The Best Rent-to-own Plugins (VST, AU) (2023)
Rent-to-own plugins have started to greatly increase in popularity as customers can get access to quality plugins right away, while paying a small monthly fee. Once the payment term is completed, you get a full licence for the software.
You can decide to stop paying at any time, in which case your licence is put on hold.
The Best Rent-to-own Plugins
Note: The Waves Rent-to-own plugin program has been discontinued.
Is it Worth Getting a Rent-to-own Plugin?
I purchased Serum from Splice in this manner, and I found the experience great.
In general, from the rent-to-own plugins that I have seen, there is no extra interest or financing on the payments, so there are not many downsides to going with this option.
What are the downsides?
The only downside that I experienced is that you might need an active internet connection every now and then for the licensing software on your computer to verify that you are up-to-date with payments (e.g., through the Splice app). This probably would not be an issue for the majority of people.
When you have fully paid off the plugin cost, then you would get a full license serial code for the plugin, and this regular authorization check would no longer be required.
PluginBoutique Rent-to-own Offers
Pluginboutique has launched its own highly-requested rent-to-own feature with all the usual benefits such as getting instant access to your plugin, owning it in full when you’re finished paying, and being able to cancel if you don’t want to continue using the plugins.
Plugin Boutique is currently offering a 50% discount on VPS Avenger, the synth that they’ve launched this rent-to-own feature on. Customers can purchase this synth for a monthly installment of £7.75 over 12 months, without needing to undergo a credit check. It’s an affordable option for music producers who want access to a high-quality plugin.
Splice Rent-to-own Offers
Splice started to launch rent-to-own plugins back a few years ago, and they’ve increased this by quite a lot. In the list below, they have the full Studio One 5 professional DAW on offer in rent-to-own.
There are five great-quality virtual instruments, as well as 62 very impressive effects plugins. Check out this link to splice to get the most up-to-date list.
Here are the virtual instrument plugins that are on offer:
| Instrument | Brand | Plugin Type |
|---|---|---|
| Analog Lab V | Arturia | Synth, Keyboards, Live |
| V Collection 8 | Arturia | Vintage, Keyboards, Synthesizer |
| Parallels | Softube | Synthesizer, Wavescanning |
| Pigments 3 | Arturia | Synthesizer, Wavetable, Analog, Modulation |
| Zone | Audiaire | Synthesizer, Sequencer, Wavetable |
| Punchbox | D16 Group | Synthesizer, Drums, Distortion, Filter |
| Serum | Xfer Records | Synthesizer, Wavetable |
| Circle² | FutureAudioWorkshop | Synthesizer, Wavetable |
They also have a wide number of high-quality effects plugins:
| Product | Brand | Plugin Type |
|---|---|---|
| Equator2 | ROLI | Synthesizer |
| Rift | Minimal Audio | Distortion |
| KORG Collection 3 | KORG | Vintage Synthesizer, FX |
| FX Collection 2 | Arturia | FX |
| Addictive Keys Complete Collection | XLN Audio | Keyboards, Pianos |
| Nectar 3 Plus | iZotope | Vocals, Mixing, FX |
| RX 8 Standard | iZotope | Repair, Restoration, Remix |
| THERMAL | Output | Distortion, FX |
| Stutter Edit 2 | iZotope | FXGlitch |
| Neoverb | iZotope | Reverb, FX |
| KSHMR Essentials | KSHMR | FXCompressor, Vocals |
| Zenith | Audiaire | MIDI, FX, Sequencer |
| Ozone 9 + Neutron 3 Advanced | iZotope | Mastering, Mixing, Limiter, EQCompressor |
| Ozone 9 + Neutron 3 Standard | iZotope | Mastering, Mixing, Limiter, EQCompressor |
| Ozone 9 Advanced | iZotope | Mastering, Limiter, Compressor, EQ |
| Ozone 9 Standard | iZotope | Mastering, Limiter, EQCompressor |
| Nuxx | Audiaire | FXReverb, Delay, Sequencer |
| Neutron 3 Advanced | iZotope | Mixing, EQCompressor, Gate |
| Neutron 3 Standard | iZotope | Mixing, EQCompressor, Gate |
| Beatformer | Accusonus | Beat-Processing |
