Adobe offers Audition as part of the Creative Cloud suite, a sound and audio editing and creation application.
$31.49
per month
Audacity
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
Audacity is a free and open source audio recording and editing software.
N/A
Pricing
Adobe Audition
Audacity
Editions & Modules
Audition - Individuals
$31.49
per month
Single App - Business
$33.99
per month
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe Audition
Audacity
Free Trial
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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Adobe Audition
Audacity
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Adobe Audition
Audacity
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Adobe Audition and Audacity are both Audio Editing tools available for use for sound and audio editing, as well as general sound (or more typically music) creation and production.
One key difference between Adobe Audition and Audacity is their price. While Audacity is a free, open-source product, Adobe Audition is not. However, users of Adobe Audition may enjoy taking advantage of bundles with other Adobe products that help make up for the cost of the software.
Features
Adobe Audition features support audio cleanup, restoration, and editing for both files with video and those without. Users can also record, edit, and integrate music clips into existing sound files. Another key feature of Adobe Audition includes sound quality enhancement, and file repair and restoration.
As an open-source tool, Audacity is popular due to its function as a sound recording tool. However, it fully supports sound editing and rearranging, including the ability to save sound files in different sound quality formats. It also features several plugins for adaptability. Audacity is also a solid choice for converting sound files into various other types.
Both Adobe Audition and Audacity can have steep learning curves, especially for new audio editing users. A key difference between the two is that Adobe Audition can support video whereas Audacity cannot.
Limitations
Common criticisms of Adobe Audition relate to its usability, with many saying its user interface is not very conducive to the audio editing experience. Others also say that it could be more feature-rich, and doesn’t appear to be on Adobe’s list of priorities compared to other creative tools.
As an open-source tool, Audacity can be a bit difficult in terms of improvements or support. Users find running into issues and solving them to be a rough experience. Others also dislike the need for using plug-ins to accomplish more advanced tasks.
Pricing
As previously mentioned, Audacity is available for download on-demand, completely free.
Adobe Audition is available as a standalone product for $20.99/mo. However, for $52.99/mo users can purchase Adobe Audition alongside 20+ other Adobe creative tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. as an affordable bundle.
So, starting off, Cool Edit Pro is NOT a replacement for Adobe Audition. I used to use Cool Edit Pro and there is a world of difference in quality and ability. I use Adobe Audition for post-production editing. it it very well suited for that application. Truncate, fade, add a second or 2 of silence at the end or beginning, save as MP3 or almost any other format a client would want to receive the file in
For just a quick down and dirty audio recording from computer source, Audacity is a no-frills solution that any user can get up and running with quickly without the intimidating functions seen in most standard DAWs. This would be a great tool to start with to record church services, or basic live performances where someone wouldn't want to use a full DAW like Ableton Live or Studio One.
Audition is serious app that will require time to master. While Adobe has done an excellent job of making it approachable, there is a considerable learning curve to unlocking its best features. Knowing that, going in should ease user frustration.
There hasn't been anything I've wanted to accomplish with my audio files that Audition has not permitted.
Adobe Audition is now my primary software choice for all audio production. Since I have invested so much time in learning many of the features, I have no need to adopt another app or platform for the foreseeable future. As an avid Adobe fan, I trust my choice in selecting Audition and have no plans to change
With no subscription fees unlike other products on the market, I am very confident I will continue using Audacity for my simple audio editing needs. I'm not an expert in audio editing, I'm sure what works for me as a more general user in a public institution would not suit someone more experienced, but I'm very happy with the quality of work I'm able to produce.
It isn't easy to just jump in and learn the program, though most of Adobe products aren't easy to use the first time around. They UI is not friendly, and it is cumbersome and intimidating when you first try it. For simple audio changes, it seems to difficult to use, but for the more advanced audio work, it's the perfect solution.
Audacity is for audio prodcasts only and not for video podcasts. Audacity does not have a transcript development feature. Audacity can not edit using the transcript feature that does not exist. I use another program to develop a transcript and edit using that transcript. Then I move the file into Audacity for final processing.
