# Audacity Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Audacity the right Audio Editing solution for you? Explore 464 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/214605/Audacity/reviews --- Audacity 4.5 (464) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/214605/Audacity/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 16th, 2026 # Reviews of Audacity Ease of use 4.3 Customer Service 4.1 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews Shaun D ProducerEntertainment, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It works with multiple audio formats, stereo and mono tracks, etc. If, like me, you sometimes get audio tracks in a variety of formats because the people you record with aren't necessarily using the same software, this saves a lot of time should I need to convert formats to mp3 or wav.“ July 11, 2025 RD Ruth D DesignerPublishing, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Sometimes the settings aren’t set for the best sound and should have more tutorials available to use.“ March 22, 2026 Steven Craig W BossComputer Software, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Using audacity I can isolate vocals and music and separate them which is useful for two things: Extracting vocals only, or creating instrumentals.“ May 28, 2025 Shaun D ProducerEntertainment, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I've found it unreliable for recording multiple tracks via digital tools such as Skype, Discord, etc.“ July 11, 2025 Shaun D ProducerEntertainment, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “In the last few years, it has offered a robust list of audio processing effects, which has reduced my reliance on third party plugins or third party software/apps.“ July 11, 2025 DM Davide M Indie Game DeveloperComputer Games, Self-employedUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Audacity's GUI sometimes feels old, it does not have a darkmode (even if this is not a proble for many) and with all the things you can click on in the menus you often need some minutes to find the option you want.“ October 9, 2023 CG Carly G Curriculum designer and trainerFood & Beverages, 5,001 - 10,000 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Overall my experience with audacity is quite positive because what I needed was just a simple, basic, straightforward, audio, editing, tool that also allowed me to record.“ December 5, 2025 KO Katherine O WriterWriting and Editing, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “You can't import MP4s.“ January 15, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 464 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Shaun D. Producer Entertainment Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A Solid Piece of Free Audio Editing Software" July 11, 2025 5.0 I have been using Audacity for 15 years to produce the same podcast. For what I need, Audacity is virtually flawless (especially once you dial in the settings for built-in effects). In the last few years, it has offered a robust list of audio processing effects, which has reduced my reliance on third party plugins or third party software/apps. Overall, I have found Audacity reliable and powerful enough for my needs such that I'm unlikely to switch to an alternative platform. Pros 1) It is robust and, once you know how to use it, relatively easy to use, especially if your needs involve small, audio-focused projects like multi-track podcasts, etc. In my case, I use it to process multiple tracks of audio for a commentary podcast in both audio and video format. At this stage in development, Audacity does basically everything I need it to do. 2) The interface is fairly simple and intuitive, and hotkeys are easy to learn. This all makes learning the platform and editing audio a breeze once you know what you're doing. 3) The latest editions of Audacity have moved to a format with fewer individual files, which makes it easier for managing backups. I personally value this because the old format was rather cumbersome. 4) It works with multiple audio formats, stereo and mono tracks, etc. If, like me, you sometimes get audio tracks in a variety of formats because the people you record with aren't necessarily using the same software, this saves a lot of time should I need to convert formats to mp3 or wav. Cons 1) While I have no personally experienced, many of my colleagues in the Apple ecosystem have run into periodic trouble with recording reliably. Occasionally, the solution involves reverting to an older edition, which isn't that big of a deal. Other times, however, it simply won't work. This leads to 2. 2) Since it is primarily free software, support is primarily community based. The community is great, but it has all the weaknesses of any support system reliant on individuals volunteering their time. There is SOME help documentation, but I found that I rely more on 3rd party tutorials than within the existing help documentation (which is sometimes out of date) or Audacity-focused forums. In the grand scheme, I see this as a "you get what you pay for" thing. 3) I've found it unreliable for recording multiple tracks via digital tools such as Skype, Discord, etc. We've found workarounds for this, so I don't see it as a major problem, but it may be a deal breaker for others looking to use Audacity as their primary recording software. 