10 Best Free Limiter Plugins In 2026 (Win, Mac & Linux)

Q: Are free limiters good enough for professional releases?

Yes. The top free limiters can produce release-ready masters. Paid limiters mostly add convenience such as more algorithms, advanced metering and support.

Last updated: November 14, 2026 · By the Bass Drop Factory team

Short answer: The best free limiter plugins in 2026 are ZL Limiter (best overall, new in November 2026), LoudMax (easiest), Volume Dealer (best for streaming loudness), Wave Breaker (best true-peak interface) and D16 Frontier (best for drums). All five are 100% free and run on Windows and macOS.

A good limiter is the last plugin on your master and the first thing people notice when it’s missing. The good news: you don’t need to spend $200 to get loud, clean masters anymore. And this month there’s a new reason to revisit the free limiter scene, because ZL Audio, the developer behind ZL Equalizer and ZL Compressor, just released ZL Limiter, a free and open-source limiter with up to 32x oversampling.

Below are the 10 best free limiter plugins you can download in 2026, from brand-new releases to proven classics. For each one you’ll find what it does best, which systems and formats it supports, the official download link, and anything you should know before installing.

Key takeaways

Best free limiter overall: ZL Limiter by ZL Audio (Windows, macOS, Linux; VST3, AU, LV2).
Easiest free limiter for beginners: LoudMax by Thomas Mundt, with just two main controls.

Best free limiter for Spotify and YouTube loudness: Volume Dealer, which measures LUFS and sets gain in one click.
Best free true-peak limiter: Wave Breaker (free Clarity One model), with 4x oversampling.
Best free limiter for drums: D16 Frontier, a self-adaptive limiter with optional soft clip.

Mac users beware: the classic Limiter No6 is a legacy plugin that only runs on Intel Macs or through Rosetta 2.

What is a limiter plugin?

A limiter is a dynamics processor that stops audio from going above a set level, called the ceiling. It works like a compressor with a very high ratio and a very fast attack. Producers put a limiter at the end of the master chain to raise the overall loudness of a track and prevent clipping, and on individual tracks or buses to catch sudden peaks. A true-peak limiter also catches “inter-sample” peaks that can cause distortion after a song is converted to MP3 or AAC for streaming.

Best free limiter plugins compared

Plugin	Developer	Best for	True peak	Windows	macOS	Linux
ZL Limiter	ZL Audio	Best overall	Yes (oversampling)	✓	✓	✓
LoudMax	Thomas Mundt	Beginners	Yes (ISP)	✓	✓	✓
Volume Dealer	M Media Audio	Streaming loudness	Yes	✓	✓	✓
Wave Breaker (free)	Press Play	Visual true-peak limiting	Yes	✓	✓	–
Frontier	D16 Group	Drums and character	–	✓	✓	–
Limiter	Kilohearts	Track peaks	–	✓	✓	–
Compactor	Kilohearts	Sidechain ducking	–	✓	✓	–
Limited-Z	LVC-Audio	Genre presets	–	✓	✓	–
BasicLimiter	Uhhyou	Detailed control	Yes	✓	✓	✓
Limiter No6	vladg/sound	Windows power users	Yes (ISP)	✓	Intel only	–

1. ZL Limiter by ZL Audio (best free limiter overall)

ZL Limiter is a free, open-source mastering limiter released by ZL Audio in November 2026. ZL Audio has quietly become one of the most important names in free plugins: ZL Equalizer and ZL Compressor are regularly compared to paid tools from FabFilter, and ZL Limiter completes the set. It uses up to 32x oversampling to control inter-sample peaks and reduce aliasing, two things cheap limiters usually get wrong when you push them hard.

It also includes comprehensive metering, so you can see exactly how much gain reduction you’re applying instead of guessing. If you only download one limiter from this list, make it this one.

Best for: Mastering and master-bus limiting where you want clean loudness

Price: Free (open-source)
Formats: VST3, AU, LV2
Systems: Windows, macOS, Linux
Official download: ZL Audio on GitHub

2. LoudMax by Thomas Mundt (easiest free limiter)

LoudMax is a free look-ahead brickwall loudness maximizer with automatic release. It has been a favourite for years for one simple reason: it has basically two sliders, and it sounds great. Set the threshold, set your output ceiling, and you’re done. It’s also extremely light on CPU.

It’s still maintained (version 1.46 improved inter-sample peak transparency), and the macOS version runs natively on Apple Silicon.

