Free GarageBand Alternatives for Mac
There are many alternatives to GarageBand for Mac if you are looking for a replacement. The best free Mac alternative is LMMS, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to GarageBand and many of them are free and available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free Mac alternatives to GarageBand are Audacity, Zrythm, Cross DJ and Carla.
GarageBand alternatives are mainly Music Production Apps but may also be Digital Audio Workstations or Audio Editors. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of GarageBand.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- PortableApps.com
- Haiku
LMMS is a free cross-platform alternative to commercial programs like FL Studio , which allow you to produce music with your computer.
LMMS vs GarageBand opinions
TheBeastMore of a learning curve but a great program if you can take the time to learn it.
It does not lag when there’s a ton of sounds playing
Incredibly more complex, not recommended for beginners
MacGuiniIt's the closest to Garage Band for Linux. But it's also far from being comparable. LMMS may be powerful, but it doesn't have the ease of use that Garage Band has. It's professional quality. Which is why this is a horrible alternative to Garage Band.
not as user friendly as garageband
The GUI seems to try to mimic GarageBand but fails to replicate the ease of usage for those unfamiliar with LMMS.
Free, has many features, and is easy to get started with. As a plus: it runs on nearly every platform.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- PortableApps.com
- LAME
Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. You can use Audacity to record live audio, convert tapes and records, edit sound files, change the speed or pitch of a recording and much more.
Audacity vs GarageBand opinions
It's free and easy to use, but doesn't have sample music like FL, good if you are making acoustic music. Not too good for remix or altering acoustic sounds.
it is free and easier to use
It's good for recording audio and editing, but doesn't create audio.
MacGuiniAs much as I love using Audacity. This is nothing like Garage Band. This is a completely different type of software. Garage Band creates sound. Audacity edits it.
NevanNedallI don't feel Audacity's purpose matches what people are looking for from a program like Garage Band.
It's better for editing existing audio than creating new audio.
you can't create music with Audacity. It's rather about editing sounds. Great for Podcasting
Zrythm is a digital audio workstation designed to be featureful and easy to use.
Mix, scratch, sample, record: rock great parties with top-DJ features.
Cross DJ vs GarageBand opinions
Does not let you sequence audio files
Carla is an audio plugin host, with support for many audio drivers and plugin formats. It has some nice features like automation of parameters via MIDI CC (and send output back as MIDI too) and full OSC control.
FamiStudio is very simple music editor for the Nintendo Entertainment System or Famicom. It is designed to be easier to use than FamiTracker, but its feature set is also much more limited. It is targeted at both chiptune artists and NES homebrewers.
Bespoke is a software modular synthesizer. It contains a bunch of modules, which you can connect together to create sounds.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Audacium is an easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. Developed by a group of volunteers as open source.
LinuxSampler - free, open source pure software audio sampler with professional grade features.
- Free • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
Every track includes real time equalization and dynamics processing to sweeten and fine tune your mix. This is in addition to your six real time track effects, making Fairlight far more powerful than other digital audio workstation software!
