Today there are 101 different beat making software. We spent 85 hours comparing the top 50 to find the seven best you can use to create your beats with.
What is the Best Beat Making Software?
- FL Studio — best of the best
- Acid Pro — best for loop-based music
- Apple Logic Pro — best for Apple devices
- Ableton Live — best for live gigs
- Splice — best for beginners
- Traktor — best for DJs
- Reason — best add-ons selection
1. FL Studio
Our Verdict — Best Of The Best
Price: Starts at $99
FL Studio is a beat making OG, dating back to 1997. We think it’s the best of the best because of its infinite abilities with MIDI.
The Best Part:
- Almost unlimited MIDI power. Strum, arpeggiate, slice, flam, stamp… Do all the complex stuff easier and quicker, with a controller or the piano roll. No other beat maker makes it quicker to bring ideas to life.
The Worst Part:
- Newbies may suffer. If you have zero experience with beat makers and DAWs, FL Studio may feel a little overwhelming, at first.
Get it if you want an easy to learn, inexpensive, and high-quality piece of software to produce your beats with.
I recommend you get the Fruity Edition for $99, then upgrade to higher plans if you want to record your own instruments.
(unlimited time free trial)
Best For
FL Studio is best for everyone who wants to create their own beats, from complete beginners to world-class pros.
Top Features
- Lifetime updates. Once you buy FL Studio you own it for life. They’ve been developing this app for the past 25 years, and it doesn’t seem they’re going to stop anytime soon.
- It’s extra intuitive. FL Studio's step sequencer is probably the easiest, most intuitive and visual way to create and edit beats out there. Get the hang of how to use patterns, and you can create complete songs on a whim.
- If you can think it, you can do it. FL Studio comes with a wide range of incredible audio tools, like time stretching, pitch shifting, and audio warping which allow you to execute on even your craziest ideas.
- Superb premade collection. With a wide range of premade loops and sounds, you can start creating your beats right from the get-go.
- Sound like a pro. With FL Studio’s automation features, you can dynamically change volume, panning, and other basic effects, to make your music sound more interesting within a few clicks.
Pricing
FL Studio offers four pricing plans:
- Fruity Edition: $99 one time for beginner beat makers.
- Producer Edition: $199 one time for beat makers who want to record their own tracks.
- Signature Bundle: $299 one time for pros who need all of the basic recording plugins.
- Fruity Edition: $499 one time for seasoned pros.
Try FL Studio today with an unlimited free trial.
2. Acid Pro
Our Verdict — Best For Loop-Based Music
Price: Starts at $7.99/mo
Acid Pro is the tool for loop-based song creation and production. We think it's the best for loop-based music because of how intuitive it makes for anyone to create loop-based tunes.
The Best Part:
- Acid Pro is like porn for loop-based music. Acid was made to work with loops and samples, so anyone can streamline their music production process and create complex and interesting grooves, quick ‘n’ easy.
The Worst Part:
- MIDI capabilities may fall a bit short. If you’re used to going deep into MIDI editing or using more obscure hardware controllers, be aware that Acid Pro doesn’t have the same level of support of other solutions, like FL Studio.
Get it if you want to create loop-based music such as EDM, trip hop, hip hop, ambient music, and so on.
I recommend you get the Acid Pro 365 annual subscription with the monthly payments of $7.99 to get the best out of the tool for a low monthly price tag.
(30-day free trial)
Best For
Acid Pro is best for beat makers who rely heavily on loops and templates.
Top Features
- Monthly pricing. When you go for one of the Acid Pro 365 plans, you get all the available horsepower of this popular software with digestible monthly payments.
- Intuitive loop-based sequencing. Acid Studio Pro allows users to create complex, interesting drum beats and grooves by arranging loops in its easy-to-use sequencing engine.
- Real-time loop manipulation. Acid Pro includes quite a few real-time loop manipulation tools, such as the ability to reverse, chop, and stretch loops in real-time. These will open up a wide range of creative possibilities.
- Automated detection. WIth the Beatmapping feature, you can have Acid Pro automatically detect the tempo and time signature of a loop, making it braindead easy to match it with other loops.
- Groove Templates. With this feature, you can quantize loops to a specific feel or groove, so your loops sound more human and match specific tempo and feel of your other grooves organically.
Pricing
Acid Pro offers three pricing plans:
- Acid Pro 365 Monthly: $19.99/month for those who want to give Acid Pro a shot.
- Acid Pro 365 12 Months/Monthly Payment: $7.99/month for those who want everything Acid Pro can offer for a killer price.
- Acid Pro 365 12 Months/Yearly Payment: $95.88/year for those who want everything Acid Pro can offer for a killer price on a single yearly payment.
- Acid Pro 11: $99 for the barebones version of Acid Pro, for those on a budget.
