SOUND FORGE 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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Overview
Pricing and Plans
Features
User Reviews

Overview

SOUND FORGE

4.7

(29)

Pricing

Pricing available upon request

About SOUND FORGE

For over 20 years, SOUND FORGE has provided renowned producers, artists, and sound engineers, worldwide with professional audio editing tools, ultra-fast audio processing, and crystal-clear audio quality, built-in into the platform. The SOUND FORGE Audio Studio 14 is a comprehensive audio editing and restoration platform that provides fine-tool controls to record, edit, restore, and master audio with the most up-to-date technology.

With SOUND FORGE, users can splice, adjust, and edit audio files within just a few clicks to achieve audio perfection. Any sounds or vocals can be recorded at any quality up 32-bit/384 kHz which can be viewed using live waveform display & real-time monitoring. For audio restoration, SOUND FORGE can convert vinyl and tapes into digital audio files with iZotope Ozone 9 Elements, allowing users to transform outdated sound into excellent studio-quality. Any audio file with standard formats such as WAV, MP3, FLAC, ASF, CDA, RWA, VOX, and more can be imported and exported.

Other features include instant action workflows, improved VST plugin integration, integrated oscilloscope visualization, quickFX plug-ins, and more.

SOUND FORGE Screenshots

SOUND FORGE Pricing and Plans

Starting price: $60.00

Free Trial

Free Version

Basic

$60.00

per feature

No plan information available

SOUND FORGE Features

Popular features found in Audio Editing
Audio Manipulation
Audio Mixing
Audio Recording
Plug-in Integration
Video Editing
More features of SOUND FORGE
Audio Capture
Audio Editor
Collaboration Tools
Data Import/Export
Mastering
Monitoring
Real-Time Monitoring

SOUND FORGE User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.7

Ratings Breakdown

76%

21%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

4.4

Value for money

4.3

Customer support

4.2

Functionality

4.6

Trevor O.

Verified reviewer

Music

Self-Employed

Used monthly for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed December 2024

Sound Forge: The Perfect Stand Alone Audio Editor

Great software and really serves it's purposes well. Top of the line enhancements that really improve work out put.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Ease of access and straightforward use. High end enhancements for your audio files.

Cons:

After the other Apps I already have in my library of audio editor and audio work it doesn't serve as much of a purpose.

Reasons for choosing SOUND FORGE

Better reviews and has been a reputable app for audio enhancements, editing and final mix audio files.

Verified

Reviewer

Non-Profit Organization Management

201-500 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed May 2022

Well kitted and ever improving.

SF is very complete in many ways as there are many tools sufficiently provided to handle any audio editing task.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I have been using Sound Forge for a while and it keeps on getting better and better with the newer versions/upgrades. Currently I am using SF Pro 16 and many aspects have been improved with added features. One of the recent feature that has been very instrumental in my working with SF is the Vocal Activity Detection (VAD) which uses AI to detect human vocals in an audio file and applies a red color on the audio wave where vocals are detected. This enables me to enhance vocals in many ways by either applying effects or changing vocal dynamics without necessarily having to alter the background music or ambience. I have found this feature quite helpful especially in editing interview podcasts etc.

Cons:

There is a lot of small icons in the data windows and general software which gives the feel of clutter and can easily dissuade someone from engaging SF especially in the learning stages. However, the inbuilt interactive tutorials make editing easy.

Reasons for switching to SOUND FORGE

Great improvements and almost all in one tools

Deepak M.

Verified reviewer

Education Management

Self-Employed

Used monthly for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed April 2022

Review of Sound Forge

Overall, Sound Forge is a good piece of software but I found it lacking in comparison with Audacity.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Functionality

Pros:

Sound Forge is quite easy to use, even for the first-time user. It is quite feature rich and even amateurs can use its features quite easily.

Cons:

Its noise-reduction / noise-cancellation feature falls far short of ideal. Its noise gate technology tends to distort the recording rather than filter out the noise.

Irfan K.

Verified reviewer

Media Production

201-500 employees

Used other for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed July 2021

Sound Forge is Awesome for Music Producers

Overall, it's good for audio editing. It has simple controls and easy to learn. It supports VST plugins that is a strong point. I have done a lot of my early radio projects on Sound Forge and I thank the company for its great support.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I like Sound Forge for its powerful editing tools. It is simply a top-notch software when it comes to audio recording, editing, mixing, and mastering. I work in a commercial radio station and I'm confident to say that Sound Forge has been a great help over the years. It has enabled us to maintain crystal-clear audio quality and improved audio production. Multitrack recording, batch conversion, high-quality audio, many different file formats support and hotkey functions are my favorites.

Cons:

It doesn't a lot of options for noise reduction. I work with noisy voiceovers associated with a lot of outdoor noise and sometimes studio ambiance. It doesn't clean up the Vos to a level that other competitors like Adobe Audition can do. There's another thing that I kinda hate about Sound Forge and that's the speed to load large files. It lags and takes a lot of time to process.

Michelle M.

Verified reviewer

Internet

Self-Employed

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed November 2022

Inexpensive Audio Power House

I integrate Sound Forge into all of my DAWs as my audio editor of choice, for times when there is a need to directly edit the sound file in a track on a project I'm working with.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Sound Forge continues to be one of the most effective audio tools in my toolbox, and newer editions of the software have added a video track as well, all for under $50.