Best for: Beginners and quick masters
Price: Free
Formats: VST2, VST3 (Windows); AU, VST2, VST3 (macOS); LADSPA (Linux)

Systems: Windows, macOS (incl. Apple Silicon), Linux
Official download: loudmax.blogspot.com

3. Volume Dealer by M Media Audio (best for streaming loudness)

Volume Dealer is a free true-peak mastering limiter with built-in LUFS metering and one-click loudness targeting, released in June 2026. It measures integrated loudness and applies the corrective gain in a single click, then catches the peaks with a lookahead brickwall limiter.

There’s a High Quality mode with 2x oversampled true-peak detection, an adjustable knee (called Edge Rounding), input trim, VU meters, and built-in dither for 16-bit or 24-bit exports.

Best for: Hitting Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube loudness targets

Price: Free
Formats: VST3, AU
Systems: Windows, macOS, Linux
Official download: M Media Audio’s website

4. Wave Breaker by Press Play (best free true-peak limiter)

Wave Breaker is a true-peak stereo limiter whose free version is fully functional and includes the Clarity One model for transparent, low-latency limiting. It’s one of the best-looking free limiters around, with a resizable interface, custom colours and real-time waveform displays that show exactly what’s being limited.

Under the hood you get true-peak detection, 4x oversampling and a final safety limiter, so nothing gets past your ceiling. The extra PeakMaster Pro and Clipper X models are a paid upgrade, but you don’t need them for great results.

Best for: Visual learners and transparent true-peak limiting
Price: Free (paid upgrade available)
Formats: VST3, AU, AAX
Systems: Windows, macOS (incl. Apple Silicon)
Official download: Wave Breaker on KVR

5. Frontier by D16 Group (best free limiter for drums)

Frontier is a free “self-adaptive” limiter from D16 Group that adjusts its behaviour to the material instead of making you dial in every detail. Switch on the optional soft clip and it adds punch and grit, which is why many producers keep it on drum buses rather than the master.

It used to be for D16 customers only, but now anyone can download it with a free account. It has been updated with native Apple Silicon support and VST3.

Best for: Drum buses, beats and adding character
Price: Free (D16 account required)
Formats: VST2, VST3, AU, AAX
Systems: Windows, macOS (incl. Apple Silicon)
Official download: d16.pl/frontier

6. Limiter by Kilohearts (best for track peaks)

Kilohearts Limiter is a simple, free peak limiter included in the Kilohearts Essentials bundle. It has input and output gain, threshold, release, a resizable interface and a few handy presets. It’s clean, light on CPU, and perfect for taming peaks on individual tracks.

Kilohearts Essentials is worth installing anyway for its clipper, transient shaper, tape stop and more. If you own Phase Plant or Multipass, the limiter also works as a Snapin inside them.

Best for: Track-level peak control and Phase Plant users
Price: Free (Kilohearts account required)
Formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX
Systems: Windows, macOS
Official download: kilohearts.com/products/limiter

7. Compactor by Kilohearts (best for sidechain ducking)

Compactor is a free limiter/ducker with sidechain control from Kilohearts, added to Kilohearts Essentials in August 2025. Instead of the classic pumping sidechain sound, it ducks one sound under another at a sample-by-sample level, so a kick and bass, for example, lock together and both hit as loud as possible. Kilohearts calls this “Compact Mixing”.

With the sidechain switched off, Compactor works like a conventional clipper. It offers three detection modes, including a fast Peak mode for maximum loudness, and Kilohearts provides free Compact Mixing templates for Ableton Live, Bitwig, FL Studio, Logic Pro and Studio One.

Best for: Loud EDM, hip-hop and club mixes without sidechain pumping

Price: Free (Kilohearts account required)
Formats: VST2, VST3, AU, AAX, plus Kilohearts Snapin
Systems: Windows, macOS
Official download: kilohearts.com/products/compactor

8. Limited-Z by LVC-Audio (best for genre presets)

Limited-Z is a free lookahead brickwall limiter based on LVC-Audio’s paid Limited-MAX. It packs most of that engine into a set of ready-made limiter modes, so instead of tweaking a dozen parameters you pick a mode that suits your genre and adjust from there. It’s flexible enough for everything from acoustic tracks to heavy electronic music.

Best for: Quick genre-based mastering
Price: Free
Systems: Windows, macOS
Official download: LVC-Audio’s website

9. BasicLimiter by Uhhyou (best for detailed control)

BasicLimiter is a free, open-source single-band limiter with an unusually thorough true-peak mode. Don’t let the name fool you: it adds attack, sustain and release controls for shaping the envelope, a gate and stereo link. It’s part of Uhhyou’s large collection of free, experimental plugins.