4) If you don't know much about audio editing, the learning curve is a tad steep. However, there are plenty of online tutorials by other users to help work through this. I'm not sure the developers can fix this issue, though. If you're doing the kind of work Audacity is good for, you just have to work through the initial learning curve to get the desired results. Review Source Steven Craig W. Boss Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Audacity Of The Audacious Music Makers!" May 28, 2025 5.0 Using audacity I can isolate vocals and music and separate them which is useful for two things: Extracting vocals only, or creating instrumentals. Pretty neat! Pros This is the best music editing program I've ever used to transform my beats easier with uploading the beats .mp3 file into audacity and mastering there! Cons Audacity can only record locally. You cannot record audio remotely using it, which means you'll need a separate tool like Riverside or Squadcast for remote recording if you need that functionality. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Voice Actor Motion Pictures and Film Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great lightweight choice for sound editing." March 14, 2026 5.0 Never had any issues installing Audacity or running it, be it on an old laptop or a brand-new PC. It just works. Pros I really appreciate how lightweight Audacity is. You don't get bogged down with needless updates every time you launch. The interface is clean and intuitive, and it has a suite useful of features. Cons There's honestly not much to dislike about Audacity for basic sound editing and design. I've used it for years. Review Source Cristhian Josue J. CEO Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Audacity, a simple and always useful audio recording software" August 25, 2021 3.0 Personally, I use this software to record some voices in low spec PC's or when I need to record something quickly and easily, for these functions audacity is a great option, but when it comes to doing the full project I don't have the tools I would like to have, do I recommend audacity? Yes, but only as an alternative, not to use it as the main software. Pros Audacity is that software with most of us start in the audio recording and editing world, its facility of use and simplicity make it one of the most notable options for people who only want to record audio (plus it's free). Personally, I recommend this daw for people who only want to record voices for a podcast, or for musicians who only want to record demos in a quick and easy way, just by clicking the record button we will be doing everything we want. Cons Audacity is... very limited, it is good in its main function, but it really can't offer us much more, today there are daw's and free software more complete than audacity, searching in the web we can find advanced options for any musician, especially for people who focus on mixing and mastering, functions that are very difficult to do in audacity. Review Source RD Ruth D. Designer Publishing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Record yourself or convert audio with the best! " March 22, 2026 5.0 I have used Audacity for many years to record/narrate audio and convert from wav to mp3. It is easy to trim audio from different clips to put together. It’s great to use! Pros Great tool for recording audio for promotion, commercials and audiobooks. Easy to use and is updated frequently with new features. Cons Sometimes the settings aren’t set for the best sound and should have more tutorials available to use. Review Source CG Carly G. Curriculum designer and trainer Food & Beverages Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Free quick and simple audio editing tool" December 5, 2025 4.0 Overall my experience with audacity is quite positive because what I needed was just a simple, basic, straightforward, audio, editing, tool that also allowed me to record. It didn’t have all extra knickknacks and bells and whistles, but it’s a powerful audio editing software that I recommend other people who are looking for something simple. Pros I used audacity as a free tool for editing and creating audio. It’s an amazing free tool that allows you to do the basics of audio editing and recording. What I like is it does allow you to pinpoint exactly where you want to edit certain things without having to constantly stop and play to find where you want to edit. It was also really easy to install and quickly edit what I needed. Cons It is just a basic editing software so the features are quite simple and straightforward which some people may not like because they want some more editing features. So if you’re looking for something basic to edit, audio, audacity is for you. But if you are looking for something with a lot more flair to it, then audacity wouldn’t be your choice. Review Source TB Travis B. Solutions Engineer Telecommunications Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Audactity is free?! Awesome! " June 17, 2025 5.0 I would say I use Audacity 2-3 times a week and for what I use it for, it makes my tasks easy and quick. Great product! Pros The fact that Audacity is still a freeware is crazy to me. There are so many features and functions that can only be found in paid versions of software. Cons Sometimes, editing can be a bit tricky if you are not familiar with music editing software. For the most part, everything is laid out nicely and labeled to make finding effects pretty straight forward. Review Source KO Katherine O. Writer Writing and Editing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Amazing free audio recording app for dialogue" January 15, 2025 5.0 I wouldn't be without it. Excellent. You can view the soundwave as more spaced out or tighter together. There’s an icon to click to see the entire recording