Avid Pro Tools vs. Logic Pro X

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Pro Tools
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Avid offers Pro Tools, the company's flagship music and audio editing and recording suite.
$29.99
Per User / Per Month
Logic Pro X
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Apple offers Logic Pro X, an audio editing application.
$199.99
Per License
Pricing
Avid Pro ToolsLogic Pro X
Editions & Modules
Pro Tools
$29.99
Per User / Per Month
Pro Tools - Ultimate
$79.99
Per User / Per Month
Pro Tools - First
Free
Starting Price
$199.99
Per License
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Pro ToolsLogic Pro X
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Avid Pro ToolsLogic Pro X
Considered Both Products
Pro Tools
Chose Avid Pro Tools
Pro Tools has the most prestige and branding of any Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that I know of. It is the industry standard for professional recording studios, and you'd be hard pressed to find an audio engineer who hasn't used it at one point or another. Most audio …
Chose Avid Pro Tools
As discussed above, these other products are likely better suited for home audio production, especially based on their integration of software instruments and their surface-level interface and tools. Pro Tools excels as a tool for professionals, who need to move audio along …
Logic Pro X
Chose Logic Pro X
Each has their strengths in different areas. I would say Logic Pro X is the best for music production and mixing, whereas Audition is good with podcasts and audio for video, and Pro Tools is an all-around powerhouse for big projects.
Chose Logic Pro X
One of my biggest complaints about Pro Tools is the cost. It's overpriced, in my opinion, and then they force you to pay even more for basic add-ons that you need to do your job. Logic provides all of these right out of the box, and it's much better suited for writing with MIDI …
Chose Logic Pro X
Logic Pro X is the natural successor to GarageBand. GarageBand is a fantastic app, however, it's fairly rudimentary and doesn't have the robust features that Logic Pro X supports. Pro Tools is more expensive but does similar things to Logic. Thankfully, Logic rests in the …
Chose Logic Pro X
Logic Pro X is in that sweet spot between amateur Digital Audio Workstations like GarageBand and high end DAWs like Avid Pro Tools. Logic Pro X is good enough to be used on high end productions for film, TV, commercials and such, while remaining inexpensive and accessible, with …
Chose Logic Pro X
I have limited experience with Pro Tools. The breadth of features is probably similar in both platforms. But I find Logic Pro X to have the edge in the effects and virtual instruments it offers out of the box, it's ease-of-use and coherent workflow, and most importantly, it's …
Chose Logic Pro X
Most DAWs have the same basic features and can get the job done, but Logic Pro X is simply more intuitive and familiar for Mac users. The interface looks very polished and is easy to read whereas competitors look clunky or overwhelming.
Chose Logic Pro X
We use several different audio editors, the main reason for this is to have software available to cover most staff experience.
However, we find that a good portion of new staff were familiar with Logic Pro X, meaning that there was reduced training time involved by having the …
Top Pros
Top Cons
TrustRadius Insights
Avid Pro ToolsLogic Pro X
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Avid Pro Tools and Logic Pro X are both Digital Audio Workstations (DAW). They are used for recording, producing, and mixing music. 

Pro Tools is the industry standard, and serves as the high powered legacy option for those in the market. In contrast, Logic Pro X is an Apple-native DAW that is not usable by Windows-based computers. 

Features

Both Avid Pro Tools and Logic Pro X provide the core DAW functionality necessary for musicians. There are a few key features and strengths that differentiate them.

Pro Tools serves as the high powered industry standard for DAWs. It is designed for advanced editing and post-production work. Reviewers highly recommend it for professional music studios and more complex musical arrangement uses. 

On the other hand, Logic Pro X specializes as a Mac-specific DAW tool. Given its focus on Apple-based users, it has a very intuitive and easy to use interface. It is also praised for its support for writing and creating music. 

Limitations

While both products have clear strengths, Pro Tools and Logic Pro X each have certain weaknesses as well. 

Pro Tools’s focus as a high-end DAW can make it less accessible for newer or more casual users. Some reviewers caution that it can be overpowered for home studios. It is also weaker on music creation, and its looping and sample-based music production are relatively new capabilities. 

Since Logic Pro X is an Apple exclusive, it is also limited by this focus on the Apple market. This means that studios with any mix of Windows and Mac computers can struggle to use the platform. While Logic Pro X is more beginner-friendly, it is comparatively weaker on more advanced capabilities. 

Pricing

Avid Pro Tools has three pricing tiers. The First tier is a free version, with a streamlined toolset and a restricted range of inputs, tracks, etc. The core Pro Tools version provides the core essentials for music and post production, at $29.99/month. The Ultimate package includes the full range of features offered, for $79.99/month. 

Logic Pro X is priced at $199.99 for a perpetual license for Mac users. It also has a 90-day free trial. 

