Compared, from their own pages
Automatic mastering services, compared on what they publish.
LANDR, eMastered, BandLab, Mixea, Masterchannel, Aria and CloudBounce, read from each vendor’s own pricing page and help centre on 10 September 2026. Every cell is a quote or says “not published”. Where a service gives you something this one does not, the row says so.
The table.
Scrolls sideways →
| What | Bounce Mastering (staging) | LANDR | eMastered | BandLab | Mixea | Masterchannel | Aria |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest paid plan | $12/mo, or $99/yr | “$8.25/month” “Billed yearly” (Essentials) | “$15/mo” “Yearly: $180 billed upfront” | Mastering is free; paid presets need Pro, “$14.99/month” | “$8.25 /mo $99 billed annually” | “$15 / mo. billed as $180/year” (Artist) | “$49/Month” for “10 Songs per Month” |
| One track, no subscription | $4.99 | “$10 to master a single track” | “does not currently offer individual file downloads” | Not sold; the tool is free with an account | Per-track fee exists; amount not published | Not published | “$9.90/Master” |
| What is free | Unlimited full-length previews, every measurement, 10 masters a day; no download | “unlimited free mastering previews”; a 3-day trial of the plans | “completely free to test”; pay to download | Free presets, “unlimited WAV and MP3 downloads” | “Your first mastered track is free” | Not published; a 14-day refund if unused | A 15-second preview; “The first five previews are free” |
| Lossless WAV on the cheapest paid plan | Yes — 24-bit at the source rate, plus 16-bit and MP3 | No — Essentials is “Unlimited MP3 masters” | Yes — “every file type” | Yes — WAV on the free tier | Yes — “HD WAV, 24 bit depth, 48k sample rate” | Yes — “returned as a Lossless WAV file” | Yes — “16bit 44.1kHz WAV files and 24bit 44.1kHz WAV files” |
| Loudness control you set | Four LUFS targets and three true-peak ceilings, chosen per job | “Low”, “Medium”, “High” | A strength control, EQ, width and a volume fader | “Light, Normal, and Heavy” (Pro) | “Low, Medium, and High” | None published | Mix Types “A” to “E” |
| Prints the loudness it achieved | Yes — the input and the delivered file, both labelled | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | An analysis feature reads LUFS; whether it reads the finished master is not stated | Not published |
| Says when a target is out of reach | Yes — the shortfall in LU, and the file is still delivered | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Level-matched preview | Yes — both sides at the same loudness, by gain | “Volume Match”, “included with all Advanced and Pro plans” | A preview; level matching not published | Not published | Waveforms for both; level matching not published | Before and after toggle; level matching not published | A 15-second section |
| Bundled extras | None | Distribution, samples, plugins, courses | Distribution, stem separation, plugins | Distribution, beats and sounds (membership) | None | Album and batch mastering, storage, white-labelling | Free remasters, five per song |
Every competitor cell was read from the vendor’s own pricing page or help centre on 10 September 2026, at US pricing, and the sources are linked in each section below. Prices move and plans get renamed; check them before you decide. “Not published” means the pages we read do not state it, not that the feature does not exist. CloudBounce closed on 1 April 2025 and has its own section.
Read 10 September 2026
LANDR
Three LANDR Studio tiers, all with unlimited MP3 masters; WAV starts at Standard (“$12/month Billed yearly”, “Unlimited MP3 + 36 WAV masters”) and is unlimited at Pro. A single WAV master is $10 with no subscription. Loudness is one of three words, Low, Medium or High, and the help centre prints no LUFS or true-peak figure for any of them. The one figure LANDR does publish is a recommendation: “we recommend ensuring that your music does not exceed -14 LUFS.” Nothing in the 30 help articles read states what loudness a finished master reached.
In their words
- “You can try any subscription tier of LANDR Studio free of charge for a period of 3 days.”
- “It costs $10 to master a single track with LANDR.”
- “LANDR offers 3 mastering loudness settings” — Low, Medium, High
- “Our 16bit WAV masters come back with a sample rate of 44.1kHz. If you opt for our 24bit HD WAVs, you’ll keep whatever sample rate you had in your original file.”
- “Volume Match lets you compare your original and master with more accuracy.”
- “Remastering a track with different settings (style and/or loudness) will cost an additional credit.”