in one go. This is useful when you’re looking to see if there’s any particular section that had a louder volume than the rest. You might then choose to locate it, select it and choose amplify and put in a negative number to reduce the volume. When you’re going through you may want to take out tiny aspects of background noise, or maybe there’s a very audible out breath on your part to take out. View the soundwave as expanded so that you can select a small section to delete. I like the shortcuts. Press spacebar to play from the last place you clicked on the soundwave. Press x to get the cursor to locate at the current location in the recording. Control R to repeat the last effect. R to record. You can have multiple tracks. You can have stereo tracks or mono. Pros Free audio editing. I make self-help recordings for myself, and potentially for others in the future. Cons You can't import MP4s. I import those into Total Recorder, change to an MP3 and then import into Audacity. Something minor. I would like a keyboard shortcut when I place a label (temporary) on the soundwave to toggle back to editing the track. I haven't managed to find one yet! I am assuming the following would be the same with any audio recording app, but there is a difficulty which occurs when recording speech audio. The same would apply if you were recording an instrument. If you’re recording on more than one occasion, even in the same room with the same mic, the recordings don’t necessarily sound the same. There may be differences in temperature, you might have curtains open or closed etc, you may be further away from the mic. Therefore, even with the flexibility of audacity, it is advisable to try to record something through from start to finish and not rely on having to come back and for example insert a sentence. Review Source AB Angela B. Voice Actor E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Its OK but I DON'T Recommend" June 10, 2025 5.0 It is great if you can not afford to purchase other software. It is a good DAW when it works properly. Pros It is free and it works, most of the time. The audio is professional quality. The tools are much more basic than other paid programs making it easier to learn. Cons The bugs were a frequent issue. This caused reliability issues when planning to record while working with others under time crunches. Review Source PR Peter R. Program Director Hospitality Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best value audio tools" July 2, 2025 5.0 Pros Audacity is such a powerful tool for the price! it has a toolset that is more than capable for most amateur audio editing. Cons The vocal isolation tools are limited, and there is no included media library. The interface is maybe a little plain looking. Review Source HK Himanshu K. Youtuber Online Media Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Best software for a beginner" November 29, 2024 5.0 I am using it since 1 year or more. I usually use to record and edit my voice overs for my youtube videos. It gives me plenty of option like noise reduction, boost, equalizer etc which makes y voice over more fluent.. Pros It is very easy to use. Anyone having zero knowledge of audio editing can operate this software. Cons It can avail more features related to AI. Review Source RS RICARDO S. Sales Representative Computer Software Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Free and affective audio editing tool." March 9, 2025 5.0 It has been very useful for audio editing. Pros The interface is very intuitive and it is completely free to use. Cons It doesn’t come with built-in virtual instruments. Review Source MS Mary S. Sales Success Manager Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Easy to use, after a little practice" June 10, 2024 5.0 It's been easy and, I hate to say it, but when my other programs fail, I wonder why I don't try audacity first. Pros I had no training, was a "figure it out on your own" situation, and I was able to figure it out. Cons It could be a little more user friendly. Review Source ML Michael L. Self employed Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Perfect for many use cases for audio development even when many digital audio workstations exist." September 18, 2023 5.0 I mostly use it for batch imports and exports since it allows me to convert or apply effects to multiple audio files at once. Taking some FLAC files and mass convert them to OGG and MP3 or taking those files and adding a speed increase or decrease to them in bulk before exporting. Pros It's very simple and easy to work with and edit. Allows for real time editing and batch exporting, batch importing/applying effects and batch converting. It works the best when dealing with multiple things at once to apply things at once and wait for it to export. Cons Outside some features, it mostly doesn't have anything to support itself to be different than most digital audio workstations and most features are in digital audio workstations for doing basic stuff or adding effects. Review Source GP Geniene P. CEO Media Production Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Audacity - The Answer to online radio producers who are not inherently sound engineers!" October 4, 2023 5.0 I have enjoyed my experience and have taught my entire staff complement how to use it and continue using all the options so they can learn and teach each other new tricks. Pros I love that I dont have to be a sound engineer to understand sound waves and how to create high quality sound and audio clips. Its simple to teach DJ's how to use Audacity to create their own