Cons:

The only issue I experience with Sound Forge is my fault - I have collected probably close to 2000 audio plugins, from synths to sound effects. All audio software has to scan the computer for available plugins and this takes forever. The only way to prevent this interminable wait at start-up is for me to move all but the essential plugins I predict I will need into a standby directory. I wish audio software offered me a way to choose which plugins to load on the start up screen but none of them do this.

Reasons for choosing SOUND FORGE

I used to use Cool Edit way back in the day, but switched to Sound Forge about 10 years ago because it came in a package deal with Acid Pro and I have used it ever since because it offers much more functionality.

Verified

Reviewer

Construction

501-1000 employees

Used weekly for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed May 2022

Works great for audio processing

Having a time tested platform for audio processing makes me feel comfortable with my production. I am glad that I can access Sound Forge both on a Window PC and Mac.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Sound forge has been a key tool for me especially when I need to work with more DirectX & VST plugins. Using its Plug-in Chain window I am able to experiment with as many effects as possible without ruining my original audio file(s) as this tool allows me to process these plugins in real time with playback within the data window. Once I am satisfied with the output, I can have it applied by saving the file. That is very key to my use case. Also the file saving is not limited to available file formats, I can always save the raw file to specify format parameters that work with a specific project/target platform.

Cons:

Not much of negatives here. However it is quite expensive to upgrade to a newer version.

Reasons for switching to SOUND FORGE

I Have mostly been on Window PC platform

Verified

Reviewer

Media Production

Self-Employed

Used other for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed August 2021

Quick and very effective way to capture and manipulate an audio file, quickly!

Sound forge can be a little simplistic if you look it at a glance, but it does perform very well to capture audio and manipulate sound for a quick in and out when I am working on a video project. I like the fact that it's fairly light on my system when I am running premiere and After Effects at the same time. I grew up using Sound Forge, and it helped me several times while on a time crunch. Although the UI can be a little too bland and simplistic, you can quickly manipulate audio and get back to your work without too much effort. I alway keep Sound Forge on a click away, even tho I find myself using Mixcraft more and more these days. Being a Magix software, be prepared to be asked to upgrade to a newer version when you fire you software, but not that big of a deal. there are several versions of the software, so make sure you chose the one that will tackle your audio needs. Overall, give sme piece of mind that I can access a great audio editor when I need to.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Functionality

Pros:

Fairly light software to run simultaneously while you need to fire it up and do a quick recording. Very powerful and versatile.

Cons:

Can be a bit restrictive to some people looking for a full feature DAW, so not a complete solution for audio producers

Reasons for choosing SOUND FORGE

I use it in conjunction with other DAWs

Jeremy D.

Verified reviewer

Media Production

2-10 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed June 2022

SOUND FORGE: A Classic Audio Editor

I started using SOUND FORGE in the 90s, and it was almost the only game in town. It was fun and easy to use, and I would always recommend it to beginners, especially. But it's fully capable of pro audio editing!

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

SOUND FORGE was practically an industry standard in the late-90s and 2000's, and with good reason. The clean, simple interface made it easy to learn how to edit audio, apply effects, and master mixes; all in a light package.

Cons:

SOUND FORGE was strictly a PC app until recently, and even then, Mac support has been spurious, and the company has been sold twice since the 00's. I eventually switched to Steinberg Wavelab, as it offers a main mix bus, plus hundreds of more advanced features for professional mastering.

Sangramsingh C.

Verified reviewer

Media Production

2-10 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2022

One of the oldest and best audio editing software.

Overall its the one stop shop for all audio editing and recording needs. I have been creating extended versions of songs, mixing audio tracks for videos, recording and cleaning audio files recorded from Vinyls and cassettes, enhancing audio low quality audio files for more than a decade now.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I think sound forge has been the go to software for audio editing and recording for the past 15 years or so. And it has aged well I must say. The interface is intuitive and you can pretty much work your way around on your own, by using the extensive help section for each tool. I remember getting a 10 minute orientation on the software for the first time and I was on my way. The quality of edits and previews is top notch, and it also works according to your system configuration which is a great feature.

Cons:

The best noise reduction available is on Sound forge and it is very expensive as well, and available as a separate plugin.

Ghazal Z.

Verified reviewer

Broadcast Media

201-500 employees

Used weekly for free trial

Review source

Reviewed July 2021

Good For Voiceover Artists

Overall experience is good. It holds solid ground in the line of audio editing software. It works well with keyboard shortcuts. Easy to install and work with.

Ratings Breakdown

Ease of use

Value for money

Customer support

Functionality

Pros:

I primarily use Sound Forge for audio recording. I'm a radio jockey and a voice-over artist. Occasionally, I have to record my show and send it over to the production team. Other than my show, I do commercial voiceovers and Sound Forge helps in recording the audio and mastering it. I can easily record, remove long patches, extra breaths, unwanted clicks, and also apply some effects to improve the voice.

Cons:

It's pretty good to just record but sometimes when I do the outdoor voiceovers and it is associated with some ambiance, noise, and extra voices, I don't find a lot of options to filter the noise.

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