If you want to start producing music on a Chromebook, but you’re on a budget so you don’t want to have to pay for expensive music production software, you’re in the right place.
Because in this article, I’m going to show you some great free music production apps that will work on a Chromebook.
I’ve included 5 different great options in the list below, so you’ll be sure to find the perfect one for your needs!
Table of Contents
I wrote an article a little while ago about how to produce music on a Chromebook (which I highly recommend reading if you’re interested in producing music on a Chromebook). And in that article I mentioned some different music production apps that you could use on your Chromebook.
But some of them had to be paid for with either a one-time payment or monthly subscription. And since then, I’ve had a lot of requests for an article about only free music production software for Chromebooks.
So I’ve done some research and testing, and I’ve managed to create a pretty good list of Chrome OS compatible music production apps that will let you use them completely free of charge.
Some have paid plans that offer more features, but all the options on this list have a free version with enough features to get started.
Which Type Of App Do You Want?
Whenever you’re looking for an app to use on your Chromebook, you’ll usually need to choose between a web app or an Android app.
Web Apps – A web app is kind of a website that you can log into and then use as an app (eg: Gmail, Google Docs, etc). To use an app like this, you don’t even need to install it, you just log into the website and get to work creating your music.
A web app is usually a good option for producing music on a Chromebook because all the demanding work of storing and editing all your tracks will actually be done by the app’s server and not your Chromebook which means you will be able to edit smoothly on a much cheaper and less powerful device.
But the downside of web apps is that they are heavily dependant on an internet connection. So if you have a slow or unreliable connection, or you often like to work on your music in places where there is no internet, web apps probably won’t be the way to go.
Android Apps – This brings us to Android apps, Android apps are the apps meant to be installed on Android phones and tablets, but they can also be installed on Chromebooks which means an Android app could be a good option.
Android apps run on your Chromebook which means they can be used without an internet connection which is great if you have slow internet or you like to produce music in places without internet.
But the downside is that if your Chromebook isn’t very powerful, it might struggle to run an Android music production app smoothly seeing as Android apps run on the Chromebook.
To try and make this article quicker and easier to read, I’ve split it into two different sections, music production web apps and music production Android apps.
If you’ve already made up your mind about whether you want a web app or an Android app, you can click one of the links above to skip down to the relevant section, but if you don’t really mind which one it is, you can just scroll down the list and take a look at them all.
Music Production Web Apps
The Good
- Works With Midi Devices
- Very Featureful
The Bad
- A Bit Overcomplicated For Beginners
Audiotool is a very full-featured music production app that runs in the cloud and works perfectly with Chrome OS.
It has a bit of a unique and slightly complicated design which, especially if you’re a beginner, could be a bit of a learning curve compared with some of the other options.
 But if you’re willing to put in the effort to learn it, it could be the one for you.
The Good
- More Traditional And User Friendly Layout
- Works With Midi Devices
The Bad
- The Free Version Is Quite Limited
Soundation is another option that runs in the cloud and works perfectly with Chrome OS. The user interface is simpler and more beginner-friendly (similar to Apple’s Garage Band) which is nice.
But unfortunately, the free version is fairly limited so depending on what you want to do, it is quite likely that you would need to upgrade to the paid version.
The Good
- Works With Midi Devices
- Easy To Use Interface
- Plenty Of Features
The Bad
- Nothing Much Bad To Report
Bandlab Is another great cloud-based option for producing music on a Chromebook. The interface is nice and easy to use but it still has really all the features you might need.
I couldn’t really find anything bad to report about Bandlab so I would say that makes it a very good option.
The Good
- Bright And Modern Design
- Good Amount Of Features
- A Joy To Use
The Bad
- You Do Need To Pay To Get All The Features
Soundtrap is the last cloud-based option on this list, the user interface has a bright and modern design that makes it a joy to use while still having a good amount of features.
But unfortunately, the free plan is a bit limited so depending on what you need to do with it you might end up having to pay.
Music Production Android Apps
The Good
- Works Offilne
- Easy To Use
The Bad
- Not Quite As Many Features As A Cloud Based Option
- May Struggle To Run On Older Or Cheaper Devices
The Bandlab Android app works fairly well on Chromebooks and is probably going to be your best option if you want something that runs on your device rather than on the cloud.
But as it is meant for mobile devices it doesn’t have quite as many features as you might find in one of the cloud-based apps. And as it will be running on your device instead of in the cloud, it might be a bit slow and clunky on older or cheaper devices.
And that brings us to the end of our list of the best music production apps for Chromebooks. Hopefully, with 5 great different options to choose from, you found a great one for you.
Hi, is it possible to work both with BandLab as an app (offline) and as a Web app (online)? Is it possible, let’s say, to work on a project offline on the train with the app then online on the Web app once back home?
And: which would be the minimal specs for a music-production oriented Chromebook? Would a Pentium Silver N5030 Chromebook with 8 Gb of RAM, 64 Gb of internal storage, FHD 14 inches screen and a slot for micro SD cards to extend the storage be OK for this purpose? I thought of the Acer CB314-1HT. My main usage would be to record my Casio CT-X800 on BandLab through an audio interface (Alesis iO2).
Thanks.
Yes, it is possible to use the app offline and the web app online. Because once you re-connect to the internet, the app will sync your work with your Bandlab account, so then it will all be available in both the web app and the Android app.
The only thing is if you try to open the Bandlab web app while you’ve got the android app installed, it will just open the Android app. The only way I’ve found to get around this is to use the web app in an incognito window. Which is perfectly doable, but a little bit anoying.
8GB of ram and 65GB of storage would be fine for this, but, while I’ve never actually used a Chromebook with a Pentium Silver N5030, I would probably go with a more powerful CPU as the Bandlab Android app will take more of a toll on the CPU than the web app would.
You might get away with it for more lightweight projects, but personally, I would go with something more like one of the last 5 options in this article:
https://bestmusiclaptop.com/best-chromebook-for-music-production/