Free Sound Forge AlternativesTop Audio Editors & Music Production Apps like Sound Forge

The best free alternative to Sound Forge is Audacity, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Sound Forge and many of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Sound Forge are Tenacity, Ocenaudio, GarageBand and Spek.

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Sound Forge alternatives are mainly Audio Editors but may also be Audio Recorders or Music Production Apps.  Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Sound Forge.
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Professional audio editing platform with real-time visualization, 384 kHz recording, ideal for podcasts, featuring tools for sound design and restoration.

More about Sound Forge
Sound Forge alternatives page was last updated Jan 8, 2025
  1. Audacity icon
     2277 likes

    Audacity is an easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. Audacity is free, open source software.

    133 Audacity alternatives
    Editing Audio

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • AppImageHub
    • Flathub
    • PortableApps.com
    • LAME

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Multitrack editing
    2.  Audio Recording
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  Mix Music
    5.  Portable
    6.  Remove Noise
    7.  Track editing
    8.  Noise Reduction
    9.  Works Offline
    10.  Music Recording
    11.  Support for VST Plugins
    12.  No registration required
    Audacity iconSound Forge Icon

    Audacity VS Sound Forge

    Is Audacity a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
    Comments about Audacity as an Alternative to Sound Forge
     
       
    naryandria

    Very powerful, like Sound Forge, but its interface is quite messy and not user-friendly

    Top positive commentFeb 23, 2016
    10
    stevetf

    Excellent open source audio editor with 20+ years development history. The interface may look a bit primitive, but it is both easy to use and very powerful. The "warning" about spyware is nonsense.

    Positive commentNov 10, 2021
    0
    Guest

    Free-Portable-Easy to use.

    Positive commentNov 17, 2020
    0
    Show more comments
    3 of 5 comments
    Sound Forge Icon
    Audacity icon
    • Most users think Audacity is a great Sound Forge alternative.

    • Audacity is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Sound Forge.

    • Audacity is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Sound Forge.

    • Audacity is Free and Open SourceSound Forge is Paid and Proprietary
    • Audacity is LightweightSound Forge is not according to our users
  2. Tenacity icon
     80 likes

    Tenacity is an easy-to-use, privacy-friendly, FLOSS, cross-platform multi-track audio editor/recorder for Windows, macOS, Linux and other operating systems.

    88 Tenacity alternatives
    Dark mode

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  Audio Recording
    3.  Remove Noise
    4.  Works Offline
    5.  Mix Music
    6.  No Tracking
    7.  Support for VST Plugins
    8.  Dark Mode
    Tenacity iconSound Forge Icon

    Tenacity VS Sound Forge

    Is Tenacity a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
    Comments about Tenacity as an Alternative to Sound Forge
     
    thilriposta

    Best easy-to-use, privacy-friendly, FLOSS, cross-platform multi-track audio editor/recorder.

    Positive commentMar 2, 2024
    0
    Sound Forge Icon
    Tenacity icon
    • Tenacity is Free and Open SourceSound Forge is Paid and Proprietary
    • Tenacity is Privacy focused and LightweightSound Forge is not according to our users
  3. Ocenaudio icon
     134 likes

    Ocenaudio is a cross-platform, easy to use, fast and functional audio editor. It is the ideal software for people who need to edit and analyze audio files without complications. ocenaudio also has powerful features that will please more advanced users.

    47 Ocenaudio alternatives
    Ocenaudio version 3.7.19 running on Windows with an audio file open.

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  User friendly
    2.  Intuitive Interface
    3.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  Support for VST Plugins
    3.  Native application
    4.  No registration required
    5.  Portable
    6.  Multiple files
    7.  Dark Mode
    8.  File Tagging
    9.  Spectrogram view
    10.  Specific for 64-Bit
    11.  Support for Hotkeys
    12.  Multi-selection
    Ocenaudio iconSound Forge Icon

    Ocenaudio VS Sound Forge

    Is Ocenaudio a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
    Comments about Ocenaudio as an Alternative to Sound Forge
     
    Guest

    its free and has great features but lacks more advanced ones.

    Positive commentMar 13, 2017
    1
    naryandria

    It has the most usual functionalities of sound forge (cut/select/normalize/) and supports VST effects. Last but not least, its interface is amazingly neat and efficient!

    Positive commentFeb 23, 2016
    0
    Sound Forge Icon
    Ocenaudio icon
    • Most users think Ocenaudio is a great Sound Forge alternative.

