What is Audacity used for?

Audacity is a free, open-source multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS and Linux. It is a good fit for recording voice-overs and podcasts, and editing and cleaning up audio files.

Is Audacity open source?

Yes. Audacity is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at audacity/audacity and is written mainly in C++.

Yes. Audacity is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

Can I self-host Audacity?

Yes. Audacity can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Audacity an alternative to?

Audacity is an open-source alternative to Adobe Audition, Soundtrap, iZotope and Adobe Podcast. Other open-source alternatives to Adobe Audition include Ardour.

Is Audacity actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Audacity was on 2 October 2026. The project has 19k stars on GitHub.

Audacity: open-source alternative to Adobe Audition

About Audacity

Audacity is a multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. It is designed to be easy to use for recording sound and editing it across separate tracks. This repository holds the project's source code, written in C++ with the wxWidgets toolkit.

The project is in the middle of a major transition. Audacity 4 brings an entirely new user interface along with extensive refactoring, while the 3.x line remains available and still accepts patches from a separate branch. Build instructions exist for both versions, and development updates are shared on YouTube, Discord and the project blog.

Audacity is open source software licensed under GPLv3, with most code files under GPLv2 or later. Third-party libraries and VST3-related code are noted exceptions, and the documentation is licensed CC BY 3.0. It runs locally as a desktop application, so no account or hosted service is involved.

Key features

Multi-track audio recording and editing
Cross-platform desktop application
Redesigned interface in Audacity 4
Maintained Audacity 3.x release line
Open source under the GPL

Good fit for

→Recording voice-overs and podcasts
→Editing and cleaning up audio files

Built with: C++
Tags: audio; audio-editor; recording; cross-platform; wxwidgets; gpl; multitrack; music

Audacity: questions and answers

What is Audacity used for?: Audacity is a free, open-source multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS and Linux. It is a good fit for recording voice-overs and podcasts, and editing and cleaning up audio files.
Is Audacity open source?: Yes. Audacity is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at audacity/audacity and is written mainly in C++.
Is Audacity free?: Yes. Audacity is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
Can I self-host Audacity?: Yes. Audacity can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Audacity an alternative to?: Audacity is an open-source alternative to Adobe Audition, Soundtrap, iZotope and Adobe Podcast. Other open-source alternatives to Adobe Audition include Ardour.
Is Audacity actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Audacity was on 2 October 2026. The project has 19k stars on GitHub.