The Best EQ Plugins For Every Budget
Command your frequency spectrum with whatever your wallet will allow – here are the best options in every budget category
EQ plugins are essential in modern music production, and luckily for you, you’ve almost certainly got at least one in your DAW. But there’s only so much that many ‘stock’ plugins can achieve beyond simple frequency sculpting. When you’re ready to trade up, there are many options to consider in the world of EQ plugins.
In this guide, we’ll outline some solid choices for EQ plugins at a variety of price points, telling you the features that your price tag opens up, so you can get the best bang for your buck.
In this article…
- EQ plugins for £10 to £50
- EQ plugins for £50 to £100
- EQ plugins for £100 to £200
- EQ plugins for £200+
EQ plugins for £10 to £50
Whether you’re thinking of investing in your very first EQ plugin from a third-party developer, or are looking to add a new tool to your arsenal on a budget, these plugins are worth considering.
AudioThing: Things Flip EQ - £16.96
Best EQ for quick tone changes
| Price: | £16.96 (Buy now) |
| Platforms: | Windows and Mac |
| Type: | Tilting EQ |
| Format: | VST2, VST3, AU, AAX, CLAP |
| Features: | Simple tilt EQ, mid/side mode, cutoff and boost controls, and resizable window |
The first and cheapest EQ plugin on this list is slightly different to your traditional equaliser. AudioThing’s Things Flip EQ is an easy-to-use tilting EQ with mid/side mode and low and high pass filters, plus a few other features.
In stereo mode, Things Flip EQ can be used to manage a track’s energy with just the Flip control during a buildup or breakdown. In M/S mode, the plugin is a handy mixing tool for controlling the stereo field of your signal.
Initial Audio: Dynamic EQ - £39.00
Best EQ for affordable dynamic processing
| Price: | £39 (Buy now) |
| Platforms: | Windows and Mac |
| Type: | Dynamic EQ |
| Format: | Audio Unit, VST, AAX |
| Features: | Parametric equalizer with multi-band compression features, and transparent EQ algorithm |
Who said dynamic EQs have to break the bank? Initial Audio’s contribution to this list is their aptly titled Dynamic EQ plugin. On the face of it, you get an intuitive dynamic EQ plugin with all the usual features. Upon further inspection, you’ll notice that this plugin is more than meets the eye.
First of all, you get 16 bands of equalisation, granting you a greater resolution of control than many plugins that cost considerably more than this one. Each of those bands has its own built-in dynamics processor which is based on the same engine as the same developer’s LA1 compressor. On top of that, you get a detailed frequency analyzer, a per-band level metre and a range of colour schemes to choose from.
EQ plugins for £50 to £100
In this section, we’ll take a look at the next step up in budget, and look at a couple of specialised but powerful EQ plugins that are sure to bolster out your plugin folder in new areas.
Plugin Boutique: Scaler EQ - £59
Best for harmonic equalisation
| Price: | £59 (Buy now) |
| Platforms: | Windows and Mac |
| Type: | Harmonic EQ |
| Format: | Audio Unit, VST, AAX |
| Features: | Key-dependent EQ, MIDI and audio detection, harmonic EQ bands |
This new plugin is one of our own, following the award-winning Scaler music theory plugin with a new way to make your tunes more musical… and when we say it’s “a new way”, we really mean it!
Scaler EQ can function as a regular EQ, sure, but its Harmonic-type bands are a next-step in EQ. These bands let you boost only the frequencies within a band that are actually in-key with your song, and to cut only the frequencies that are out-of-key with it. Telling Scaler EQ what key your song is in is simple thanks to the plugin’s MIDI and audio detection feature.
The result of Scaler EQ’s Harmonic bands are huge: on bass, boosts are warmer without losing clarity; in the highs, boosting is sweeter without introducing harshness, and cuts still retain a harmonic element without blunting the sound.
You should also check out Scaler EQ for its Magic Shelf bands, which boost and cut differently between mid and side signals for uniquely focused bottom and top ends. Scaler EQ is truly the world’s most musical EQ, and you can get your demo version to hear it for yourself!
Wavesfactory: Equalizer - £85
Best EQ for quick and professional results
| Price: | £85 (Buy now) |
| Platforms: | Windows and Mac |
| Type: | Automatic EQ |
| Format: | AAX, Audio Unit, VST2, VST3 |
| Features: | Intelligent and automatic equalisation, 32 band processing, mid/side processing, tile EQ and more |
Generally, EQ plugins allow you to alter the overall tonal balance of your productions by manually cutting and boosting different areas across the frequency spectrum. Equalizer by Wavesfactory strays from the status quo, and automatically analyses and applies the appropriate frequency boosts and cuts across a whopping 32 bands. The result is a more balanced overall sound, with less nasty resonances and more excitement in all the right places.