    • Ocenaudio is Free and ProprietarySound Forge is Paid and Proprietary
    • Ocenaudio is LightweightSound Forge is not according to our users
  4. GarageBand icon
     264 likes

    Welcome to the school of rock. A Mac-sized practice space. Your own recording studio. If you want to learn to play an instrument, write music, or record a song, GarageBand can help — whether you’re a rookie or a rock star.

    100 GarageBand alternatives
    iPad Version: Tracks

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • iPhone
    • iPad

    GarageBand Features

    1.  Preset beats
    2.  Virtual Instrument
    3.  Works Offline
    4.  Audio Samples
    5.  Music Sequencer
    6.  Piano Roll
    7.  Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
    GarageBand iconSound Forge Icon

    GarageBand VS Sound Forge

    Is GarageBand a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
  5. Spek icon
     63 likes

    Spek helps to analyse your audio files by showing their spectrogram. Spek is free software available for Unix, Windows and Mac OS X.

    51 Spek alternatives
    FLAC file analysis

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  Works Offline
    3.  No Tracking
    4.  No registration required
    5.  Dark Mode
    6.  Spectrogram view
    7.  Audio Visualization
    Discontinued

    The latest version (0.8.5) is from January 2023.

    Spek iconSound Forge Icon

    Spek VS Sound Forge

    Is Spek a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
  6. Wavacity icon
     7 likes

    Wavacity is derived from the open source Audacity and modified to run in the web browser.

    52 Wavacity alternatives
    Wavacity screenshot 1

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Online

    Wavacity Features

    1.  Support for MIDI
    Discontinued

    The latest update to the project is from July 2023. A lot of features do not work on the website (generate, many effects etc.)https://github.com/ahilss/wavacity/commit/38ba56b96df2ba8265fcd471465c82842340da7d

    Wavacity iconSound Forge Icon

    Wavacity VS Sound Forge

    Is Wavacity a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
    • Wavacity is the most popular Web-based alternative to Sound Forge.

    • Wavacity is Free and Open SourceSound Forge is Paid and Proprietary
  7. WavePad icon
     44 likes

    WavePad is Music and Audio Editor that allows you to create and edit voice, music and other sound recordings. You can duplicate sections of recordings and add echo, amplification, noise reduction and other effects.

    56 WavePad alternatives
    WavePad Audio and Music Editor Main Screen

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Kindle Fire

    WavePad Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Non Destructive Editing
    3.  Text to Speech
    4.  Support for VST Plugins
    5.  Noise Reduction
    6.  OGG
    WavePad iconSound Forge Icon

    WavePad VS Sound Forge

    Is WavePad a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
  8. Wavosaur icon
     37 likes

    Wavosaur is a cool free sound editor, audio editor, wav editor software for editing, processing and recording sounds, wav and mp3 files. Wavosaur has all the features to edit audio (cut, copy, paste, etc.) produce music loops, analyze, record, batch convert.

    50 Wavosaur alternatives
    Main Window

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows

    Wavosaur Features

    1.  Support for VST Plugins
    2.  No installation
    3.  Waveform
    Wavosaur iconSound Forge Icon

    Wavosaur VS Sound Forge

    Is Wavosaur a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
  9. KWave icon
     8 likes

    Kwave is a sound editor designed for the KDE Desktop Environment.

    With Kwave you can record, play back, import and edit many sorts of audio files including multi-channel files. Kwave includes some plugins to transform audio files in several ways and presents a graphical view wit.

    28 KWave alternatives
    KWave screenshot 1

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  High-dpi support
    KWave iconSound Forge Icon

    KWave VS Sound Forge

    Is KWave a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
  10. AudioMass icon
     11 likes

    AudioMass lets you record, or use your existing audio tracks, and modify them by trimming, cutting, pasting or applying a plethora of effects, from compression and paragraphic equalizers to reverb, delay and distortion fx.

    119 AudioMass alternatives
    AudioMass screenshot 1

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted

    AudioMass Features

    1.  Works Offline
    AudioMass iconSound Forge Icon

    AudioMass VS Sound Forge

    Is AudioMass a good alternative to Sound Forge?
     
    • AudioMass is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to Sound Forge.

    • AudioMass is Free and Open SourceSound Forge is Paid and Proprietary
10 of 39 Sound Forge alternatives