offering a user-friendly interface for multitrack recording, MIDI sequencing, virtual instruments, and a massive library of effects and loops, making it suitable for beginners and seasoned musicians alike.

Qtractor is a powerful open-source digital audio workstation (DAW) designed specifically for the Linux operating system. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for multitrack audio recording, editing, and mixing.

LinuxSampler is an advanced, open-source software sampler designed for professional audio production and live performance. It provides a robust engine for loading and playing large sample libraries, offering high fidelity audio processing and extensive MIDI control.

PreSonus Studio One is a comprehensive digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for creating, recording, mixing, and mastering music. It offers a streamlined workflow and powerful tools suitable for musicians, producers, and audio engineers of all levels.

Jokosher is a free, open-source, non-linear multi-track digital audio editor designed for creating and editing music and audio projects. Built with Python, GTK+, and GStreamer, it provides essential tools for recording, mixing, and manipulating audio.

Soundation Studio is a web-based digital audio workstation (DAW) offering a comprehensive suite of tools for music production. It includes audio recording, virtual instruments, effects, a large loop library, and MIDI support, all accessible directly within your web browser.

MuLab is a portable and powerful digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for music production, recording, mixing, and live performance. It features a unique modular architecture, extensive VST plugin support, and a user-friendly interface, making it suitable for both beginners and experienced musicians.

Cakewalk SONAR is a powerful digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for professional music production, recording, and mixing. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for composing, arranging, editing, and producing audio and MIDI.

Cross DJ is a comprehensive DJ software designed for creative music mixing and performance. It offers intuitive controls, powerful features like advanced beat matching, effects chains, loop manipulation, and extensive controller support. Seamless integration with music libraries like iTunes and Spotify enhances workflow, making it suitable for both beginner enthusiasts and seasoned professionals.

MAGIX Music Maker is a versatile digital audio workstation designed for creating music, offering a user-friendly interface, extensive loop libraries, virtual instruments, and professional mixing tools. It caters to both beginners and experienced users looking for a streamlined music production workflow.

WaveShop is a free, open-source audio editor for Windows, designed for efficient bit-perfect editing of audio files. It focuses on precise audio manipulation without altering samples unless necessary, making it ideal for tasks like trimming, fading, and format conversion.

Anvil Studio is a comprehensive, free digital audio workstation designed primarily for composing and editing MIDI music, with robust capabilities for recording and editing audio.

Tracktion is a professional digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for music production, recording, editing, and mixing. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for handling audio and MIDI, supporting a wide range of workflows from songwriting to mastering.

Ohm Studio is an innovative cloud-based Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) uniquely designed for real-time collaborative music production. It allows musicians and producers to work together on projects simultaneously, regardless of location, facilitating seamless creativity and teamwork.

Harrison Mixbus is a digital audio workstation (DAW) specifically designed for music mixing and audio production, integrating Harrison's renowned console processing directly into the software environment. It focuses on delivering a console-like workflow with exceptional sound quality.

Luppp is a free and open-source music creation and looping software designed primarily for live performance. It enables musicians to build tracks layer by layer using loops, MIDI input, and audio recording, offering a flexible environment for improvisation and rapid musical idea development.

energyXT is a versatile and user-friendly digital audio workstation (DAW) designed for music production. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for recording, editing, mixing, and mastering audio and MIDI, all within a flexible and customizable interface.

Traverso DAW is a comprehensive cross-platform digital audio workstation designed for multitrack audio recording, editing, and mastering. It offers a non-linear processing workflow and includes support for essential audio tasks like mixing and effect application.