Music · pricing
GarageBand pricing
GarageBand publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the music tools listed alongside it.
As of 1 September 2026, GarageBand pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Open source, no licence fee
- Tiers
- 1
- Free tier
- Yes
GarageBand plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| GarageBand | Free | 3 | Entry tier |
Where GarageBand stops being free
GarageBand, Free
- Full application, no tiers or paid upgrades
- Bundled with macOS and iOS
- No subscription or in-app purchases for core functionality
No paid tier on record
GarageBand lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
What the product covers
The full GarageBand feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Multitrack recording
- Virtual instrument library
- Guitar and bass amp modelling
- Logic Pro project compatibility
- Live Loops
- iOS and Mac parity
People bring GarageBand in for a beginner learning to record and produce music without paying for software, a songwriter sketching ideas on an iphone and continuing them on a mac the same day, a podcaster or hobbyist needing basic multitrack recording without a subscription, a logic pro user creating quick voice memos or loop ideas on ios before opening the full project on desktop. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to GarageBand are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Music
Too few music tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GarageBand (this page) | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | |
| rekordbox | Free | Per user per year | - | vs GarageBand |
| DistroKid | On request | One-time purchase | - | vs GarageBand |
| Pro Tools | Free | Per user per year | - | vs GarageBand |
| Serato DJ | Free | Per user per month | - | vs GarageBand |
| Traktor Pro | Free | One-time purchase | - | vs GarageBand |
| BandLab | Free | Per user per year | - | vs GarageBand |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the GarageBand badges page.
Before you pay for GarageBand
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
GarageBand runs on macos, ios, and is published by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California, United States. The full record is on the GarageBand review, and the rest of the category is under best music tools.
GarageBand pricing questions
- How much does GarageBand cost?
- GarageBand publishes a single tier, GarageBand, at Free.
- Does GarageBand have a free plan?
- Yes. The GarageBand tier costs nothing and covers full application, no tiers or paid upgrades, bundled with macos and ios, no subscription or in-app purchases for core functionality.
- Which music tools can I use without paying?
- 7 of the 8 music tools listed alongside GarageBand have a free tier: rekordbox, Pro Tools, Serato DJ, Traktor Pro, BandLab.
- What am I actually paying for with GarageBand?
- The record lists 6 features across 1 area: other. In practice it is brought in for a beginner learning to record and produce music without paying for software, a songwriter sketching ideas on an iphone and continuing them on a mac the same day, a podcaster or hobbyist needing basic multitrack recording without a subscription.
- Does GarageBand charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these GarageBand prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare GarageBand against before paying?
- The closest music tools in this directory are rekordbox, DistroKid, Pro Tools, Serato DJ. Each has a side-by-side comparison with GarageBand covering price, platforms and features.