The Best Free VST Plugins I Actually Use
April 13, 2026
There are so many magical and totally free plugins out there, that it can be hard to narrow it down and discern which ones are actually high quality and useful, and which are snake-oil. Luckily for you, i'm insane and have been obsessed with audio plugins, trying out and using hundreds and hundreds of them over the last 10+ years, so i figured i should make a comprehensive list of the effect plugins i ACTUALLY use in almost every single music project, giving me high quality results efficiently, with intuitive easy to use controls
my top 6 all time free plugins (for windows/mac):
1. Airwindows Consolidated by Airwindows — this contains every airwindows plugin i mention below (and more amazing ones too) it's witchcraft for high quality effects !!
2. Cramit by Sixth Sample — personally my favorite type of OTT compression effect, sounds incredible and has some beefy distortion built in too!
3. Deelay by Sixth Sample — an incredible delay/reverb plugin with awesome presets and sounds great on FX & everything melodic
4. Cymatics Memory by Cymatics — been loving this plugin on synths, melodic loops, and vocals for high quality chorus-y wobble-y fx
5. TAL Filter 2 by TAL — an amazing envelope tool to sidechain or add tempo controlled movement to anything
6. DR Ethereal Verb V2 by me — a shameless plug, but this plugin is great for adding short stereo width to any signal, or long ethereal reverbs too and i use it all the time
breaking it down by category, here's all my favorite totally free plugins for windows and mac:
Delays & Reverbs:
OrilRiver by Denis Tihanov
Galactic by Airwindows
Deelay by Sixth Sample
DR Ethereal Delay V1 by me
DR Ethereal Verb V2 by me
Supermassive by Valhalla DSP
Distortion:
FreeClip by Venn Audio
Mackity by Airwindows
Prisma by Unplugred
LePhonk by Xynth Audio
Ohmicide (legacy) by Ohmforce
EQ / Filters:
Energy2 (Glitter) by Airwindows
Luftikus by LKJB — great for that 40k high boost
xBandpass / xLowpass / xHighpass by Airwindows
AllPassPhase by EnumMusic
ZL Equalizer 2 by ZL Audio
Compression:
Cramit by Sixth Sample
OTT by Xfer Records — the standard classic 'over the top' compression effect for squished, upward compression sound design
Lofi / Chorus / Tape FX:
ChowTapeModel by Chowdhury DSP
Cymatics Origin by Cymatics
Cymatics Memory by Cymatics
Space Modulator by Valhalla DSP
Various FX:
Silhouette / Texturize by Airwindows
Denoiser Classic by Bertom
Voice-Leveler by Viator
ISOL8 by TBPro Audio
SpotOn by Sixth Sample — a free autotune
MAutoPitch by MeldaProduction — part of an amazing free bundle, great for vocals and synths with fun format controls
ERA Bundle by Accusonus — amazing de-noise, de-click, de-breath, de-esser fx, and the voice changer is great too
Kilohearts Essentials Bundle by Kilohearts — love the trance gate, pitch shifter, and compactor but everything is super high quality
Sidechain:
TAL Filter 2 by TAL
STFU by ZEEK
Visualization:
SPAN by Voxengo
s(M)exoscope by Armando Montanez
Signalizer by jthorborg
Scope by Unplugred
Windows Only GOATs:
Classic Series FX by Kjaerhus Audio — really nice series of high quality fx, my go tos are the classic compressor for transients on drums, the delay and reverb for textures and fx, and the autofilter for synths
Blockfish Compressor by Digitalfishphones — really nice compressor, i use it for vocals and real instruments like guitar and piano
Spitfish De-esser by Digitalfishphones — easy to use and high quality de-esser
LOFI by E-phonic — great for adding bitcrushed/crunchy bright distortion and erosion-like effects
Distroyr by Atom Splitter Audio — beefy distortion
Epicentre by TD — amazing unique distortion
i hope this list helps you find some new plugins that can increase your production skills and better translate your ideas into reality for free !! and for more comprehensive info, please check out my free Music Guide PDF — full of sound design info, sound design recipes, mixing/mastering tips and more!
peace & love - chris
