What are the best subscription-free video & audio apps for Mac?

By community activity, Audacity, SoundSource and iMovie are the top picks on Mac App Index right now.

Do any of these video & audio apps need a subscription?

No. Every app on this page is either free (10) or sold for a one-time price (7). Major version upgrades may still be paid separately.

How many subscription-free video & audio apps are there for Mac?

Mac App Index lists 17 apps: 10 completely free, 0 free to start, 7 paid upfront and 0 by subscription. 7 are open source.

Subscription-free video & audio apps for Mac

17 video & audio apps for Mac with no recurring fee: 10 are free and 7 are sold for a one-time price. Most popular right now: Audacity, SoundSource and iMovie.

All Free Freemium Paid Subscription

Audacity

Free multi-track audio editor

90FreeVideo & audio

SoundSource

Per-app volume and audio routing

127PaidMenu bar

iMovie

Simple video editing from Apple

37FreeVideo & audio

IINA

Modern media player for macOS

22FreeVideo & audio

DaVinci Resolve

Editing, color and audio in one app

71FreeVideo & audio

Gifski

Turn videos into high-quality GIFs

98FreeDesign & photo

VLC

Plays almost any video or audio file

59FreeVideo & audio

Audio Hijack

Record any audio on your Mac

36PaidVideo & audio

Logic Pro

A complete music production studio

33$199.99Video & audio

Final Cut Pro

Pro video editing for Mac

34$299.99Video & audio

Aiko

On-device transcription for audio and video

30$24.00Video & audio

Permute 3

Convert video, audio and images

57$14.99Utilities

Sleeve

Now-playing widget for your desktop

19$7.99Menu bar

Blender

Free and open-source 3D creation suite

13FreeDesign & photo

HandBrake

Open-source video transcoder

21FreeUtilities

GarageBand

Make music with virtual instruments

12FreeVideo & audio

OBS Studio

Open-source recording and live streaming

5FreeVideo & audio

How we picked: every app here is listed in video & audio on Mac App Index and is free or sold for a one-time price, with no recurring fee. Apps are sorted by community activity; switch to Top or New to reorder them. How we rank apps

Frequently asked questions

What are the best subscription-free video & audio apps for Mac?: By community activity, Audacity, SoundSource and iMovie are the top picks on Mac App Index right now.
Do any of these video & audio apps need a subscription?: No. Every app on this page is either free (10) or sold for a one-time price (7). Major version upgrades may still be paid separately.
How many subscription-free video & audio apps are there for Mac?: Mac App Index lists 17 apps: 10 completely free, 0 free to start, 7 paid upfront and 0 by subscription. 7 are open source.