| VocalSynth 2 | iZotope | Vocals, Vocoder, Multi-Effect, Autotune |
| PORTAL | Output | FXGranular |
| D16 FX Bundle | D16 Group | Bitcrusher, Distortion, Flanger, Delay, Reverb |
| Toraverb 2 | D16 Group | Reverb, EQ, Sidechain |
| XO | XLN Audio | Drums |
| Tekturon | D16 Group | Delay, Echo |
| Sample | Serato | Sampler |
| Regroover Pro | Accusonus | Sample-Manipulation |
| RC-20 Retro Color | XLN Audio | FXDistortion |
| MOVEMENT | Output | Modulators, Sidechain, Sequencer |
| Decimort 2 | D16 Group | Bitcrusher, Filter |
| Devastor 2 | D16 Group | Distortion, Multiband, Limiter, Filter |
| Antresol | D16 Group | Flanger |
Sylenth1 Rent-to-own
Sylenth1 is also available as a rent-to-own version.
In this case, you have to pay 9.95 euros monthly until the full amount for the product is paid for. Sylenth1 is a really popular virtual synth, which is very versatile and it is great for use in many different genres.
If you watched Armin Van Burren’s Masterclass then you will see him make some heavy use of Sylenth1!
Landr Rent-to-Own
Landr is also getting into the rent-to-own game with “Lethal Pro,” which is a powerful software synthesizer with a simple interface that sounds great.
It’s quite impressive in terms of features and quality. The current price for this is $9.99 a month for 20 months. You can try it free for 3 days and there’s no hidden fees or interest on this.
Waves Rent-to-own plugins (Discontinued)
Waves previously had a rent-to-own package but this has been discontinued.
Customers who are already on a plan will continue to be able to pay for these until the end of the two-year period is reached.
But, Waves now have an alternative “music maker access plan” on a subscription basis. So this is another one to check out.
You can get access to 42 plugins for $9.99 a month in their Gold package. There’s also a cheaper Silver package for $6.99 a month and a Platinum package which is $19.99 a month, which gives you access to 57 of waves plugins.
Waves are a very well-known and respected plugin maker. If you want to get access to some great plugins, this is a good idea, but keep in mind that this is not a rent-to-own option.
This is a subscription service. So you will not actually ever own the products outright.
Rent-to-Own Plugins or Plugin Subscription?
Should you buy a rent-to-own plugin or should you just go for a plugin subscription and get access to a lot of plugins for a flat monthly fee?
There are pros and cons to each. The biggest benefit of subscription services (like the Waves subscription) is that you can get access to a lot of plugins for a small monthly fee.
You will get access to a lot more than you would if you are getting individual plugins and a rent-to-own basis.
The main downside of this is that when you stop paying for the subscription service once your plugin subscription period is up, you will no longer have access to those plugins.
On a rent-to-own basis, once you’ve completed your subscription you will be able to have a full access to that plugin. Therefore, if you have your eye on one or two plugins that you plan to use for a very long time into the future, then we would suggest that you go for the rent-to-own option.
If there is a large number of plugins that you’re looking to use in your productions, and you don’t mind paying for these on your continual basis, then the subscription model is probably the way to go.
It’s hard to know how these will go in future, but based on how the general public are getting used to subscription services, we might start seeing more and more subscription plugin services coming in the future.
Summary
So that’s our list of the best rent-to-own plugins available at the moment. We will keep this list updated as we find other good rent-to-own offers for plugins.
Rent-to-own plugins are a great way for people to legitimately get access to great music production software and this price model makes it more accessible to those that can’t sink hundreds of dollars into a plugin at any one time.
