Free plugins worth installing in 2026, one per category: EQ, compressor, reverb, synth and utility

This is a desk review, not a test. We picked one free plugin per category, read what each maker publishes about price, licence and system support, linked every page we used, and gave no scores. Upgrade prices are as shown on the makers' sites on 28 October 2026, in the currency they use. We'll score these once we've used them hands-on (see how we test and rank). None of the links below are paid.

The five at a glance

EQ: TDR Nova

Tokyo Dawn Records offers TDR Nova, a dynamic EQ, as a free download in VST2, VST3, AU and AAX. The page lists Windows Vista or higher, Mac OS X 10.9 or higher, and Linux x86-64. The paid Gentleman's Edition was €60 when we looked, on a "personal/small business license" with free updates.

Compressor: TDR Kotelnikov

TDR Kotelnikov is also free from Tokyo Dawn, for Windows 7 or above and Mac OS X 10.9 or above, and it needs OpenGL. Its Gentleman's Edition was €50.

Reverb: Dragonfly Reverb

Dragonfly Reverb calls itself "a bundle of free audio effect plugins for Linux, MacOS, and Windows". Its repository says it's distributed under the GPL 3.0 licence. There's no paid tier to upgrade to.

Synth: Vital

Vital's free Basic plan is "the full synth with all features", with 75 presets and 25 wavetables. Plus and Pro add presets and wavetables, and Pro adds unlimited text-to-wavetable requests and extra skins. The prices load by script, so they weren't in the page text we read. Vital lists Windows 10 and higher, macOS 10.15 and higher (Intel or Apple Silicon) and Ubuntu 18.04 and above, 64-bit only. Its source code is licensed under the GPLv3, and the README says the licence gives no rights to the "Vital" name.

Utility: Voxengo SPAN

Voxengo SPAN is a free spectrum analyser in VST, VST3, AU and AAX for Windows and macOS. SPAN Plus is the paid version. It adds PNG spectrum export, spectrum import and export for comparing tracks, a static spectrum display and a wide display mode. The product page doesn't show the price.

What we think

For most people the free versions are enough. Both Tokyo Dawn upgrades and SPAN Plus add things you'd only miss deep into a mix, and Vital's free plan is the full synth, so its paid plans mostly buy more sounds. That's our reading of what each page says the upgrades add. We haven't tested it yet.

Licence matters more than people assume. Dragonfly and Vital publish their code under the GPL, so they can't be pulled from you the way a free download can, and Dragonfly is the only one of the five here with nothing to sell you. If you're on Linux, three of the five (Nova, Dragonfly and Vital) list it as supported.

What we haven't checked yet

We haven't checked sound quality, CPU load, or how each one behaves in different DAWs, and we haven't read the full licence terms behind Tokyo Dawn's and Voxengo's free downloads. Those need hands-on testing, and they'll decide the scores.

If a maker thinks we've got a published detail wrong, tell us and we'll correct it here.