Read 10 September 2026
eMastered
A subscription with no single-track option: “eMastered is a subscription service for musicians, and does not currently offer individual file downloads at this time.” Previews are free and unlimited, and the yearly plan is $180 up front. The controls are a strength setting, an EQ with three positions, a width setting and a volume fader; no LUFS target or true-peak ceiling is offered, and no achieved loudness is printed. Refunds run 14 days and fewer than four downloads.
In their words
- “eMastered is completely free to test … You are only asked to pay if you wish to download an eMastered mastered version of a song you upload.”
- “does not currently offer individual file downloads at this time.”
- “You can adjust the mastering strength, EQ, Stereo Width and Volume”
- “eMastered has a 14-day refund policy.”
- “HD Wav’s offer downloads at 24 bit with sample rates higher than 44.1Khz, and can go up to 96k.”
Read 10 September 2026
BandLab Mastering
Free with a BandLab account: the Universal, Fire, Clarity and Tape presets and “unlimited WAV and MP3 downloads”. Natural, Spatial, Cinematic and Punch, plus a three-step Intensity, need a membership, and reference matching needs the Max tier. There is no LUFS target, no true-peak ceiling and no printed result; the one level figure in the help centre is advice about the mix you upload. The mastering page itself is a JavaScript shell, so its own copy could not be read.
In their words
- “Unlimited Downloads: Master as many tracks as you want and get unlimited WAV and MP3 downloads.”
- “A Pro Membership enables you to adjust the Intensity of the Mastering Preset into three levels: Light, Normal, and Heavy.”
- “Aim for your pre-mastering mix to sit between -8 dB and -4 dB.”
- Pro: “3-day free trial, automatically renews at $14.99/month”
- “Reference Mastering is exclusive to Max Membership.”
Read 10 September 2026
Mixea (DistroKid)
One plan: “Unlimited mastering for $8.25 /mo $99 billed annually”, with the first track free. Fifteen options per upload, from three intensities (“Low, Medium, and High”) and five EQ settings; no loudness figure, no ceiling, no printed result. Files above 48 kHz are downsampled before mastering. A per-track price exists for non-subscribers and its amount is not published.
In their words
- “Your first mastered track is free. After that, only $99/year for unlimited mastering.”
- “The available options for Intensity are Low, Medium, and High.”
- “Ultra HD: HD WAV, 24 bit depth, 48k sample rate”
- “Anything higher than 48 kHz will be downsampled to 48 kHz prior to mastering.”
- “many streaming services may change the loudness of your mastered tracks, but some may not”
Read 10 September 2026
Masterchannel
Three yearly plans from “$15 / mo. billed as $180/year”, with album and batch mastering on the higher tiers and white-labelling on Partner. Files come back as lossless WAV at the source bit depth. Tone is steered by up to three genres and three reference tracks; there is no loudness target or ceiling to set. The blog describes a target of “around -9 to -11 LUFS” for the loudest part of a track, and an analysis feature reads LUFS, but whether it reports the finished master is not stated. No free tier or preview is described on the pricing, home or terms pages.
In their words
- “$15 / mo. billed as $180/year”
- “all processed files are now returned as a Lossless WAV file”
- “Reference Tracks: Add up to three reference tracks to guide the system’s sonic target.”
- “A key focus is on the loudest part of your track, ensuring it sits around -9 to -11 LUFS”
- “You can get a refund within 14 days of a subscription payment if you haven’t used the service during that time.”
Read 10 September 2026
Aria Mastering
Per-track pricing at “$9.90/Master” and subscriptions from “$49/Month” for ten songs. The preview is a 15-second section, free for the first five and $2 each after. Five Mix Types set the level, from “Moderate” to “Extra Dynamic”; a LUFS-normalised file can be ordered for a fee, with no figure stated. The pricing page says subscriptions run a minimum of three months and the FAQ says one; both are quoted below.
In their words
- “$9.90/Master”
- “Aria allows you to preview a section of the master for free … returns a 15 second section of the master … The first five previews are free.”
- “All mastered files will be supplied as 16bit 44.1kHz WAV files and 24bit 44.1kHz WAV files.”
