FL Studio vs. GarageBand

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FL Studio
Score 9.8 out of 10
N/A
Belgian studio Image-Line Software offers FL Studio, the company's digital audio workstation (DAW) and audio editing application.
$99
Per License
GarageBand
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
Apple offers GarageBand, a digital audio workstation packaged with its operating system.
$199.99
Pricing
FL StudioGarageBand
Editions & Modules
Fruity
$99.00
Per License
Producer
$199.00
Per License
Signature Bundle
$299.00
Per License
All Plugins
$899.00
Per License
Logic Pro (GarageBand Premium)
$199.99
Garageband for Mac
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FL StudioGarageBand
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
FL StudioGarageBand
Considered Both Products
FL Studio
Chose FL Studio
In selecting this software, we investigated and considered others. We found that FL Studio had a good price point and the life time free version updates made it a one time purchase.
In terms of functionality, the most similar software solutions are Ableton LIve, Logic Pro X and …
Chose FL Studio
Audacity is a free open-source software that is only for recording and editing some audio, while FL Studio on the other hand allows you to create your own music, record your audio, edit your audio and many other features all for a small price. FL Studio has way more effects …
GarageBand
Chose GarageBand
Because GarageBand is included on macOS and iOS purchases, and we already use an Apple environment at our office, it was an easy decision to go with the 'free,' included program for our basic audio editing needs. We did also purchase Logic Pro X, since it is the 'big brother' …
Chose GarageBand
GarageBand is much more user-friendly and feature-rich than Audacity. It's also a far more beautiful application to run, which inspires much more creativity in the workflow. I think Audacity's team must purely focus on functionality. Functional, it is (albeit not feature-rich), …
Chose GarageBand
Way more user friendly. Audacity was clunky in the editing part and Garage Band is not. I love that everything is laid out in an eye friendly fashion. Audacity had too many tools laid out in a busy way where it's actually hard to find things. Also, since Garage Band is free to …
Chose GarageBand
With GarageBand it's very easy to drag in MP3 and slide them where you want it. I have a folder of MP3 I use for every podcast episode such as intro music, outro music, advertisements, etc. I have used other audio editors like Audacity which I did not find to be intuitive. …
Chose GarageBand
Adobe Audition is another great audio editing/recording software, in fact it is much better compared to GarageBand and has much more effects. However, it has a pretty large price tag while GarageBand is completely free. Also, Adobe Audition has a very steep learning curve which …
Chose GarageBand
FLStudio: It has a breadth of functionality compared to Garageband, and its equally easy to use.
Abelton: Its the best one that I have used, I have not even explored I believe 1% of the whole studio, but that proved to be enough for me on the project that I was working on. (For …
Chose GarageBand
I have used Adobe Audition before but found it to be hard to learn. Some of the features were very nice but too much for what I needed to justify the price. GarageBand is perfect for my needs and it came free with my Mac laptop. That is the best deal in town!
Chose GarageBand
GarageBand isn't the most powerful audio editing tool on the market, but for a free tool to Apple users... you can't go wrong.

This tool has all the features a beginning user would ever need... and more! It's no Adobe platform, but if you're testing an idea or trying something …
Best Alternatives
FL StudioGarageBand
Small Businesses
Descript
Descript
Score 8.4 out of 10
Descript
Descript
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 8.3 out of 10
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 8.3 out of 10
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FL StudioGarageBand
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FL StudioGarageBand
Likelihood to Recommend
FL Studio is great for quick audio editing, where you need to quickly make an edit to a song or add a new part to an existing song. Due to the included audio processing plugins, there is no need to purchase more to increase the software's capability. These features lend it to "out of the box" solutions, where quick implementation with no hidden costs is important. For serious audio editing and mix down, FL Studio is not well suited, as it is designed to be a good all round music creation software, rather than a dedicated audio editor.
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Honestly, switching to Garage Band from Audacity for my podcast was a game-changer in the editing. I can do it so much faster with the tools that are available in editing--especially when you are dealing with more than one track to edit. I also think Garage Band could be fantastic for recording a whole album initially before sending it to be mastered elsewhere. And I think Garage Band could be perfect for sync music licensing because it's still relatively easy to use!
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Pros
  • The price of FL Studio isn't too harsh for beginners, which is great.
  • FL Studio has an infinite amount of features, samples, plugins and pre-sets.
  • It's easy to move around the music blocks in FL Studio's timeline.
  • It isn't too hard for beginners to adjust and get used to the interface.
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  • It has a quite simple UI that has a low learning curve for beginners.
  • It's impressively feature-rich for a free application.
  • The help documentation and user community are very helpful if/when you get stuck with something.
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Cons
  • The audio editing is made to be easy to use, and as such is missing some of the features included in more "serious" audio editing software.
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  • Can't save the preferences for the tracks such as turning off reverb etc.
  • Project files are large, a 30-minute podcast episode with only 4 tracks is typically around 1 GB
  • Auto feature to silence guest not talking
  • Optimize for podcasters (I use the old version 6 as new versions hasn't had podcast options)
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Usability
I gave it the above rating because it is an incredible software for music creators and even though it might be hard to use at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will never be troubled again, and in all honesty, nothing comes easy life, especially if one yearns to become good at. Same applies with FL Studio. In conclusion, it is a great software.
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GarageBand has just a few clunky settings--otherwise, it is a very user-friendly program with lots of functionality. Beginners can get started pretty quickly with the program, while more advanced users can dig around and find plenty of other tools to use to tweak things within a recording or editing session
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Support Rating
No answers on this topic
I have never tried it. It's just simple, and you should be able to navigate most of it via self-exploration and Apple Help.
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Alternatives Considered
Audacity is a free open-source software that is only for recording and editing some audio, while FL Studio on the other hand allows you to create your own music, record your audio, edit your audio and many other features all for a small price. FL Studio has way more effects pre-sets than Audacity. Even though Audacity's recording features can come close to FL Studio, there are many other factors that led to me opting to invest in FL Studio. Many other music producers also recommended FL Studio; therefore, that's what I chose. I have used both software for almost 2 years each, first being Audacity and then I decided to get FL Studio and have been using it for all my audio recording, editing and music making ever since.
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Because GarageBand is included on macOS and iOS purchases, and we already use an Apple environment at our office, it was an easy decision to go with the 'free,' included program for our basic audio editing needs. We did also purchase Logic Pro X, since it is the 'big brother' to GarageBand, but our volunteers tend to use GarageBand first because of familiarity and ease-of-use
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Return on Investment
  • Like I mentioned beforehand, it is slightly expensive but if you think of it, it is a lifetime investment.
  • FL Studio is also essential to have if one wishes to create music of their own or background songs because that way, you won't have to pay someone to create music for you.
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  • It definitely has reduced costs since it's completely free.
  • Having the mobile app also increases the efficiency in our workflow.
  • We get great feedback on our videos and podcasts because of the audio.
  • The lack of effects and pre-sets lets our audio quality down a little bit, but it's manageable.
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ScreenShots