Best for
Best for beatmakers and electronic producers who work in patterns and the piano roll and want to buy once.
Audio Editing & Mastering Comparison
FL Studio 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 | FL Studio | Tracktion Waveform |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | lower value $99 Fruity Edition, one-time licence. Producer $179, Signature Bundle $269, All Plugins Edition $449. Rent-to-own over 12 monthly payments is also offered. | 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 | Free trial with no time limit | Free 30-day trial of Waveform Pro; Waveform Free costs nothing |
| Output | Produced and mixed music, exported as WAV, MP3, OGG, M4A, FLAC or MIDI | Recorded, produced, edited and mixed music |
| Hosting | Desktop app for Windows 10 or later and macOS 10.15 or later | 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 producing music, built around a step sequencer, piano roll, pattern-based and linear arrangement and a mixer with effects and routing | Digital audio workstation for recording, producing, editing and mixing music, with MIDI composition tools and an optional video expansion |
| Multitrack or two-track | Multitrack: patterns and audio clips are arranged in the Playlist and routed through the mixer; recording audio into the Playlist starts at Producer Edition | Multitrack audio and MIDI; Tracktion describes Waveform Free as a fully featured, completely unlimited free DAW |
| Noise removal and repair | AI-powered declipping, plus stem separation into vocal, drum, bass and instrument layers from Producer Edition up | 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 | Maximus multiband compressor and maximiser from Producer Edition, the Emphasis mastering compressor and limiter in All Plugins Edition, and AI mastering with genre presets in the optional FL Cloud subscription | 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 at 16-bit integer, 24-bit integer or 32-bit float, plus MP3, OGG, M4A, FLAC and MIDI; mixer tracks can be split into separate WAV 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 Windows and macOS, hosting VST, VST3 and CLAP on both platforms plus Audio Units on macOS | 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 (Fruity), $179 (Producer), $269 (Signature Bundle) and $449 (All Plugins), with lifetime free updates, pro-rated upgrades and rent-to-own over 12 payments | 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 | Gopher AI assistant, Chord Generator and Loop Starter in every edition, 82 to 118 instruments and effects depending on edition, and optional FL Cloud with royalty-free sounds, cloud backups and release through DistroKid | 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. MIDI scripts written in Python add native support for MIDI controllers, call FL Studio functions for the playlist, channels, mixer, patterns, transport and plug-ins, and send data back to the controller | 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, Community forum | Not stated |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials |
| Integrations | DistroKid | more entries Ableton Link, OpenAI, Anthropic |
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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 FL Studio $99 Tracktion Waveform Free; Waveform Pro $249
- Free trial FL Studio Free trial with no time limit Tracktion Waveform Free 30-day trial of Waveform Pro; Waveform Free costs nothing
- Hosting FL Studio Desktop app for Windows 10 or later and macOS 10.15 or later Tracktion Waveform Desktop app for macOS 13 or later, 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, and Linux (tested on Ubuntu 24.04)
- Output FL Studio Produced and mixed music, exported as WAV, MP3, OGG, M4A, FLAC or MIDI Tracktion Waveform Recorded, produced, edited and mixed music
- What it does FL Studio Digital audio workstation for producing music, built around a step sequencer, piano roll, pattern-based and linear arrangement and a mixer with effects and routing 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
FL Studio
Strengths
- Lifetime free updates for every edition
- The free trial has no time limit
- Hosts VST, VST3 and CLAP on Windows and macOS, plus Audio Units on macOS
- Upgrades between editions are pro-rated
Limitations
- Fruity Edition cannot record audio and has no stem separation
- Splitting mixer tracks into stems exports WAV only
- AI mastering needs the separate FL Cloud subscription
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
FL Studio
- Fruity Edition $99 One-time licence with lifetime free updates. 82 instruments and effects, no audio recording.
- Producer Edition $179 One-time licence with lifetime free updates. 93 instruments and effects, audio recording and stem separation.
- Signature Bundle $269 One-time licence with lifetime free updates. 103 instruments and effects, audio recording and stem separation.
- All Plugins Edition $449 One-time licence with lifetime free updates. 118 instruments and effects, audio recording 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
FL Studio
- 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
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
FL Studio https://www.image-line.com/fl-studio/ · 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.