The 15 Best FREE Audio Plugins Ever Made! [2024 Update]

Music producers flock to free plugins like old people flock to the diner at 8 a.m. to beat the crowds.

But here’s a hard truth about free plugins — most of them suck. They’re either poorly designed, bad sounding, or way too niche. Most of the time the hassle of downloading them isn’t worth the audio they spit out.

That’s only most of the time, though.

Instead of being steaming piles of garbage, some free plugins have become an essential part of my workflow. Over my 10-year production career, I’ve scoured forums, endured an ungodly amount of badly edited YouTube videos, and tested hundreds of free plugins to find the diamonds in the rough.

Today I’ll share the ones that are actually worth your time — 15 free plugins so good they probably shouldn’t be free. I’m saving my three absolute favorites for last.

SuperMassive by Valhalla DSP — Otherworldly Reverb

Valhalla makes iconic reverbs that sound otherworldly, and this free release is no exception.

If you’re looking for a grandiose reverb, then SuperMassive is your best friend. It makes it super easy to turn your dry, boring audio into something from another dimension.

The controls are easy to manipulate and it comes with decent presets to get you started. When you need to add massive space and atmosphere to your tracks, this is the plugin that delivers.

SuperMassive isn’t just another reverb — it’s specifically designed for those huge, cinematic sounds that make listeners stop what they’re doing and pay attention.

Deelay by Sixth Sample — The Delay That Punches Above Its Weight

Deelay (or “delay” — get it?) is a lightweight plugin swinging well above its weight class.

At first glance, it’s a simple delay plugin like any other. But if you look under the hood, Deelay has some powerful tricks up its sleeve.

In addition to synchronized delay types and ping-pong capabilities, the plugin shines with its easily integrated distortion bank and unique delay types like reverse and chaos.

Reverse plays the sounds in reverse, and the chaos setting brings new life into ambient sounds. I use this delay plugin more than I do the stock Logic one — and that’s saying something.

The distortion bank alone makes this worth downloading. You can add grit and character to your delays without needing a separate saturation plugin.

Chane V by Analog Obsession — Console Magic for Free

If you love the sound and warmth that an analog console can give to your sound, you’ll love Chane V.

It’s a multi-effect plugin made to emulate some of the most iconic analog equipment out there. It includes a mic pre, de-esser, EQ, and much more — all designed to give your sound that subtle analog goodness.

Analog Obsession, the company behind Chane V, also carries a bunch of other high-quality analog modeled plugins that you can download for free from their Patreon.

I highly, highly recommend checking them out. The level of analog modeling they’re doing for free is honestly insane.

Native Instruments Komplete Start — 12 Plugins That Sound Expensive

I seriously can’t believe this is free.

Komplete Start is a multi-plugin pack from Native Instruments, and the sounds in it are top-notch. It comes with not one, not two, but 12 plugins to help you make music — including six instrument plugins and six effect plugins.

The effect plugins are okay, but this pack really shines with sounds from the instruments it provides. The quality is what you’d expect from a company that charges hundreds for their premium bundles.

This almost made my top three plugins, but it’s not quite as useful as my favorite three. Still, for anyone just starting out or looking to expand their sound palette without spending money, this is a no-brainer download.

BBC Symphony Orchestra by Spitfire Audio — A Real Orchestra in Your DAW

Here’s another amazing free instrument plugin — the BBC Symphony Orchestra by Spitfire Audio.

Spitfire Audio makes amazing sounding orchestral sounds. Even if you don’t compose film scores, it’s key to have a solid orchestra for the occasional string section or trumpet riff, and this plugin does exactly that.

For the price of free (you just need to fill out a survey), you can get the sound of a live BBC Symphony Orchestra recorded extremely well. The only thing this BBC Orchestra is missing is the BBC’s golden boy David Attenborough — who, even after checking, is not available with this plugin.

In addition to this orchestra, Spitfire Audio also has over 20 other free instruments available for download from their website that are decent quality. My favorites are the Autograph Grand and the mandolins, but full disclosure — I mostly turn to other paid sounds if I need something that specific.

Youlean Loudness Meter — Finally, Metering That Doesn’t Suck

Loudness meters aren’t as exciting as synths or effects, but damn it, they’re necessary. And most DAW metering plugins kind of suck — I’m looking at you, Logic.

The Youlean Loudness Meter gives me all of the loudness info I could ever want. It looks great and it’s much more user-friendly than stock alternatives.

For all those reasons, I’ve ditched stock meters completely for this free hero. When you need to hit specific LUFS targets for streaming platforms, this plugin makes it actually pleasant to work with.

Span by Voxengo — The Spectrum Analyzer I Can’t Live Without

Span is a spectral analyzer that shows the frequency spectrum of what’s being played. It’s lightweight, looks great, and is super customizable.

I use it all the time to reference tracks — I’ll compare the frequency forms in Span to make sure that my track is in the same ballpark as my reference.

I even bought a separate small monitor so that I could have this plugin running on it at all times. That’s a true fact.

When you’re mixing and need to see what’s happening in your frequency spectrum, Span gives you all the visual feedback you need without bogging down your system.

Flux Mini 2 by Caelum Audio — Sidechain Without the Hassle

Flux Mini 2 is an LFO tool very similar to LFO Tool (if you’re familiar with that) or Nicky Romero’s Kickstart. It modulates the volume of a song using an editable waveform.

I often use it to sidechain as a free replacement for either of those paid plugins. It works 90% the same for 100% of not paying any money.

The interface is clean and intuitive, and you can create complex volume automation patterns in seconds. Perfect for that modern pumping effect without needing to set up actual sidechain compression.