- Acid Pro 11 Suite: $169 for the barebones version of Acid Pro, for those who want to skip the monthly payments but still get lots of plugins and add-ons.
Annual plans provide a 60% discount.
Try Acid Pro today with a 30-day free trial
3. Logic Pro
Our Verdict — Best For Apple Devices
Price: $199
Logic Pro is a professional beat maker DAW for Apple devices. We think it's the best for Mac users because of its true "Apple" feel.
The Best Part:
- Clean, sweet, and straightforward. Logic Pro is an Apple product, and it shows. It’s a pleasure to play with, and super quick to catch on. Incredible user experience.
The Worst Part:
- Limited file formats. While it does work with AIFF, WAV, MP3, and AAC, if you’re used to working with less-than-usual file formats, you’ll need third-party plugins to extend Logic’s capabilities.
Get it if you want to make your beats quickly on your Mac.
I recommend you try it free for 90 days before committing to getting the full version ($199).
(free 90-day trial)
Best For
Logic Pro is best for beat makers with Apple devices who want to create professional-level music in a simple environment.
Top Features
- Get spatial. With the integrated Dolby Atmos tools for mixing and exporting, you can mix your songs with spatial audio for that cool three-dimensional feel, ready for Apple Music.
- Logic Remote app. Use your iPhone or iPad to control Logic Pro on your Mac. Use Multi-Touch gestures, swipes, and tilt your mobile device to play software instruments, mix unlimited tracks, and manipulate filter effects.
- It turns your Mac into a full-fledged studio. Logic Pro turns your Mac into a professional recording studio capable of managing any type of music. Create and arrange music in real time and quickly build beats, melodies, and compositions.
- Live Loops. Create and arrange music in real time. Kick off your composition by adding loops, drum sample packs, or your recorded performances into a grid of cells, then trigger different cells to play with your ideas before moving them into production.
- Quickly create new remixes. Stack your tracks and consolidate multiple tracks into a single track. Then, fire up a Summing Stack as a way to quickly create submixes, layered or split instruments.
Pricing
Logic Pro offers a single pricing plan:
Logic Pro: $199.99 for those who want to make beats on a Mac.
Try Logic Pro today with a 90-day free trial.
Our Top Three Picks
Here’s a quick summary of our top three picks:
- FL Studio — best of the best
- Acid Pro — best for loop-based music
- Apple Logic Pro — best for Apple devices
Here’s a quick comparison of our top seven picks:
Tool | Entry Offer | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
FL Studio | Unlimited free trial | Starts at $99 one time |
Acid Pro | 30-day free trial | Starts at $7.99/mo |
Apple Logic Pro | 90-day free trial | $199 one time |
Ableton Live | 90-day free trial | Starts at $99 one time |
Splice | F14-day free trial | Starts at $9.99/mo |
Traktor | Demo version closes itself after 30 minutes | Starts at $99 |
Reason | 30-day free trial | $499 one time |
Here are the top 50 beat making tools we considered in this review:
- FL Studio
- Acid Pro
- Apple Logic Pro
- Ableton Live
- Splice
- Native Instruments Traktor
- Reason
- Maschine Studio
- Pro Tools
- Cubase
- Reaper
- GarageBand
- Studio One
- Acid Pro
- Heat Up 3
- Komplete
- LiveProfessor
- Mixcraft
- Traktion
- Serato Studio
- FL Mobile
- Hydra
- Noise
- Audacity
- Magix Music Maker
- MixPad
- Orion Platinum
- Cakewalk
- Renoise
- Samplitude
- EZdrummer
- Drum Studio
- Drum Pro
- BTV Solo
- Beat Thang
- Virtual Drummer
- Beat Maker II
- BeatCraft
- iDrum
- MT Power Drum Kit
- iMPC
- Virtual Beatmaker
- ReBirth
- Superior Drummer
- Groove Monkee
- DrumFlow
- iDrumTune
- Track Range
- DrumLab
- Boom Bap Bang Drum Kit
What to look for when buying beat making software?
- Support for audio recordings and capturing live performances
- Native stock plugins with high-quality effects
- An extensive library of sound effects
- Compatibility with your audio interfaces
- Music producers should seek beat maker software with a user-friendly interface
- A versatile workflow with a vast library of loops for electronic musicians
- A drum machine desginer with the ability for custom drum kits
- Virtual racks for processing sounds
- Support for multiple audio tracks for complete control over you compositions
The Bottom Line
To recap, here are the best beat making software to try this year:
- FL Studio — best of the best
- Acid Pro — best for loop-based music
- Apple Logic Pro — best for Apple devices
- Ableton Live — best for live gigs
- Splice — best for beginners
- Traktor — best for DJs
- Reason — best add-ons selection
