FL Cloud Mastering vs Free Online Mastering: Is the Subscription Worth It?
Published · by Loopin
FL Cloud mastering is a good fit if you want it inside FL Studio and use the rest of the bundle. If you only want masters, price the bundle against a free route first.
Know what FL Cloud mastering actually is
At the time of writing (October 2026), Image-Line’s FL Cloud mastering page advertises unlimited mastering right inside FL Studio, free for 30 days. Its FAQ lists AI-powered mastering as part of the paid FL Cloud Plus tier, and the Pro tier is listed with it too. It is the technology that came over after CloudBounce closed on 30 June 2025, and Image-Line’s CloudBounce notice says every FL Studio licence includes at least the “default” mastering reference, with full AI mastering available through FL Cloud Plus and Pro subscriptions.
So the question is not “is the mastering good” but “do I want a subscription”. Plus and Pro also bundle sounds, plugins and storage. That is real value if you use them, and zero value if you only came to master.
Read the price off the page, not a roundup
Third-party pages quote different monthly figures and trial lengths for FL Cloud, and Image-Line’s own pages show the price per month billed yearly. I could not confirm one current Plus figure from a single official source, so check the FL Cloud page for today’s number and whether the trial needs a card.
Then do the sum: yearly price divided by the number of masters you finish. If you pay $X a year and master 24 tracks, each master costs $X over 24. Compare that with free.
Count what the free route costs you
Free online mastering with Loopin costs nothing to master, preview and A/B (loudness-matched, unlimited). The catch is downloads: 1 per rolling 24 hours with no account, 2 with a free account. If you finish a track or two a week, that is no limit at all. For a 12-track beat tape it is six days.
It exports a 16-bit WAV at about −14 LUFS with a −1 dBTP ceiling, and you choose from eight feels: Warm, Punchy, Crisp, Wide, Vintage, Club, Lo-fi and Cinematic. It works outside FL Studio, on any stereo mixdown, so it suits people who bounce a WAV anyway.
Run both on one beat and listen
Use the 30-day trial for what it is for. Bounce the same beat once, run it through FL Cloud mastering and through the free masterer, then match the loudness by ear and compare the kick, 808 and top end on headphones and a phone. Loopin’s own A/B is loudness-matched for its master; match the FL version yourself.
Set a calendar reminder for day 28 of the trial so you decide before it renews. If the paid master is clearly better on your genre, that is a fair reason to subscribe. Judge on your own kick and 808, not on a demo clip. A clean master on a ballad tells you little about a hard trap beat.
Choose by workflow, then by price
Stay with FL Cloud if you live in FL Studio, want mastering as a one-click step in the project, and you will use the sounds and plugins anyway. Choose free mastering if you only need finished files, work in more than one DAW, or want to try the result without a card. Our CloudBounce and FL Studio post covers the history, and how to master in FL Studio covers the manual route.
Neither is a human engineer. Both take no creative direction and cannot repair a bad mix, so send flagship releases to a person.
Frequently asked questions
Is FL Cloud mastering free?
Not permanently. At the time of writing (October 2026), Image-Line advertises unlimited mastering in FL Studio free for 30 days; after that it needs a paid FL Cloud plan.
Which FL Cloud plan includes mastering?
Image-Line lists AI-powered mastering under both FL Cloud Plus and FL Cloud Pro. Check the plan comparison page for the current split.
Did FL Studio replace CloudBounce?
CloudBounce closed on 30 June 2025 and, per Image-Line's notice, its mastering technology lives on inside FL Studio, with full AI mastering through FL Cloud Plus or Pro and a default mastering reference in every licence.
Can I master for free if I use FL Studio?
Yes. Bounce a stereo WAV and master it free online. Downloads are limited to 1 per 24 hours with no account or 2 with a free account.
How do I compare two masters fairly?
Match their loudness before listening, then compare the kick, bass and top end on headphones and a phone. The louder one usually sounds better until you level it.