Audio Modern’s Creative Trilogy — Panflow, Gatelab, and Filter Step

For the next spot on our list, we’re covering a plugin bundle all made by the same company. They all do similar things, so I’m pairing them together.

They’re called Gatelab, Panflow, and Filter Step — all by Audio Modern. My favorite and the one I use the most is Panflow, but they’re all great for getting creative sounds.

Panflow works by sequencing pan automation between the left and right speakers. But what makes it stand out is the randomization feature and the infinite, procedurally generated loops it can create.

Hit the randomization button and the panning of your audio will change every time — forever. The other plugins function the same way but use gates or filters instead.

I’ve never seen plugins do something like this, and they allow for some extremely creative sounds. Perfect for adding movement and interest to static sounds.

Vinyl Guitar 2 — When You Need That Specific Sound

Vinyl Guitar 2 makes a vinyl guitar sound, and it does it well.

The starting preset is my favorite, though not all the presets sound great. But any free plugin that has at least one outstanding sound is worth the download in my book.

I’ve included it on the list because I’ve actually used it in professional productions before. Though most of the time when it comes to guitar, I record it live — and I also use one of my favorite free plugins to get it sounding money.

Honorable Mentions Worth Your Time

Before we get to the best of the best, I wanted to honor some honorable mentions. These three plugins don’t come as highly recommended as the previous nine, and definitely not as recommended as my favorites to come, but they deserve your attention.

Analog Play by Arturia

Analog Play is Arturia’s version of Native Instruments’ Komplete Start — a fully free synth bundle that gives you some good sounds.

It’s not as good as NI’s Komplete Start, but if you’re feeling synth hungry, go and eat it up. The sounds are decent quality and it’s from a reputable company.

Slate Audio Free Plugins

Slate Audio makes some great plugins and they also offer a few of them for free. Right now they’re giving away Fresh Air and Heatwave.

Fresh Air is an EQ and compressor to add sparkle to your vocals or instruments. Heatwave is a distortion plugin. Both sound good and work well.

Vaults by Crow Hill Audio

Vaults is a newer free plugin — a collection of different software instruments that promises to update its sounds as time goes on.

Right now it has four different sounds that are decent quality. My favorite is “Far Away,” the celesta, which is the reason it even made this list. With the promise of more sounds to come, I’m hopeful that another celesta-type quality sound will rear its beautiful head.

My Top 3 Favorite Free Plugins of All Time

Now we’ve made it to my favorite free plugins of all time. I’ve saved the very best for last.

3. Vital by Vital Audio — The Serum Killer

The first essential free plugin you need to download is Vital by Vital Audio.

Vital is a free synthesizer that rivals paid alternatives like Serum. It sounds great, looks great, and is easy to learn. On top of that, it’s got great presets to get started and a fantastic community of creators willing to help you learn how to use it.

I’m pretty sure it’s called Vital because it’s absolutely vital you download this superstar of synths.

To be candid, I still personally prefer using Serum, but Vital is still head and shoulders above some of the other selections on this list. The wavetable synthesis is top-notch, the interface is intuitive, and the sound quality is professional-grade.

For anyone who can’t afford Serum or wants a capable backup synth, Vital is absolutely essential.

2. Neural Amp Modeler — The Future of Guitar Tones

Next on my list of favorite free plugins is the Neural Amp Modeler by Steven Atkinson.

The Neural Amp Modeler (or NAM as the cool kids call it) is an AI-powered guitar amp modeler, and it sounds amazing. If you’re recording any sort of live guitar, you’ve got to get this plugin.

Using AI and what I’m pretty sure is voodoo magic, it takes recorded amps and turns them into digital recreations you can play. What’s more, there’s already a dedicated community of guitar lovers recording their own expensive amps and setups and putting them online for you to use for free.

If you go to ToneHunt.com, you can download all of these amp profiles and start using the best classic amp sounds immediately.

In my opinion, this AI modeling software is the future for guitars. You can already see companies like Amplitube and Native Instruments following in the footsteps of this open-source plugin.

This beastly plugin absolutely deserves the Mattie stamp of approval.

1. OTT by Xfer Records — The Crown Jewel

Lastly, my favorite of favorite free plugins that you simply must download is called OTT by Xfer Records.

OTT stands for “Over The Top,” and in this case, it’s talking about compression. OTT is a heavy-handed multiband compressor that will absolutely squash your sound in the best way possible.

If you’ve already got Ableton, you already have an OTT plugin built into your DAW. For the rest of us, we’ve got this free option from Steve Duda himself.

OTT isn’t a complex plugin. In fact, most of the time I use it, I don’t adjust any settings except one — the mix knob. I’ll throw it on my tracks to give them a bit more body, high-end, and compressed sound, then mix it in to taste.

I’m throwing OTT on my tracks like a Subway worker slapping on mayonnaise. And why? Because it sounds good, it’s easy, it’s simple, but the end effect is so much better.

Also, it’s easy to put way too much OTT on, so disclaimer: tread lightly.

Because this plugin sounds so good and it’s so easy to use, it gets the crown of my favorite free plugin and the Mattie stamp of approval.

The Bottom Line

These 15 free plugins prove that you don’t need to spend thousands to get professional results. From the otherworldly spaces of SuperMassive to the AI-powered amp modeling of NAM to the simple brilliance of OTT, these tools can transform your productions.

The key is knowing which free plugins are actually worth your time — and now you do.

Download these, spend time learning them, and watch your tracks level up without your wallet taking a hit. Sometimes the best things in life really are free.

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Want a professional starting point? My Vocal Magic presets give you ready-made vocal chains for any genre — EQ, compression, reverb, and more, all dialed in and ready to go.

Or grab my free vocal presets to try before you buy.