The Long-Term Cost of DAWs Compared

[peter]

When you buy a DAW, you want to choose one that fits your work style and, as moving to a DAW requires a steep learning curve. DAW users generally plan on staying with a new DAW for several years. Consequently, we’re comparing the minimum cost of using the compared DAWs for a period of 5 years, looking at both perpetual license software and subscription software. For perpetual license software, we’re only considering the initial cost and excluding any optional updates, because the user is still permitted to fully edit all projects created in the DAW over 5 years and can update or not update and continue using the full product they initially purchased, whereas, with the subscription-only model used by Sonar, the user is required to pay a fee to continue to be able to open and full edit any project files created in their DAW.

Pro Tools was omitted from this comparison. While it’s an industry standard, it also costs far more than these alternatives. 

5 Year MINIMUM DAW Costs From Least to Most Expensive 

DAW	Pricing Model	Approximate 5-Year Cost (not including optional updates)	Notes
Luna (Universal Audio)	Free with hardware purchase	$0	Included with Universal Audio hardware; no upfront cost if hardware owned or free version is used.
Studio One Pro	Perpetual or subscription	$139-$199 (perpetual license; range considers sale prices to regular prices)	Optional annual updates that cost from $149.99 – $179.99.
Logic Pro	Perpetual license/lifetime free updates	$199	Mac only; one-time cost with free updates.
FL Studio	Perpetual license/lifetime free updates	One-time purchase $199-$299	One-time purchase with free lifetime updates.
Cubase	Perpetual license	$359 – 399	Optional updates every 12-18 months and range from $99 to $165 each.
Cakewalk Sonar	Subscription only	$895 (5 yrs at $179 per year)	Subscription-only model; price recently increased; a paid subscription is required to be able to continue to open and fully edit files made with the full version of the product. While Bandlab recently decided to offer a free version of Cakewalk Sonar, their company representative stated that the Sonar free version is not a permanent product and the company may pull it at any point. Sonar requires the product to be reactivated every 30 days, like a trial product.

Summary for 5-Year Usage Cost:

• Luna is free and is well featured for a free DAW.  
• While Bandlab currently offers a free version, a company representative has stated publicly that the company many pull that version at any point, making clear that they’ve recently contemplated doing so.
• Reaper is $60, including updates.
• A Cakewalk Sonar subscription is the costliest option of all the DAWs we compared, at about $895 over 5 years. 

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

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5

[fretman]

I’m a little confused. Studio One is listed as $262-$300 with a comment that it’s available for $139-$160. Is one the initial price and the other the price for major updates?

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

[fossile]

might be worthwhile to expand the table to clearly show the costs including:

1. purchase price for “perpetual license”
2. monthly subscription price(s) – DAW vs truly optional component and services
3. annual “maintenance / support fee” (if any)
4. version “upgrade fee” (if any)

for example, Studio One dropped all versions except “Pro”, so all users who had artist etc who want the next version have to pay for the “pro” upgrade vs the previous “artist” upgrade (an extra ~$100). and now they’re on v7, but in 5 years will be v10 or v11. each upgrade (assuming they keep the same price – which is not historically how it’s been going) $164 for say 3 upgrades, + the originally $199. is now $691 for a 5 year period (presuming that most SO users want the latest features which will only be available via an upgrade charge). and at some point (usually no more than 6 months after a new version is released, the older version is no longer supported, and so you’re on your own as far as OSes compatibility goes)

so if doing a 5 year analysis on CoO, it’s important to include – what is the least amount someone with no interest in upgrading or having support, vs some % of users who will likely persue upgrades and/or support options over that time. otherwise you don’t have a proper balance against the subscription model which (typically) has this “built-in”…

so the SO pro subscription w/ all the goodies, on an annual cost is $179/yr x 5 years = $895 (oddly the same as Cakewalk subscription) BUT you get all the upgrades on the DAW + upgrades on the goodies + support relative to your OS of choice.

now if you really want expensive, time to include ProTools 🙂

 

• This reply was modified 1 month, 4 weeks ago by fossile.