jingles, voice overs and clean up their recordings for Podcasts. Their import facility and ability to add and move audio clips to where its most suitable within the file, is beyond reproach and I couldn't have done some of the radio interviews without it. Especially when clients make errors during recordings. Cons Very little but if I have to find fault its when you have to install the ff library and that's a challenge as it never works first time. It's quite a mission to get it installed. So I usually tell my DJs to convert their files to mp3 online and then import into Audacity. It doesn't seem to lose quality. Review Source MI Muhammad I. YouTuber, Freelancer Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "As an editor, You need Audacity to become professional." August 10, 2021 5.0 Being a YouTuber, I'm running three youtube channels. Each time I am going to upload a video on any youtube channel, Firstly I'm going to edit my voice with the audacity to make it professional. so i can say that audacity is the worst software on my computer that is most important for me than my pc. Being a freelancer, I use to create intro and outro videos for my clients. and for that voice quality matters a lot. And I can do this only with help of audio editing software, Definitely, I am going to choose audacity to kick a nice shot. I have 30+ clients from worldwide who are working with me only to edit their scripts, and I am using audacity to generate good revenue by making my clients permanent just because of serving them good quality service. So audacity is the main part of my carrier. If you are thinking of being YouTuber, then defiantly audacity is going to help a lot. You can edit your recorder scripts and your background music. This is not all which I have been told you there is much more you are going to experience in audacity. Pros The "Track" feature of audacity is my favorite ever. we can always add a new track in any format mono, stereo, label, or in any we wish. Even we can separate tracks too from our voice with help of audacity. When I need to remove vocals from a song to generate background music for my video, then tracks are going to help me a lot. I can always cut and copy the song through the track and can paste it on the track where ever I want. when I use to record my script, Definitely some unwanted noise is going to appear in my video. And now I want to delete that specific part of the script to make it good. Now here tracks are too important to make a right cut from the script. Other local software has limited capacity to zoom in and out of the tracks. But in audacity, we can zoom up to the last point, and we will be able to saw a sine wave in the zooming case. when we move to audio mixing, Definitely it is going to do through tracks. So I can say the track is a more important feature of audacity. Cons Everything in audacity is almost good and too easy to use but I have some objections. I don't like the "Noise Reduction" feature of audacity. Each time I need to remove the noise from my script, Firstly, I need to generate a voice removal noise profile every time. Otherwise, it is not going to work properly. I wish the Audacity team should add some noise removing profiles by default. so I save my time and can use them quickly to remove noise from my script and can make it professional only with a single click. Here is another objection I have, when I use to remove noise from my recorder script. It deletes my recorded voice too, which is absolutely not a good option. The Audacity team should work on this and make this feature good for us. I'm still using this software because thinking that the audacity team is working on this. Review Source MP Maureen P. Reviewer Accounting Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Audacity is top tier free audio editor software " January 23, 2023 5.0 I am very happy with my overall experience with audacity. The software is simple to use, as it has all the audio editor features that I need to perform edits to my voice recordings. In addition, the software is free. Pros What I like most about this software is that it is very easy to understand for beginners, and most of the features are intuitive. I have been using many features so far without reading the instruction guide. However, there is detailed instruction guide available online, which is linked through the software (Under the "help" drop-down menu, under "manual"). Cons There is nothing that I can note to be particularly unfavorable about this software. Review Source Zuber A. Sr. Analyst Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A simple but powerful audio editing tool you will ever need!" July 23, 2022 5.0 I have been using audacity from the past 7 years, the simple user interface and a plethora of audio features has never allowed me to hop into a different software. Firstly, it is free and open source, secondly the design of this application is intuitive which makes the task more easier. Whether it is mixing, converting or noise cancellation for audios, it has an answer to everything. Pros 1) Simple and easy design 2) Converts any audio files into mp3 3) Fast and adaptive to any operating system 4) Record/convert/edit audios in a simple way 5) Easy workflow Cons 1) Robust mixing with multiple features should be added 2) Suggestions to improve the audio as a helps should be notified 3) Integration with 3rd party tools should be included 4) More advanced editing/effects are required to meet the professional standards Review Source Délcio R. Audio & Video Producer Media Production Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Audacity