One thing to know: the true-peak mode is heavier on CPU than most limiters on this list, so it’s better suited to your master than to every channel.

Best for: Producers who like detailed control
Price: Free (open-source, GPL 3)
Formats: VST3
Systems: Windows, macOS, Linux
Official download: Uhhyou BasicLimiter

10. Limiter No6 by vladg/sound (classic, Windows recommended)

Limiter No6 is a free five-stage mastering limiter that was the go-to free limiter for over a decade. It combines an RMS compressor, peak limiter, high-frequency limiter, clipper and true-peak limiter, with M/S and multiband modes and optional 4x oversampling. It inspired Tokyo Dawn Labs’ paid Limiter 6 GE.

The catch: it’s now a legacy product and no longer supported. On Apple Silicon Macs it only runs through Rosetta 2, which Apple plans to remove in a future macOS version. Windows users can still enjoy it, but Mac users should treat ZL Limiter or Wave Breaker as the long-term choice.

Best for: Windows users who want maximum control
Price: Free (legacy, unsupported)
Formats: VST, AU
Systems: Windows; macOS Intel (Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon)
Official download: Tokyo Dawn Labs

Which free limiter should you choose?

You’re new to mastering: start with LoudMax.
You want the best sound and metering: ZL Limiter.
You release on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube: Volume Dealer or Wave Breaker for true-peak control.

You make beats, EDM or hip-hop: Frontier on drums and Compactor for kick and bass.
You’re on an Apple Silicon Mac: skip Limiter No6 and choose ZL Limiter, LoudMax, Wave Breaker or Frontier.
You’re on Linux: ZL Limiter, LoudMax, Volume Dealer and BasicLimiter all support it.

How to use a limiter without ruining your mix

Put it last. The limiter goes at the very end of your master chain, after EQ, compression and saturation.
Set the ceiling to -1 dBTP. This leaves headroom for streaming services that convert your track to lossy formats. Use a true-peak limiter if you can.
Aim for 1 to 3 dB of gain reduction. If you need much more than that to get loud, the problem is usually in the mix, not the limiter.

Level-match when comparing. Louder always sounds “better”, so turn the output down to match the original level before deciding.
Check a loudness meter. A free meter like Youlean Loudness Meter 2 shows your LUFS so you know when to stop pushing. Spotify normalizes playback to around -14 LUFS, so pushing much louder than that often just gets turned down.

How we chose these limiters

Every plugin on this list is genuinely free to download and use, with no time limits. We ranked them on sound features (true-peak detection, oversampling, metering), ease of use, platform support (especially native Apple Silicon), whether they are still maintained, and their reputation among producers on KVR Audio and other music production communities. Developer details, formats and download links were checked against official sources in November 2026.

More free plugin guides

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free limiter plugin in 2026?

ZL Limiter by ZL Audio is the best free limiter plugin in 2026 for most producers, thanks to up to 32x oversampling, detailed metering and support for Windows, macOS and Linux. If you want something even simpler, LoudMax is hard to beat.

Is ZL Limiter really free?

Yes. ZL Limiter is completely free and open-source, with no paid version. You can download it from ZL Audio’s GitHub page for Windows, macOS and Linux.

What is the best free limiter for Mac?

For Apple Silicon Macs, the best free limiters are ZL Limiter, LoudMax, Wave Breaker and D16 Frontier, which all run natively. Avoid relying on Limiter No6 on a Mac, because it only runs through Rosetta 2.

What’s the difference between a limiter and a clipper?

A limiter turns the volume down smoothly just before a peak reaches your ceiling. A clipper simply cuts off the top of the waveform. Clippers can sound louder and punchier, while limiters are usually cleaner. Many producers use a little of both, for example a clipper before the limiter.

Do I need a true-peak limiter?

If you release music on streaming platforms, yes. Regular peak limiters can miss inter-sample peaks that only appear when audio is converted for playback, which can cause distortion. Free true-peak limiters like ZL Limiter, Volume Dealer and Wave Breaker catch them.

Are free limiters good enough for professional releases?

Yes. The top picks on this list can produce release-ready masters. Paid limiters mostly add convenience: more algorithms, advanced metering and support. Your mix and your ears matter far more than the price tag.

Sources

Got a favourite free limiter we missed? Let us know in the comments.

10 Best Free Limiter Plugins in 2026 (Including the New ZL Limiter)