Best Alternatives
Avid Pro ToolsLogic Pro X
Small Businesses
Descript
Descript
Score 9.2 out of 10
Descript
Descript
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Audition
Audition
Score 8.9 out of 10
Audition
Audition
Score 8.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Audition
Audition
Score 8.9 out of 10
Audition
Audition
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Avid Pro ToolsLogic Pro X
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(7 ratings)
9.0
(10 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(4 ratings)
9.6
(5 ratings)
User Testimonials
Avid Pro ToolsLogic Pro X
Likelihood to Recommend
Avid Technology
Pro Tools is great for recording multiple different tracks of audio at the same time with live inserts that you can later remove/edit if they do not suit the track. It always makes a backup of any file you copy in which is essential when working with original copies of files for clients, and you can rest easy knowing that any changes made can be reverted without having to start over or having any work be lost. You can compile many different tracks for larger-scale projects and group or bus them together with ease. The software is very user-friendly for beginners and is a great tool overall for anyone looking to edit audio. The only instance it is less suited it would be if you're only making small audio edits with any adobe video software. Also if your business is not heavy on audio editing or recording it may be a costly investment.
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Apple
Logic Pro X has been particularly well-suited for recording, mixing, and mastering our full-band audio content. We have used it to capture several songs each year and have mixed and mastered them to professional levels for posting to streaming services. We have been able to use it with our current digital console as a great DAW, seamlessly connecting for the 'live' recording of several services. It is also well-suited for the mixing and editing of podcast and sermon content. Logic Pro X is not the best for mixing livestream audio, in a live environment, even with the added plug-ins and effects available. There is just enough lag that it was not the best option for this usage
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Pros
Avid Technology
  • Highly-customizable, application and UI (performance, function and appearance).
  • Wide audio format compatibility; Ease of integrating audio of different formats, sample rates; equal ease of exporting.
  • Broadest hardware compatibility. The ability to tweak performance parameters extends hardware's useful life.
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Apple
  • Incredible breadth of features... it feels like there's literally nothing the program can't do
  • Time stretching... amazing features to change tempo and length with adding sonic weirdness of pitch changes
  • Vast library of virtual instruments and effects included in purchase
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Cons
Avid Technology
  • Loop-Based Production - Pro Tools is still in the old world of audio recording where you're expected to record a track from live sources. It has less features aimed at production of loop-based music like electronic music and hiphop.
  • Sample-Based Production - While you can sequence samples, you are expected to use MIDI to trigger the samples, for the most part. Of course, you can sequence them out without using MIDI to trigger a sampler plugin, but that's not the use case Pro Tools was designed for.
  • Creative Ideation - Pro Tools expects you to figure out what you want to record first, and does not have tools for helping you produce or create the music.
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Apple
  • Could use an Abelton-like synth/effect rack with a quick view.
  • Some built-in plugins are old and need a refresh.
  • Frequent crashes.
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Usability
Avid Technology
This is a hard question - I'd give it a 10 for having so many options but a 5 for being user friendly - as it has so many options.
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Apple
Like every DAW, it takes some time and getting used to, but Logic's tools and interface just make sense to anyone who is familiar with Apple products and music tools.
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Support Rating
Avid Technology
The times I've had problems with Avid, they've responded within about 48 hours, and most of the time with a reasonable solution. More often than not, however, I've had to resort to forums to get answers, because when I'm having a problem with the software, I can't afford to wait 48 hours for a solution
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Apple
The user community of Logic Pro X is vibrant, responsive, and lively. There are many great forums out there where you can solve any problem you encounter, whether it's sound card latency, a certain plugin not working, audio routing, multitrack issues, or virtually anything else you run into. The community is so helpful that I'm giving Logic Pro X a 10 in this department, despite having never contacted their official support department. I've never had to, since there is such a great user community.
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Alternatives Considered
Avid Technology
As discussed above, these other products are likely better suited for home audio production, especially based on their integration of software instruments and their surface-level interface and tools. Pro Tools excels as a tool for professionals, who need to move audio along efficiently towards a polished form, especially in the context of vocal production
Read full review
Apple
We use several different audio editors, the main reason for this is to have software available to cover most staff experience.
However, we find that a good portion of new staff were familiar with Logic Pro X, meaning that there was reduced training time involved by having the software available. This was perhaps the main reason we made the purchase decision and this fact is testament to how prolific Logic Pro X is in the audio community, you'd be silly not to have it available in any business where content creation is important.
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Return on Investment
Avid Technology
  • I actually finish projects, because once I set up templates it's basically plug-and-play.
  • My customers enjoy my videos more now that the audio is better.
  • I might spend too much money on plug-ins, haha.
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Apple
  • Logic has allowed us to quickly and expertly edit audio for publishing online.
  • It's made a way for us to share projects easily between users.
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