Although Equalizer takes care of a lot of the heavy lifting for you, there are still some controls which allow you to fine-tune the equalisation taking place. The Amount knob controls the overall effect of the plugin, Attack and Release dials let you control how quickly the plugin starts and stops its processing, and a Tilt control lets you shift the overall tone of your signal towards the bottom or top end.
EQ plugins for £100 to £200
If you’ve already got one or two go-to plugins for general equalisation tasks and are looking to add a jewel to your EQ crown, read on as we explore two high-end options.
Pulsar: Massive - £119.95
Best EQ for analogue sound
| Price: | £119.95 (Buy now) |
| Platforms: | Windows and Mac |
| Type: | Passive EQ Emulation |
| Format: | AAX, Audio Unit, VST2, VST3 |
| Features: | Manley Massive Passive EQ emulation, visual curve editing, mid/side processing, oversampling and more |
Many of us long for a studio full of classic hardware signal processors, but space and budget can get in the way all too often. The good news is that the clever people at Pulsar have made it their mission to create software versions of some of the most sought-after pieces of equipment from the hardware world.
One such piece is the Manley Massive Passive, brought to the digital domain by Pulsar in the form of the Pulsar Massive. The parallel architecture of this EQ sets it apart from other equalisers, with the resulting sound said to be more musical and natural than active EQs. The Massive plugin has been developed to respond to frequency adjustments in the same way as its hardware forefather, but adds some additional features that bring it up to speed with today’s technology. You get a frequency analyser, EQ curve editor, level metering and two transformer models to pick from.
Eventide: SplitEQ - €179
Best EQ for transient control
| Price: | £156.15 (Buy now) |
| Platforms: | Windows and Mac |
| Type: | Transient and Tonal EQ |
| Format: | AAX, Audio Unit, VST2, VST3 |
| Features: | Process transients and tonal components of audio separately, 8 bands, stereo field enhancement, and more |
For this entry, we’re going from a remake of a legendary classic to a brand new approach to EQing. Eventide have developed their proprietary Structural Split technology, allowing you to split the transient and tonal portions of a sound and apply independent processing to each part. Their SplitEQ plugin boasts this technology, and is somewhat of a game changer when it comes to mixing audio.
You can use SplitEQ’s eight bands like you would any other EQ, or you can opt to apply each band to only the Transient or only the Tonal parts of the signal. Decay and Smooth controls let you refine what the plugin deems to fall under each category, and you can even apply stereo processing to each band on a stereo or mid/side basis. To the right of the plugin, you can adjust the overall level of each portion of your sound giving you ultimate control over its transient properties.
EQ plugins for £200+
Here, we have the absolute crème de la crème of EQ plugins. You could argue that you can’t get a better sounding EQ than the plugins discussed here, without turning to hardware.
Solid State Logic: X-EQ 2 - £296
Best “go to” EQ
| Price: | £296 (Buy now) |
| Platforms: | Windows and Mac |
| Type: | SSL EQ |
| Format: | AAX Native, Audio Unit, VST2, VST3 |
| Features: | Built upon SSL’s proprietary anti-cramping algorithms, 24 band mastering grade EQ, 17 different EQ types and filter shapes, and more. |
SSL have spent over half a century cementing themselves as one of the leading manufacturers of high-end audio equipment. In that time, they’ve entered the software domain with plugins that match up to their reputation.
Using SSL X-EQ 2 boasts 24 configurable bands of equalisation, each of which are able to be independently configured with 17 filter types and EQ shapes. The extent of possible configurations makes X-EQ 2 a hugely versatile option when looking for your next do-it-all EQ plugin. On top of mid/side processing, per-band soloing and detailed visual frequency analysis, you also get SSL’s proprietary anti-cramping technology. This promises to give you a more transparent and less destructive sound than you might expect within a digital setting, particularly in the high frequencies.
Softube: Weiss EQ1 - €549
Best EQ for mastering
| Price: | £478.93 (Buy now) |
| Platforms: | Windows and Mac |
| Type: | Digital mastering EQ |
| Format: | AAX Native, Audio Unit, VST2, VST3 |
| Features: | 1:1 recreation of the Weiss Engineering EQ1 – Minimum Phase EQ, a true Linear Phase EQ, and a Dynamic EQ all in one |
Concluding this article is the Weiss EQ1 from Softube, whose mission statement is to achieve “perfect accuracy, perfect workflow and perfect sound” throughout their entire product offering. As the most expensive plugin on this list, it seems they’re confident that they’ve achieved that goal with the Weiss EQ1.
Looking at the spec sheet of this plugin, it’s clear it was designed with the most fastidious audiophiles in mind. Based on the Weiss Engineering EQ1, Softube promises a 1:1 accuracy of this plugin against the original. Furthermore, Weiss EQ1 can be operated at a bit depth of 32-bit, and a sample rate of 192kHz. Fundamentally, this is a mastering grade digital EQ, that brings with it some advantages over the hardware original. Combine market-leading quality with linear phase, minimum phase and even dynamic EQing options, and you’ve got yourself the ultimate software EQ.
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