14 Best VST Plugins for FL Studio: Free and Paid in 2025

FL Studio (formerly Fruity Loops) is among the most popular digital audio workstations for EDM and hip-hop music production. Native FL Studio plugins are great, and depending on the edition you own, you might have some premium FL Studio plugins that can easily compete with any third-party plugin option.

However, if you want to expand your sonic palette and stand out among the top producers in your genre, you’ll need to step up your game and produce with the best plugins and tools that pro music producers like Martin Garrix use.

There are so many FL Studio plugins in VST format (Virtual Studio Technology) that finding which ones are best for you may require hours, days, or even months of exploration. I made this list with the best FL Studio VST plugins to make your research less stressful and save you time to focus on music production.

The list has two main sections: free and paid VST plugins. If you’re on a budget, you can start with the free VST plugins section and return to the paid VST plugins section once you're ready to upgrade your FL Studio plugin library.

Some of the paid options have trial versions you can download and try on FL Studio, so do check them out even just to see what the paid VST plugins can offer. Others, such as CrumplePop's carefully crafted audio enhancers, come with a wide selection of subscription options tailored to your budget and needs.

Let's dive in!

7 Best VST for FL Studio: Free VST Plugins

In this list of best free VST plugins, you'll find both virtual instruments and effects for music producers and sound designers.

PopRemover by CrumplePop: AI Pop Remover Tool

If you’re more into vocal production, whether it’s podcasts or vocal tracks, PopRemover will help you deal with the most common problem in voice recordings: plosives. PopRemover is a simple and quick solution to remove plosives from your speech and listen in real time.

PopRemover is one of the best free VST plugins included along with RustleRemover in the CrumplePop Starter Plan. RustleRemover helps eliminate those annoying noises from lapel mics brushing against clothing in real time. Included with the free VST plugins is CrumplePop's SoundApp application, where you have all the tools in one clean app. You can also use the two free VST plugins in FL Studio.

PopRemover uses AI technology with real time playback to automatically detect and remove disruptive plosives: you can enhance your audio recordings simply by dragging the plugin onto your audio files. You can fine-tune the final result, making PopRemover the ideal tool for professionals and beginners alike.

1. Analog Lab Play by Arturia: Virtual Instruments Bundle

   

   Analog Lab Play is Arturia's free plugin with a library of essential synths, keys, pianos, organs, basses, pads, and more from the award-winning V Collection, Pigments, and other Arturia products.

   Analog Lab Play has 100 presets to find inspiration from the best of Arturia's virtual instruments. If you need more, you can buy more sounds to add to your collection and expand your music production toolkit. Analog Lab Play differs from other VST plugins like Spitfire's Labs because it includes sample-based instruments plus some of Arturia's software emulations to create more authentic sounds. It allows you to search by instruments, instrument types, and sound banks to find the sound you need at that moment.

   Pros:

   • Free VST instruments and presets.

   • Simple interface.

   • Great to start building your music production toolkit beyond the native FL Studio VST plugins.

   • VST plugin and standalone version.

   Cons:

   • It’s installed via Arturia's app, which can be a drawback for some users.

2. Komplete Start by Native Instruments: Bundle Production Suite

   

   Another go-to VST instruments bundle is Komplete Start by Native Instruments. The bundle includes synths, drumkits, organic instruments, sound design tools, and professional audio processing VST plugins like Ozone 11 EQ from iZotope’s mastering suite, Ozone 11, that all bedroom producers and sound designersFL Studio users should try at least once.

   The VST plugins bundle by Native Instruments now includes six VST instruments. You will get nature-inspired sounds with Hypha, vintage synth with Analog Dreams, atmospheric soundscapes in Ethereal Earth, several Kontakt instruments with Factory Selection 2, Irish Harp, and the traditional Chinese dulcimer with Yangqin.

   

   The six effects VST you get from Native Instruments are Ozone EQ, reverb plugin Raum, Supercharger for warm tube compression, delay effect with Replika, Vinyl to add mechanical sounds, and a free version of Guitar Rig 7 Player featuring a collection of stompboxes, compressors, delays, cabinets, reverbs, and amps.

