The 5 Best FREE Limiter VST Plugins (2022)
“What are the best free limiter VST plugins out there in 2022?”
Limiters are incredibly simple yet powerful tools used for a range of mixing and mastering functions. They act as a type of compressor, but instead of smoothing the peaks of a waveform, they instead completely clip any audio signal above a certain threshold.
You would achieve a similar result with a compression plugin set to a very high ratio, and limiters are often used in conjunction with compressors to eliminate any louder, anomalous peaks.
There are many incredibly powerful limiter VST plugins available, and all DAWs will come with one or two decent limiter tools. For example, I’ve always had a soft spot for ImageLine’s default “FL Limiter”.
However, if you’re not ready to reach for your wallet just yet, there are a great selection of free limiter plugins that are capable of clipping your sounds with a level of quality similar to commercial plugins.
Below are the best free limiter VST plugins in 2022, that will give you professional options without ever spending a penny.
The Best Free Limiter VST Plugins in 2022 (+ Download Links)
1. Limiter No6 (Windows/Mac)
Limiter No6 is easily the most popular, comprehensive option when it comes to free limiter plugins.
The No6 engine has 5 modules: RMS compressor, peak limiter, high-frequency limiter, clipper and true peak limiter. Each of these modules uses different high-quality signal processes and gives incredible results for mastering.
The wide selection of parameters does seem a little daunting at first, but after a bit of experimentation, the plugin is surprisingly intuitive and logical. It’s fair to say Limiter No6 is capable of more of less everything the paid alternatives can do (and in some cases maybe even more!)
Please note: the view shown above is an optional (and far superior) skin for Limiter No6.
Available for both Mac/Windows and 32-bit/64-bit.
Sound Quality
Ease of Use
Features
2. LVC-Audio – Clipshifter (Windows/Mac)
Clipshifter is an example of a limiter plugin with a horizontal visual waveform viewer, making it very easy to clip certain peaks while not affecting others.
For a free limiter plugin, Clipshifter has a fantastic amount of features for fine-tuning and perfecting your clipping settings. For example, this plugin can function as a static limiter, or can accurately respond to the transient qualities of an incoming signal. You can set the clipping threshold to either rise or fall as a result of changing audio levels.
It’s not the best looking plugin in the world, but because of it’s basic design it’s noticeably light on CPU-usage, making it perfect for multiple loadings.
Available for both Mac/Windows and 32-bit/64-bit.
Sound Quality
Ease of Use
Features
3. Sonic Anomaly – Unlimited (Windows Only)
Unlimited is another free limiter VST plugin with a clean, transparent sound. Unlimited succeeds in having balanced characteristics: avoiding audible distortion typical to hard limiting and clipping to the extent it is feasible, yet still not sounding compressed or vigorless.
I’d highly recommend Unlimited to beginners, mainly due to it’s intuitive workflow and incredibly easy to understand design. The sound quality is also very impressive.
Available for Windows only and 32-bit/64-bit.
Sound Quality
Ease of Use
Features
4. Limiter Snapin (Windows/Mac)
As you can already tell from the screenshot above, Limiter Snapin is an extremely simple, lightweight limiter plugin. This is the perfect plugin for instant, high quality clipping with the potential for multiple loadings.
Obviously this is not a great choice for in-depth limiter capabilities, but works great as a basic, introductory limiter plugin.
Available for both Mac/Windows and 32-bit/64-bit.
Sound Quality
Ease of Use
Features
5. Thomas Mundt – LoudMax (Windows/Mac)
Loudmax is another lightweight, easy to use, look-ahead limiter plugin. This clipping tool does not colour or distort the sound which is fantastic for clean, non-abrasive limiting.
It’s no secret that bad compression or clipping can completely ruin a track. For beginners, starting with a more feature-packed limiter plugin such as Limiter No6 can often result in messy, over-complicated results. Loudmax (and Snapin for that matter) are so simple and easy to use it massively reduces the potential for beginners to destroy a mix.
Available for both Windows / Mac and 32-bit only.
Sound Quality
Ease of Use
Features
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