I’d rate Adobe Audition’s availability as very reliable. It’s almost always available when we need it. We’ve had very few issues with crashes or errors, and no unplanned outages. As long as the system meets the hardware requirements and everything’s kept up to date, it runs smoothly. Any hiccups we’ve had were usually tied to updates or third-party plugins—not the app itself.
Audacity is great for this, it doesn't require a network connection once downloaded, and previous versions of the software are still functional in my experience. I have never experienced the program crashing, lost work, corrupted files, anything of the sort.
I’d rate Adobe Audition’s performance as strong. Projects load quickly, and editing—whether it's applying effects, scrubbing audio, or rendering—runs smoothly, even with larger files. Exports complete in a reasonable time, especially with solid hardware. It also plays well with other Adobe tools like Premiere Pro without slowing things down. As long as your system meets the specs, performance is fast and stable across the board.
I have never had issues with speed in Audacity, I don't integrate it with other software but the program runs smoothly even with larger jobs. I haven't measured the CPU while using Audacity, but I imagine it's not high compared to other, more professional or specialized programs in the same category.
I have not contacted support but given the large amount of users, I have no doubt that most problems can be solved fairly easily. A cursory search for known issues in Adobe Audition yields a support website with many workarounds posted by the official Audition team. They seem responsive and eager to continue fixing bugs and improving the application, which I take as a sign that their support is top notch, as I would expect from my experience using other Adobe products.
We have not used direct support for Audacity, other than using the information available on their website, which resolved the issues we were experiencing so we had a good experience in that regard. As this is Open Source FREE software, I don't believe there is direct support available. In saying that, it has the following great support options:
Online documentation and FAQ
Online tutorials covering all functions
Online user forums where questions are asked and answered by other users
Online wiki with more information
With these options most issues should be able to be resolved to get full use from Audacity.
Adobe offers a good mix of tutorials, videos, and help articles that cover the basics and some advanced features. It’s easy to follow, especially for beginners. That said, if you're looking for deep dives or very specific use cases, you might need to look beyond Adobe's official resources—forums and third-party videos helped fill in those gaps.
Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the implementation. Setting up Adobe Audition was straightforward, especially since it fit well with the other Adobe tools we were already using. There were a few small bumps in getting everyone up to speed, but nothing major. Once we had things configured the way we wanted, it ran smoothly and became part of our regular workflow pretty quickly.
Again I found it helpful to write up a step-by-step tutorial for coworkers based on our institution's standard practices. This combined with support from coworkers to answer questions is very effective for simple everyday use of Audacity. The support in-program is minimal but troubleshooting in the internet age is straightforward.
Ableton is the only similar program I know. It's easier to use at times, but it would cost extra. Adobe Audition comes with Adobe Creative Cloud, and I regularly use Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom, so staying in the Adobe family makes sense cost-wise for me. I don't want to pay money for other programs since I pay a reasonable amount for CC.
While the comparison it's really apples-to-apples, since Audacity is only designed for audio editing, and I use other tools like Camtasia and screenflow for both audio and video, the other tools do make it convenient to edit the audio within the same software as I edit the video, rather than having to do both in separate software solutions.
I’d rate Adobe Audition’s scalability as strong overall. It works well across different departments—whether it's for podcasting, video production, or training content. Since it’s part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, it’s easy to manage licenses and updates across teams and locations. The only limitation might be that it’s single-user per license, so collaboration isn’t real-time like some cloud tools, but for most audio workflows, that hasn’t been a major issue.
I feel that Audacity is useful, simple, and suited both to casual users and more advanced use cases. There are options for expanding functionality in complex situations, but the option to not mess with it as a beginner is perfectly fine and suited to most everyday uses in my institution.
Removing unwanted sounds was very easy with Adobe Audition - An example would worth to mention is an unwanted phone call during an interview. The phone rang, the microphone recorded everything correctly, and with the help of Adobe Audition, everything can be successfully cured. To do this, you need to open the file with the original recording in the sound wave mode.
