Music production software on Linux
The big Windows and macOS DAWs mostly skip Linux, but Bitwig Studio is native and Ardour is a full open-source studio. We checked 6 apps: 4 work on Linux, 0 with a catch, and 2 don’t.
| App | Works on Linux? |
|---|---|
| Ardour Ardour community publishes an official Linux version of Ardour. It’s on Flathub (274.7K installs) and in the Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux and openSUSE Tumbleweed repositories. | Runs natively |
| Audacity Muse Group publishes an official Linux version of Audacity. It’s on Flathub (1.3M installs) and in the Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux and openSUSE Tumbleweed repositories. | Runs natively |
| Bitwig Studio Bitwig publishes an official Linux version of Studio. It’s on Flathub (191.1K installs). | Runs natively |
| LMMS LMMS project publishes an official Linux version of LMMS. It’s on Flathub (196.3K installs) and in the Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux and openSUSE Tumbleweed repositories. | Runs natively |
| Ableton Live Ableton does not make Live for Linux; Bitwig Studio and Ardour are the closest Linux alternatives. | No Linux version |
| FL Studio Image-Line does not make FL Studio for Linux; Bitwig Studio, Ardour and LMMS are the closest Linux alternatives. | No Linux version |
Check these together with your other apps
Music production on Linux: common questions
Which music production apps work on Linux?
Bitwig Studio, Ardour, LMMS and Audacity work on Linux.
Which music production apps don’t work on Linux?
FL Studio and Ableton Live have no Linux version. Each page lists the closest Linux alternatives.