2

[peter]

On fossile said

might be worthwhile to expand the table to clearly show the costs including:

1. purchase price for “perpetual license”
2. monthly subscription price(s) – DAW vs truly optional component and services
3. annual “maintenance / support fee” (if any)
4. version “upgrade fee” (if any)

for example, Studio One dropped all versions except “Pro”, so all users who had artist etc who want the next version have to pay for the “pro” upgrade vs the previous “artist” upgrade (an extra ~$100). and now they’re on v7, but in 5 years will be v10 or v11. each upgrade (assuming they keep the same price – which is not historically how it’s been going) $164 for say 3 upgrades, + the originally $199. is now $691 for a 5 year period (presuming that most SO users want the latest features which will only be available via an upgrade charge). and at some point (usually no more than 6 months after a new version is released, the older version is no longer supported, and so you’re on your own as far as OSes compatibility goes)

so if doing a 5 year analysis on CoO, it’s important to include – what is the least amount someone with no interest in upgrading or having support, vs some % of users who will likely persue upgrades and/or support options over that time. otherwise you don’t have a proper balance against the subscription model which (typically) has this “built-in”…

so the SO pro subscription w/ all the goodies, on an annual cost is $179/yr x 5 years = $895 (oddly the same as Cakewalk subscription) BUT you get all the upgrades on the DAW + upgrades on the goodies + support relative to your OS of choice.

now if you really want expensive, time to include ProTools 🙂

 

I definitely can and will improve this chart and your recommendations are very helpful. So thanks!

My intent, of course, was to convey the minimum required pricing for the various DAWs over 5 years, as I wrote in the original post, “we’re looking at the long-term costs of DAWS, comparing the minimum cost to use the DAW for a period of 5 years, looking at both perpetual license software and subscription software.” So perhaps, I should adjust the title to MINIMUM COSTS to use a DAW long-term (or over a 5 year period) to be more specific? I think so after reading your post, agreed?

The point I was after is to get people to look at the MINIMUM costs, because when we purchase a DAW, we’re very likely to use it for a period of several years or more. As we all know, it’s a lot of time and work to learn a new DAW. And I want to ensure that those researching the various DAWs consider that factor. Because Sonar is an outlier. All of the other DAWs compared allow a user to pay a one time perpetual license fee and nothing else and open up and edit files with that software for 5 years without paying additional fees. Only Sonar requires that a user must pay $895 to continue to open and fully edit all project files created in the DAW over that 5 year period. That’s really the only point I was trying to make, because I think that is a very important point and one that will not occur to every person researching and comparing DAWs.

Of course, it’s also a point that I could never make at Cakewalk Forums due to Bandlab’s censorship practices. So, I’ve actually wanted to make this point for a LONG TIME. But it took having a community where we aren’t censored to do so.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

3

[peter]

On fretman said

I’m a little confused. Studio One is listed as $262-$300 with a comment that it’s available for $139-$160. Is one the initial price and the other the price for major updates?

It was an error on my part when I was cutting and pasting over from a draft I was working on where I was going to do something slightly different. Thanks for the catch. I fixed it.

The point of the original post is to compare the MINIMUM REQUIRED COST FOR USING A DAW FOR 5 YEARS. I state that in the second sentence of the original post, but I think that I may revise the title of the thread to reflect that so people quickly understand the point wasn’t to write an extensive article, just a simple point, that I think is very important when we compare these DAWs. Of all of the choices listed above, each allows the user/customer to continue to open and edit projects after paying a one-time fee. Only Cakewalk Sonar — which is substantially higher cost than the other DAWs — does not permit the user to open and fully edit files created in the DAW without paying an ongoing fee. I thought writing this this was important, as, while it’s a really simple point, it’s one that many people shopping for a DAW may not realize until AFTER they’ve started a subscription and created projects that, in the case of Cakewalk Sonar, they won’t be able to open and fully edit without paying a subscription fee. Even more, once Bandlab pulls their free version — which their representative has stated that they may do at any time, that it is not a permanently free DAW — the only option these users will have to open and edit these projects natively will require them to pay Bandlab a subscription fee.

As a former Cakewalk Sonar user (I used Sonar from the earliest version), I thought it was valuable information to share with those researching DAWs.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[thesteven]

On fretman said

I’m a little confused. Studio One is listed as $262-$300 with a comment that it’s available for $139-$160. Is one the initial price and the other the price for major updates?

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

Updates are always cheaper, especially around BF.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by thesteven.

2

[William Heins]

One thing to remember is that you do not need to upgrade, you upgrade because you want to 🙂 You can run most any perpetual licensed app for 5 years and it’ll still do what it did when you bought it! I use Nuendo by Steinberg for my DAW….upgrades are generally $199 but there are periodic sales at 40-50% off. One nice thing about Steinberg, buy an app and you can run any version up to the one you are currently running(barring license activation changes). Right now a new user for Nuendo would purchase 14 but have access to 12 and 13 as well. If you originally purchased 11 or older, which was on the eLicenser, you can go back to the first version! The new licensing activation started with Nuendo 12.

A lot of demo stuff here- https://www.reverbnation.com/daylight

3

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