Best for
Best for electronic music producers and live performers who arrange by launching and recombining clips.
Audio Editing & Mastering Comparison
Ableton Live vs. Tracktion Waveform
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for musicians and producers who want a full DAW without a subscription, including on Linux.
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Ableton Live | Tracktion Waveform |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | lower value $99 Live 12 Intro, one-time licence. Standard $349, Suite $749 or rent-to-own at $31.21 a month for 24 months. | Free; Waveform Pro $249 Waveform Pro is a one-time payment; the upgrade from Waveform 13 is $149. Bundles with instruments and sound libraries cost $349, $599 and $999, and feature expansions for Waveform Free start at $30 each. |
| Free trial | 30-day trial of Live Suite, no credit card required | Free 30-day trial of Waveform Pro; Waveform Free costs nothing |
| Output | Produced, arranged, mixed and performed music, exported as WAV, AIFF, FLAC or MP3 | Recorded, produced, edited and mixed music |
| Hosting | Desktop app for macOS 11 or later and Windows 10 (22H2) or Windows 11 | Desktop app for macOS 13 or later, 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, and Linux (tested on Ubuntu 24.04) |
| What it does | Digital audio workstation for music production and live performance, combining a clip-based Session View with a timeline Arrangement View | Digital audio workstation for recording, producing, editing and mixing music, with MIDI composition tools and an optional video expansion |
| Multitrack or two-track | Multitrack: 16 audio and MIDI tracks in Intro, unlimited in Standard and Suite, with 2 or 12 send and return tracks and take comping in every edition | Multitrack audio and MIDI; Tracktion describes Waveform Free as a fully featured, completely unlimited free DAW |
| Noise removal and repair | No dedicated noise reduction, de-click or spectral repair device among Live's built-in audio effects; the Gate device can remove low-level noise such as hiss or hum between sounds | A built-in Gate turns the signal down when it falls below a threshold; noise and clicks at the edges of a clip are dealt with by trimming and short edge fades |
| Mastering and loudness | Export can normalise to the highest peak and apply Rectangular, Triangular or POW-r dither when rendering below 32 bit | Master Mix in Waveform Pro combines EQ, three-band crossover compression, dynamics, gain and DC filtering at the end of the chain, next to a brick-wall Limiter and a Level Meter with Peak and RMS modes. On export the mix can be normalised to its peak or scaled to a target RMS level, with dithering on by default |
| Formats and resolution | Exports WAV, AIFF and FLAC at 16, 24 or 32 bit plus 320 kbps CBR MP3, and can render every track or selected tracks as separate files | Records WAV by default, or AIFF, FLAC or Ogg, at 16, 24 or 32 bits depending on the format and at the sample rates the audio interface offers. Mixdowns export to WAV, MP3 at up to 320 kbps and other file types, and whole projects move in and out as DAWproject files |
| Where it runs | Desktop app for macOS and Windows hosting VST2, VST3 and Audio Units v2 and v3 plug-ins, with Ableton Link to sync tempo with other devices and apps | Desktop app for macOS 13 or later on Intel or Apple Silicon, 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, and Linux, tested on Ubuntu 24.04. Hosts VST, VST3 and AU plug-ins and runs them sandboxed, so a crashing plug-in does not close Waveform |
| Licence and pricing model | One-time licence per edition at $99 (Intro), $349 (Standard) and $749 (Suite), Suite also as rent-to-own at $31.21 a month for 24 months; one user on up to two computers | Waveform Free at no cost, with paid feature expansions from $30 each. Waveform Pro is a one-time purchase at $249, or $149 as an upgrade from Waveform 13, and is also sold in three larger bundles |
| Also included | Audio-to-MIDI conversion from Standard up, Max for Live and Stem Separation into vocals, drums, bass and others in Suite, and Sound Similarity Search in the browser in every edition | In Waveform Pro: 38 audio effects, 10 MIDI effects, 11 utility plug-ins and 10 instruments, plus Auto-Tune, Melodyne Essential and Elastique Pro, and the Pro Video, Recording Engineer, MIDI Producer, Synth Pack, DJ Mix Tools, Launcher and Multi Channel expansions |
| API | No hosted API. Max for Live devices in Suite can query, set and observe tracks, clips, scenes and devices through the Live API, with the live.object, live.observer and live.path objects or in JavaScript | No hosted API. A JavaScript API configures controllers, and the Waveform Assistant can run JavaScript macros; the Tracktion Engine behind Waveform is offered to developers as an open-source toolkit |
