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Music · head to head

Ableton Live vs Studio One

Ableton Live logo

Ableton Live

Music

Digital audio workstation built around a Session View for arranging ideas live

From
$99/one-time
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Studio One logo

Studio One

Music

Single-window workstation with album mastering built into the same project, now owned by Fender

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Ableton Live live 12 Intro is capped at 16 audio and MIDI tracks, where Standard and Suite are both listed as Unlimited; Studio One the bundled Melodyne is the Essential tier, which corrects monophonic pitch only; polyphonic editing and the tools most people actually want are a paid upgrade from Celemony on top of the workstation licence.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ableton Live and Studio One actually diverge.

Attributes where Ableton Live and Studio One differ
AttributeAbleton LiveStudio One
Starting price$99/one-timeOn request
Pricing modelone-timequote
PlatformsmacOS, WindowsWindows, macOS

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Music).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Ableton Live

Nothing recorded that Studio One does not also cover.

Only in Studio One

  • Project page
  • Single window drag and drop
  • ARA2 with Melodyne
  • Scratch Pad
  • Chord Track
  • Show page
  • Impact XT and Sample One
  • Faderport integration

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Ableton Live

  • Music productionnot Studio One
  • Live performancenot Studio One
  • Electronic musicnot Studio One
  • Audio recordingnot Studio One
  • Sound designnot Studio One

Studio One

  • Delivering an album or EP where mastering must stay linked to the mixes, so a late vocal fix does not mean rebuilding the masternot Ableton Live
  • Project studios already on PreSonus interfaces and Faderport surfaces, where the control mapping is done for younot Ableton Live
  • Songwriters who want pitch editing in the timeline without buying Melodyne separatelynot Ableton Live
  • Running the same session live from the Show page rather than rebuilding the set in a separate performance toolnot Ableton Live

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Ableton Live

  • Live 12 Intro is capped at 16 audio and MIDI tracks, where Standard and Suite are both listed as Unlimited
  • Intro includes 8 software instruments and 27 audio effects, against 20 instruments and 58 effects in Suite
  • Max for Live is listed as Suite only, so neither Intro at USD 99 nor Standard at USD 349 includes it
  • Intro ships 5+ GB of sound content, against 38+ GB in Standard and 71+ GB in Suite
  • MIDI Tools are listed as 0 in Intro, against 14 in both Standard and Suite
  • Sold as a paid licence per edition, USD 99 for Intro, USD 349 for Standard and USD 749 for Suite, with no free tier

Studio One

  • The bundled Melodyne is the Essential tier, which corrects monophonic pitch only; polyphonic editing and the tools most people actually want are a paid upgrade from Celemony on top of the workstation licence.
  • PreSonus now sells a subscription alongside the perpetual licence and the two are easy to confuse at checkout; the subscription stops working when payment stops, which is a very different asset for a studio planning in decades.
  • Fender acquired PreSonus in 2022, so the roadmap sits inside a guitar hardware company, and long-term investment in the workstation is now a bet on that parent rather than on the original software team.
  • There is no Linux build, and the MIDI editing tool set is shallower than Cubase, so composers doing rule based MIDI transformation or serious notation work will hit limits quickly.
  • The plugin scanner has a long history of struggling with large third-party plugin collections, producing slow startup and occasional missing plugins when sessions move between machines.

Pricing, plan by plan

Ableton Live

$99/one-time
  • Live 12 Intro$99/one-time
    • Perpetual licence
    • Entry edition
  • Live 12 Standard$349/one-time
    • Perpetual licence
    • Not available on rent-to-own
  • Live 12 Suite$749/one-time
    • Perpetual licence
    • Available rent-to-own at $31.21 per month

Studio One

On request
  • Studio One Pro (perpetual licence)$undefined/one-time
    • Bought outright and keeps working indefinitely
    • Next major version is a separate paid upgrade
    • Melodyne Essential included
  • Studio One Pro+ (subscription)$undefined/month
    • Workstation plus sound content and cloud storage
    • Stops working when the subscription lapses
    • Billed monthly or annually

Which should you pick?

Choose Ableton Live if

  • You work on macOS, Windows.
Ableton Live review

Choose Studio One if

  • You need project page.
  • You work on Windows, macOS.
  • You also want single window drag and drop.
Studio One review

Questions people ask

Is Ableton Live or Studio One better?
Neither clearly leads. Ableton Live starts at $99/one-time and Studio One at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ableton Live or Studio One?
Ableton Live starts at $99/one-time and Studio One at On request.
Does Ableton Live or Studio One run on more platforms?
Ableton Live runs on macOS, Windows. Studio One runs on Windows, macOS.
What is Ableton Live best used for?
Ableton Live is most often used for music production, live performance, electronic music, audio recording. Of those, music production and live performance are not what Studio One is typically brought in for.
What can Ableton Live do that Studio One cannot?
Studio One covers Project page, Single window drag and drop, ARA2 with Melodyne, Scratch Pad.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ableton Live: How much does Ableton Live cost?

Ableton sells three perpetual editions: Live 12 Intro at USD 99, Live 12 Standard at USD 349 and Live 12 Suite at USD 749. Suite is also offered rent-to-own at USD 31.21 per month.

Source
Studio One: Who owns PreSonus?

Fender acquired PreSonus in 2022. Development continues, but the roadmap now sits inside a guitar hardware company rather than an independent software vendor.

Ableton Live: Is there a free version of Ableton Live?

There is no free edition. Ableton offers a free trial of Live 12, after which one of the three paid perpetual licences is required to keep using it.

Source
Studio One: Is Studio One a subscription?

Both are sold. Studio One Pro is a perpetual licence you keep; Studio One Pro+ is a subscription bundling sound content and cloud storage that stops working when you stop paying.

Studio One: Why is no price listed here?

PreSonus publishes current pricing, but the tier structure has been restructured across recent versions, so this entry points at the vendor page rather than quoting a figure that may already be wrong.

Studio One: What does the Project page actually do?

It sequences and masters a whole album inside the same file as the songs and stays linked to them, so changing a mix updates the master without a manual export and reimport.

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