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FL Studio vs Studio One

FL Studio logo

FL Studio

Music

Digital audio workstation sold with free updates to your edition for life

From
On request
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: FL Studio fruity Edition has no audio recording at all, so recording a vocal or an instrument requires Producer Edition or higher; 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 FL Studio and Studio One actually diverge.

Attributes where FL Studio and Studio One differ
AttributeFL StudioStudio One
Pricing modelone-timequote

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), platforms (Windows, macOS), 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 FL Studio

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.

FL Studio

  • Music productionnot Studio One
  • Beat makingnot Studio One
  • Audio recordingnot Studio One
  • Electronic musicnot 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 FL Studio
  • Project studios already on PreSonus interfaces and Faderport surfaces, where the control mapping is done for younot FL Studio
  • Songwriters who want pitch editing in the timeline without buying Melodyne separatelynot FL Studio
  • Running the same session live from the Show page rather than rebuilding the set in a separate performance toolnot FL Studio

Where each one falls short

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

FL Studio

  • Fruity Edition has no audio recording at all, so recording a vocal or an instrument requires Producer Edition or higher
  • Edison and Newtime, the audio editing tools, are listed from Producer Edition upward and are absent from Fruity
  • Bundled effects run from 53 in Fruity to 71 in All Plugins Edition, so the cheapest edition is missing 18 of them
  • Bundled instruments run from 23 in Fruity to 39 in All Plugins Edition
  • Sold as a paid licence with no free tier, listed from USD 99

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

FL Studio

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the FL Studio review.

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 FL Studio if

  • You work on Windows, macOS.
FL Studio 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 FL Studio or Studio One better?
Neither clearly leads. FL Studio starts at On request and Studio One at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FL Studio or Studio One?
FL Studio starts at On request and Studio One at On request.
Does FL Studio or Studio One run on more platforms?
Both run on Windows, macOS, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is FL Studio best used for?
FL Studio is most often used for music production, beat making, audio recording, electronic music. Of those, music production and beat making are not what Studio One is typically brought in for.
What can FL Studio 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

FL Studio: Is FL Studio a subscription or one-time purchase?

FL Studio is a one-time purchase model, not a subscription. You pay once for an edition and receive all future updates for free with no update fees or additional charges.

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.

FL Studio: What are the four edition options and can I upgrade between them?

The four editions are Fruity Edition, Producer Edition, Signature Bundle, and All Plugins Edition. You can upgrade anytime with pro-rated pricing, paying only the difference between editions.

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.

FL Studio: Is a trial version available and what are its limitations?

A free trial is available with no time limit and no watermark on exports. The limitation is that you cannot reopen saved projects until you purchase a license.

Source
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.

FL Studio: Does FL Studio offer a rent-to-own payment option?

Yes, a rent-to-own option is available in select regions where after 12 payments, FL Studio is yours forever with lifetime free updates. FL Cloud continues until cancelled.

Source
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.

FL Studio: Is FL Cloud subscription required to use FL Studio?

No, FL Cloud is optional. FL Studio works fully without it. FL Cloud offers royalty-free samples, premium plugins, AI mastering, cloud backup, and distribution features but is not mandatory.

Source
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