The best free DAWs, and what each one won't let you do

"Free DAW" covers three genuinely different things: software that's completely free forever, software that's free with real feature limits, and a full paid product wearing a trial that behaves almost like a free tier. None of that is stated clearly on most download pages, so it's easy to install one expecting one thing and hit the actual limit a week later. We checked each of these directly against the developer's own current site rather than older roundup articles, since this category changes often: one entry on this list was "free forever" for years and stopped being true in August 2025.

Cakewalk Sonar

Cakewalk by BandLab, long recommended as the "actually free forever" Windows DAW, was fully discontinued; its own help centre confirms the old product is no longer supported or operational. The replacement, Cakewalk Sonar, does have a genuine free tier: unlimited audio and MIDI tracks, unlimited instrument tracks, ProChannel, AudioSnap, and VST3 support for most current plugins, all usable indefinitely without a BandLab membership. What's gated behind the paid subscription is a shorter list than you'd expect: unlimited Arranger Tracks (the free tier gets one), plugin oversampling, Workspaces, and a bundled content library. There's no one-time purchase option; the paid tier is subscription-only. It remains Windows-only, with no Mac version planned.

GarageBand

Genuinely free, no trial, no upsell, and it comes preinstalled on most Macs. Up to 255 tracks, a capable virtual drummer, Flex Time editing, and amp/pedal simulation for guitar and bass. The real limit is plugin format: GarageBand only hosts Audio Units, not VST or VST3, which shuts out most of the free plugin ecosystem covered in our free VST plugins roundup. It's also Mac and iOS only, and it's Apple's own on-ramp to Logic Pro if you outgrow it.

Waveform Free

Tracktion's free tier now advertises full VST, VST3 and AU plugin support directly on its own product page, unlimited tracks, and a reasonable built-in effects and instrument set. That's a genuine change worth flagging: older versions of Waveform Free didn't support third-party VST plugins at all, and that limitation still gets repeated in older "best free DAW" writeups. Paid content expansions start at $30, with a full Pro upgrade from $249 if you want more built-in instruments and effects later. Linux support is listed as "coming soon" rather than shipped, despite Tracktion's Linux-friendly reputation.

LMMS

100% free and open source, with no paid tier at all, on Windows, Mac and Linux. It ships 16 built-in synths, SoundFont and sample format support, and 64-bit VST instrument hosting with a 32-bit bridge on Windows. It's built primarily around pattern-based beat-making and sequencing rather than multitrack live recording, so it's a strong pick for electronic production and a weaker one if your main need is comping vocal or instrument takes. Worth flagging for Mac users specifically: LMMS's own feature list only names Linux and Windows for VST effect plugin support, not macOS, so check that specifically if effect plugins matter to you on a Mac.

Ableton Live Lite

Not something you download on its own. Ableton's own help centre is explicit that a Live Lite serial only gets issued alongside a qualifying hardware or software purchase, commonly an audio interface, so it's less a "free DAW" than a bonus that comes with something else you were probably buying anyway; see our audio interface guide for which interfaces currently bundle it. Its exact spec, per Ableton's own comparison table: 8 audio/MIDI tracks, 5 instruments, 2 packs, 16 audio effects, 10 MIDI effects, 16 scenes, 2 send/return tracks and 8 audio inputs/outputs, well short of Standard (unlimited tracks, 13 instruments, £259) or Suite (unlimited tracks, 20 instruments, £599). It does include full VST2/VST3/AU plugin support even at the Lite tier, so it's genuinely usable alongside free plugins rather than a stripped demo.

FL Studio's unlimited trial

Image-Line's own download page is unusually blunt about this: every instrument, every effect, every feature, on Windows and Mac, no time limit and no watermarked exports. The one restriction is that a project saved during the trial can't be reopened again until you buy and register a licence, though you can export finished audio to a full-quality WAV or MP3 at any point. That makes it genuinely workable for single-session learning, build a beat, export it, done, but impractical for any project you want to come back to and keep editing across multiple days. Paid editions start at £89.

Reaper

A 60-day full-featured evaluation, not a permanently free tier, with a licence priced at $60 for individuals or organisations under $20,000 annual revenue, and $225 for commercial use, both excluding VAT. Reaper is well known in production forums for continuing to run after the 60 days with an occasional reminder rather than a hard lockout, though that specific behaviour isn't something Cockos states outright on its own current site, so treat it as long-documented community knowledge rather than an official policy. It's the only DAW on this list that supports Linux natively alongside Windows and Mac.

Audacity

Fully free and open source on Windows, Mac and Linux, and worth including here mainly to rule it out for the wrong use case: it's described on its own site as a multitrack audio editor and recorder, not a DAW, and its feature list is entirely audio-editing tools, cutting, trimming, noise reduction, effects, with no MIDI sequencing, piano roll or virtual instrument hosting anywhere in it. It does support VST3 plugins for audio processing. It's genuinely useful for cleaning up a recording or a podcast; it's not a substitute for a DAW if you want to write and arrange a track from scratch.

Which one should you actually pick

• On a Mac, with no interest in third-party plugins yet: GarageBand.
• On Windows, wanting a genuinely permanent free DAW: Cakewalk Sonar's free tier.
• Cross-platform, wanting real VST support with no catch: Waveform Free.
• Focused on beats and electronic production specifically: LMMS.
• Already buying an interface or controller: check whether it bundles Ableton Live Lite before looking elsewhere.
• Willing to commit to a specific paid DAW but want to try it properly first: FL Studio's trial or Reaper's evaluation, both genuinely full-featured rather than crippled demos.