   Komplete Start by Native Instruments is a good starting point for beginner producers and FL Studio users making music in a virtual studio, but even if you’re a professional producer, it can expand your sound library significantly and help you sculpt new sounds.

   Pros:

   • Features a collection of virtual instruments for making music of any genre.

   • Includes an array of VST plugins to mix and master your music.

   • Simple installation.

   Cons:

   • Some VSTs, like Guitar Rig 7, may be limited compared to the paid version.

   • The native Instruments app is required to download and manage the VST plugins.

3. Vital by Matt Tytel: Warping Wavetable Synth

   

   Sometimes, you don’t need a pack or bundles of sounds. Maybe you need one thing: a good synth that can create interesting sounds. Many sound designers, audio engineers, and music producers are delighted with Vital by Matt Tytel, the same person behind Helm, a free and powerful polyphonic synthesizer you should also check out.

   Vital is a warping wavetable synth that can run as a standalone app or VST plugin inside most DAWs. It features high-quality wavetable oscillators with frequency and wave warping, two routable voice filters, audio-rate modulation, stereo-splitable LFO, keytracked LFO settings, custom sample source, MPE support, and more to make the best sound imaginable.

   Pros:

   • Great sound quality.

   • Easy to learn.

   • Fun UI.

   • Quick installation.

   • Affordable options to upgrade.

   Cons:

   • Limited to 25 wavetables and 75 presets.

4. Graillon 3 Free Edition by Auburn Sounds: Pitch Correction VST Plugin

   

   If you’re looking for a good pitch correction VST plugin, Graillon 3 Free Edition has your back. The free version is limited to pitch correction and shifting tools, but that’s all you need for a basic pitch correction in music production.

   Graillon 3 is optimized for vocals, but you can apply it to any track. Make your recordings sound natural with a clean pitch correction and preserve the formants, or get creative with robotic and otherworldly sounds. The user friendly interface is clean and intuitive: you’ll know what each knob does just by looking at it.

   You can get a lot of stuff done just with the free edition, and whenever you’re ready, upgrade to get pitch-tracking modulation and bit crusher for $38.67 (it can go as low as $29 when it’s on sale).

   Pros:

   • Easy to use.

   • Good quality sound.

   Cons:

   • Limited to pitch correction and shifting.

5. Valhalla SuperMassive by Valhalla DSP

   

   FL Studio native reverb plugins are pretty good and get the job done. However, when you need massive and heavy delays and reverbs to create space sounds and atmospheric and harmonic echoes, Valhalla SuperMassive is one of the best free VST plugins to upgrade your sound design and production toolkit.

   Valhalla SuperMassive features 20 reverb and delay presets that can be customizable, controlling the mix, width, delay, warp, depth, and EQ with simple controls. Applied to different VST instruments, Valhalla SuperMassive is a versatile tool to create immersive soundscapes.

   Pros:

   • 20 reverbs presets.

   • Customizable.

   • Intuitive user interface.

   Cons:

   • I honestly can’t think of any cons. You can’t ask more from a free plugin.

6. Limiter No.6 by Vladislav Goncharov: Mastering Plugin

   

   Mastering is something most beginner producers are afraid to do themselves, and it’s usually a good practice to let someone else do the mastering of your tracks. However, it’s a skill that you will need to learn at some point. Among the Free VST plugins available for post-production, Limiter No.6 is a freeware modular effect to limit the dynamic range and suppress peaks in the audio signal.

   Limiter No.6 features five RMS compressors, a peak limiter, a high-frequency limiter, a clipper, and a true peak limiter, and high-quality input signal processing suited for mastering. It’s my go-to plugin when I need a final limiter.

   If you can make a great mix, this limiter will help you shape your audio levels and amplify the power of your bass sounds, while preserving the quality of your production.

   Pros:

   • High audio quality.

   • Includes presets.

   Cons:

   • The UI can feel laggy and outdated.

7 Best VST for FL Studio: Paid VST Plugins

1. FabFilter Pro-Q4

   

   The FabFilter family VST plugins are one of the top VST plugins you can get, and the price is worth it. If I had to choose only one from FabFilter, even one from this list, it would be Pro-Q4, the best EQ I’ve ever used.