| AI features | Yes | Yes |
| Deployment | On-premise | On-premise |
| Support | Email helpdesk | Not stated |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials |
| Integrations | Not stated | Ableton Link, OpenAI, Anthropic |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Ableton Live $99 Tracktion Waveform Free; Waveform Pro $249
- Free trial Ableton Live 30-day trial of Live Suite, no credit card required Tracktion Waveform Free 30-day trial of Waveform Pro; Waveform Free costs nothing
- Hosting Ableton Live Desktop app for macOS 11 or later and Windows 10 (22H2) or Windows 11 Tracktion Waveform Desktop app for macOS 13 or later, 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, and Linux (tested on Ubuntu 24.04)
- Output Ableton Live Produced, arranged, mixed and performed music, exported as WAV, AIFF, FLAC or MP3 Tracktion Waveform Recorded, produced, edited and mixed music
- What it does Ableton Live Digital audio workstation for music production and live performance, combining a clip-based Session View with a timeline Arrangement View Tracktion Waveform Digital audio workstation for recording, producing, editing and mixing music, with MIDI composition tools and an optional video expansion
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Ableton Live
Strengths
- Session View launches and recombines clips without committing to a timeline
- Standard and Suite have unlimited audio and MIDI tracks
- Stem Separation runs locally without an internet connection
- Ableton Link syncs tempo wirelessly with other devices
Limitations
- Intro is limited to 16 tracks and 2 send and return tracks
- Stem Separation and Max for Live are reserved for Suite
- Activating a licence needs an internet connection
Tracktion Waveform
Strengths
- Waveform Free is a no-cost version of the same DAW
- Runs on Linux, where the Pro features unlock automatically
- Pro includes Auto-Tune, Melodyne Essential and Elastique Pro
- Third-party plug-ins run sandboxed, so a crash does not close the host
Limitations
- The Waveform Assistant needs your own OpenAI or Anthropic API key
- Video in Waveform Free needs the paid Pro Video expansion
- Moving from Waveform 13 to 14 is a paid upgrade
Plans
Pricing
Ableton Live
- Live 12 Intro $99 One-time licence. 16 audio and MIDI tracks, 8 software instruments, 27 audio effects and 5+ GB of sounds.
- Live 12 Standard $349 One-time licence. Unlimited tracks, 13 software instruments, 42 audio effects and 38+ GB of sounds.
- Live 12 Suite $749 One-time licence, or rent-to-own at $31.21 a month for 24 months. 20 software instruments, 58 audio effects, 71+ GB of sounds, Max for Live and Stem Separation.
Tracktion Waveform
- Waveform Free $0 Free DAW with VST, VST3 and AU plug-in support. Feature expansions from $30 each.
- Waveform Pro $249 One-time. $149 as an upgrade from Waveform 13.
- Recommended Bundle $349 One-time. Waveform Pro plus F.'em, Dan Dean Essential Bass, the Testa Imagina drum loop library and RetroMod FAT and LoFreq Modern. $299 as an upgrade.
- Studio Content Bundle $599 One-time. The Recommended Bundle plus further instruments, among them the RetroMod Collection, MOK Waverazor and Abyss 2. $549 as an upgrade.
- Everything Bundle $999 One-time. The Studio Content Bundle plus the remaining Tracktion plug-ins and all sound packs available at purchase.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Ableton Live
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
Tracktion Waveform
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
Reviews are not published yet. The form on a tool's page works and reaches us, but nothing from it appears on this site, so no score here is based on a review. The rules below are the ones that will apply once reviews go live.
Every review is read by a person before it appears. We require a working email address and use it to come back to the author, so a review has a reachable sender rather than being anonymous. We publish positive and negative reviews alike, we pay nothing and offer nothing for a review, and we accept none that was bought or incentivised.
What we cannot do is verify a purchase. There is no shop here and no account, so whether the author really used the tool rests on what they tell us, plus the plausibility of what they write. We say so rather than implying a check that does not exist.
A vendor cannot have a review removed, cannot buy one, and cannot have one changed. Paid placement and a paid listing have no effect on which reviews appear or on any score.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Ableton Live https://www.ableton.com/en/live/ · checked against the official source on 2026-10-14
Tracktion Waveform https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-pro · checked against the official source on 2026-10-20
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.