is a simple and professional way to create and edit audio. I just love it!" December 15, 2022 5.0 My overall experience with Audacity is great. I can use it even with no much experience. It was designed to be helpful for every moments we have inspiration and production experience. Even on the phone it's easy to manage it. It helps to create great sounds results. I recommend. Pros The features that I find interesting in Audacity are: a simple and easy interface, easy import and export media files, good sound quality and more. With good quality hardware's, and a good creativity, we can create great sound production results. Cons In my opinion, could have more features and commands. But maybe it's a question of getting to know more about how to explore it as a professional. Review Source NC Natalie C. Artist Arts and Crafts Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Such a fantastic audio software!" August 31, 2023 5.0 10/10.woukd recommend Pros First off: it was free. Second: super easy to use. I had no idea how to mix music and record above the files, but it took me tno time at all to learn and figure out the software. I've tried other softwares that were way too complex for me. This is so great for people wanting to get started but not sure how to mix audios. Cons There's been a couple of bugs. I have to consistently go back to Edit and Preferences and record new track. Otherwise it automatically adds to the end of my music instead of where I need it on the file. Then I have to go back to the settings to turn it off again. This didn't happen on the last one, just since this last update, so must be a bug. Just a small inconvenience but not stopping me from using the product Reason for choosing Audacity Free. Easy to use and learn. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Freelancer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Edit your audio clips for free in Audacity." June 18, 2022 5.0 I started using it 3 years ago, and I was very impressed with it in dealing with the audio files that I work on and extracting quality in terms of beauty and high quality. Pros The nice thing about the program, which I like a lot, is that it's free, has powerful extras like paid software, and works on Windows, Linux, and Mac. You can make an audio recording directly through the program itself, and this saves time and effort It supports a lot of sound effects that you can use for free, namely removing noise and distortion from audio, adding FFT technology to audio technology, increasing and improving its quality, and adding echo effects. Supports keyboard shortcuts to speed up work and save your time, and it is very suitable for beginners because it processes the audio at a high speed, so you will not consume long time in editing the audio while providing the highest possible sound quality. Cons I wish that colors would be added to the tracks that were added, so that what type of tracks used for the user would be distinguished Review Source Benedita N. User Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Audacity: simple but powerful!" March 5, 2022 5.0 Audacity is an easy-to-use, flexible audio editor and recorder for Windows and other operating systems. Whether I need to make edits to my home movies, remove background noise from old recordings, remix my favorite songs, or just record a simple voice memo, Audacity has got me covered. This fast and easy-to-use audio editor is my preferred for my sound editing needs. Pros Along with its extensive features, Audacity is easy to learn and use. If you are looking for a quick and simple tool to edit audio files, Audacity will do the trick. With more than 150 effects and filters available, it's perfect for anyone interested in recording, mixing or mastering audio. From podcasts to music production, it has everything you need. Cons Doing some of the more complex things can be a little tricky. However, tons of instructional videos are available online as its a popular program. Review Source Vishvjeet B. video Editor & compositor Motion Pictures and Film Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Auda city is software free so anyone can use it easily " February 27, 2023 5.0 Auda city Software is a Boon for new youtubers Pros It competes with other major applications Cons This application takes less space than other application Review Source JF James F. Artist musician Music Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Audacity too notch" May 24, 2023 5.0 I love audacity it’s easy to use and I love the fact I can have unlimited audio tracks Pros I loved the fact that there are unlimited audio tracks and now third party vsts Cons No virtual instruments such as drums ect: Review Source DB Donae B. Writer Writing and Editing Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Definitely a must-have for content creators! " November 28, 2022 5.0 Overall I have used it successfully to remove background noise and tweak my audio for content creation. I therefore highly recommend it to anyone who needs to create audio that may need to be tweaked for quality videos. Pros I love audacity because it has enable me to import my audio files that I need to remove background noise from, remove the noise and export the final product for upload to social media channels. Definitely a must have for content creators. Cons It’s not easy at first to figure out how to fix your audio. I had to watch a few videos on YouTube on how to remove background noise. Once I was able to figure that out. It became easier to use. Review Source Similar Products Featured