- “Subscriptions run for a minimum of 3 months”
- “Subscriptions run for a minimum of 1 month”
Closed
CloudBounce
CloudBounce shut down. The domain no longer resolves (no address record on 10 September 2026), the help centre answers with an inactive-plugin error, and the last copy of the site in the Internet Archive carries the notice: “Dear customers, we deeply regret to inform you that it has been decided to close down CloudBounce business operations permanently as of the 1st of April 2025.” An earlier notice said the technology would continue inside its parent company’s FL Studio ecosystem.
If you came here looking for it: the preview on this site is free and full length, the download is $4.99 a track or $12 a month, and every master comes back with its measurements.
Where the published numbers are wrong
The market leader’s blog prints figures the platforms never published.
LANDR’s guide to LUFS metering, updated 18 August 2025, attributes a loudness target to five platforms. Checked against each platform’s own documentation, four of them publish no loudness figure at all and the fifth publishes a different set of numbers.
Scrolls sideways →
| LANDR’s blog says | The platform itself |
|---|---|
| “YouTube’s normalization standard is around -14 LUFS” | YouTube publishes no loudness figure — it documents a “Stable Volume” setting with no number |
| “TIDAL normalizes to a level of -14 LUFS” | TIDAL publishes no loudness documentation; a help-centre search for “loudness” returns nothing |
| “Amazon Music’s loudness standard is -14 LUFS” | Amazon Music publishes no figure — a how-to for switching normalisation on, and nothing else |
| “Deezer’s standard is at -14 LUFS” | Deezer publishes no figure — a user toggle, documented without a number |
| “Apple Music … roughly corresponds to -16 LUFS” | Apple publishes no loudness figure — a true-peak requirement of −1 dB TP and nothing in LUFS; the −16 is the AES TD1008 track recommendation |
| “Spotify normalizes tracks to -14 LUFS for desktop playback and -11 LUFS for mobile devices” | Spotify publishes three listener settings, Loud −11, Normal −14 and Quiet −19 dB LUFS, with no split by device |
Source: blog.landr.com/lufs-loudness-metering/, read 10 September 2026. What each platform publishes, quoted and linked: the targets page.
What this one does
Two numbers you set, two numbers you get back.
- Four loudness targets, −14 to −8 LUFS
- Three true-peak ceilings, −1.0, −2.0, −0.1 dBTP
- Four named destinations: Apple, club, CD, vinyl
- Your mix measured before anything is touched
- The delivered file measured after rendering
- The shortfall in LU when a target is out of reach
- Nothing to preview, full length, level-matched
- $4.99 a track, or $12 a month
- Cancel from your account
Questions
Questions about the comparison.
Which automatic mastering service is cheapest?
For one track with no subscription: this one at $4.99, then Aria at $9.90 and LANDR at $10; eMastered and Masterchannel do not sell single tracks, and Mixea does not publish the amount. For a yearly plan, LANDR Essentials and Mixea both bill $99 a year, the same as Unlimited here; LANDR’s $99 tier delivers MP3 only. BandLab Mastering is free with an account.
Which one lets me set a LUFS target and a true-peak ceiling?
Of the services read, this one. LANDR, BandLab and Mixea offer a three-word intensity; eMastered offers a strength control and a volume fader; Aria offers five Mix Types; Masterchannel publishes no control. None of the six prints the loudness the finished master reached, and none says what happens when a target cannot be reached.
Is BandLab mastering really free?
Yes, with a BandLab account: the Universal, Fire, Clarity and Tape presets and unlimited WAV and MP3 downloads. Natural, Spatial, Cinematic and Punch, plus the three-step Intensity, need a paid membership, and reference matching needs its top tier. It offers no loudness target and prints no result.
What happened to CloudBounce?
It closed on 1 April 2025, by its own notice, and the domain no longer resolves. The company said the technology would continue inside its parent’s FL Studio ecosystem; Image-Line’s mastering page does not mention CloudBounce.
How was this comparison made, and can it be wrong?
Every cell was read from the vendor’s own pricing page or help centre on 10 September 2026 and is quoted with its source. Prices and plan names change, two pages could not be read at all because they are JavaScript shells, and a help article can lag the pricing page. Where two of a vendor’s own pages disagree, both are quoted. Check the linked pages before you decide.
Hear it before you compare anything else.
The preview is free and full length, level-matched against your own mix, with both sets of numbers on screen.