When comparing Audacity vs Pro Tools 2018.7, the Slant community recommends Audacity for most people. In the question“What are the best free music making software tools?” Audacity is ranked 1st while Pro Tools 2018.7 is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Audacity is:
Audacity is available for free on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux with source code available [here](http://audacityteam.org/download/source).
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Free, open source and cross-platform
Audacity is available for free on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux with source code available here.
Pro Well maintained
Audacity is constantly updated.
Pro Great community backing it
Pro Great for vocal track editing
Pro Very high performance, and very powerful
This software is very powerful, and has great audio editing, midi editing, automation, pan etc, but It only supports AAX plugins, no VST.
Pro Very fast precision editing
The Pro Tools DAW is know for making clip manipulation a fun and productive experience.
Pro Mature editing and mixing facilities
As the Pro Tools DAW was originally developed to be an audio-only system with recording, editing and mixing in mind, these core features have been the most developed over time. It can be argued that the Pro Tools DAW has the best editing and mixing capabilities of any DAW, and for these reasons is considered by many to be an industry standard. As such it is an excellent DAW for multi-track mixing and recording.
Pro 64 Bit
This long awaited feature has finally been added.
Pro Extremely clean DAW interface
The Pro Tools DAW is known for being simple and easy to use. The UI is straightforward and isn't weighed down with useless features.
Pro Clean, Uncluttered Interface
The UI is very clean and uncluttered so there's not too much going on onscreen to have to try to focus on, do wish they would implement a theme system though, so you could change the colors of the UI, I prefer a dark theme as they are easier on the eyes.
Pro Free trial available
You can get a free trial of Pro Tools for 30 days.
Pro Comes with 8GB of included sounds and 55 included effects
Pro Much faster than Pro Tools 10
The improvement from the Pro Tools 10 DAW to the Pro Tools 11 DAW is highly noticeable.
Pro If you're an audio engineer, you already know how to use it
Pro Easy to understand file system
Pro Designed with proper session organization habits in mind
Pro Constantly updated software to accommodate Post/Film industry requirements
Pro A signal flow that makes sense when working with a hybrid setup
Cons
Con Not seen as a full DAW
Audacity doesn't have the capabilities of popular DAWs and generally isn't considered to be good option.
Con Doesn't retain audio integrity
Audacity uses destructive editing, meaning applying effects, cutting, etc is non-reversable after you've saved a project.
Con No real time effects
Users are unable to change effects in real time with Audacity. If effects are to be changed, no sound can be playing or recording.
Con Unable to use Synthesizers / virtual instruments
You can only use effect plugins or record live with this DAW.
Con No native 64-bit version, therefore does not support 64-bit VST plugins
Audacity is available only as a 32-bit application, therefore even when running on 64-bit machines, it only supports 32-bit VST plugins unless they are converted to 32-bit using an application such as JBridge.
Con Too damn expensive
Con No RTAS or VST plugin support
The Pro Tools 11 DAW dropped RTAS support in favor of their own AAX (Avid Audio eXtension) format. Without AAX availability, a VST wrapper is required.
Con No batch export
You can not pick separate tracks to export in one pass that gives you separated files.
Con Only subscription now
Just recently, pro tools has switched to a subscription only basis, you cannot get an upfront payment without using an external vendor.
Con MIDI and composition tools are a bit dated
Con No ARA (audio communication, e.g. with Melodyne / VocAlign)
Replaced by the commit function.
Con Slow, old, outdated
Highest processor usage of any DAW, poor software optimization and patching of outdated code has left a slow bloated husk of a DAW that struggles to run smoothly on even the highest end modern computers.
Con Audio Drivers and ASIO
You cannot change the audio outs in ASIO on the fly, like in some other software, without having to save and restart the entire program, plus it's very finicky about audio drivers.
Con Prone to crashes
While it might be the "Industry Standard" for recording award winning albums, Avid has focused more on anti piracy and security while sacrificing stability, it seems to me they just change their plugin standard and slap a new version number on it and rush it to market.
Con Proprietary
Con No built-in pitch correction
While some other DAWs are equipped with pitch correction, the Pro Tools DAW is missing this feature. In order to use pitch correction, it must be added as a plugin.