   The Pro-Q4 seamless interface allows you to create points in the curve, drag the band up or down to boost or reduce it, and change the gain in seconds with simple controls. It features 24 EQ bands, a Dynamic EQ mode, EQ Match to match another signal, a built-in spectrum analyzer, and more.

   Pro-Q4 CPU optimization allows it to run in multiple instances, keeping FL Studio at high performance during mixing.

   Pros:

   • User-friendly interface.

   • High sound quality.

   • Improved Brickwall slope settings for LP and HP filters.

   • Advanced Spectral dynamics processing

   • New EQ Sketch and copy-paste features.

   • GPU-powered graphics acceleration.

   • Pricey (but worth it).

   Cons:

2. RC-20 Retro Color by XLN Audio

   

   RC-20 Retro Color is a saturation VST plug-in to add analog warmth and texture to your recordings. It features six effects modules you can combine to create warm, unique sounds, or you can use each one of them independently.

   It includes saturation and distortion, a degrader and bit crusher, a noise generator, wobble and flutter, a volume drop module for the dusty and unstable analog playback, and a reverb module for depth and width.

   Tweak each module with easy-to-use knobs and control the amount of the effect you want to add with a simple Magnitude slider.

   Pros:

   • Great analog warmth simulation.

   • Easy to use interface.

   • Incredible sound.

   • Number of presets.

   Cons:

   • It could offer more modules.

3. Soothe2 by Oeksound

   

   Soothe2 is a dynamic resonance suppressor that will save you time editing and fixing unwanted resonances by automatically addressing the issue to maintain a smooth and clear sound. Forget about fine-tuning each frequency by hand and affecting others nearby.

   Soothe2 will help you detect and remove harshness from sound recordings, control sibilances, and tonal balance from poor recordings, and other resonance issues like muddiness and the proximity effect. It gives you more time to focus on creating music and less on fixing audio.

   Its UI is neat, intuitive, and visually attractive. Soothe2 comes with quick presets to apply for beginners but provides advanced users the flexibility to adjust individual bands in the spectrum.

   Pros:

   • Easy to use.

   • Plenty of presets.

   • Fully featured 20-day trial.

   Cons:

   • Price.

   • It may not be worth it if you're fast-fixing resonances manually with EQ.

   • iLok account required.

4. The King's Microphones by Waves

   

   If you love the vintage sound of microphones, you'll love this plugin. The King's Microphones is developed in collaboration with Abbey Road Studios to emulate the frequency response of the exclusive microphones used by the Royal Family for speeches.

   It provides an authentic vintage vocal vibe from the 1920s and 1930s for your podcasts, videos, and sound design. In music production, you can add texture to instruments like guitars and basses for a lo-fi sound. But it also works great for modern trap, hip-hop, electronic music, and adlibs.

   Pros:

   • Emulate the unique sounds of the King’s microphone.

   • Simple interface.

   • Easy to use.

   Cons:

   • There are better options if all you want is a vintage sound.

5. Addictive Drums 2 by XLN Audio

   

   Packed with top-notch drum samples, Addictive Drums 2 provides real acoustic drums played by professional drummers in a handy VST plugin. It features many presets you can mix to create your custom drum kit with a huge range of sounds.

   Apply a preset and experiment with Addictive Drums 2 built-in effects, EQ, shaper, reverb, delays, distortion, gate, multiband compressor, and vinyl noise to craft original sounds. There are additional collections of drum kits, beats, or single drums you can get to expand your drum and bass sounds.

   Pros:

   • Amazing drum sound.

   • You can buy a collection of kits whenever you need or can afford them.

   • It allows you to build your own drum kits.

   • Presets are sorted by genre.

   • It's easy and fun to create drums from scratch.

   Cons:

   • Buying extra drum kits can be expensive in the long run.

6. Melodyne by Celemony

   

   Melodyne is a non-invasive pitch correction and time-shifting tool available as a standalone application and plugin that delivers a natural sound to your vocal productions.

   Use Melodyne to adjust each note's pitch, vibrato, volume, sibilants, duration, timing, and formats, and improve your performer's intonation, phrasing, dynamics, and timbre while keeping the correction natural and barely noticeable. You can adjust pitch and mitigate sibilances independently for both instruments and vocal tracks to produce a huge range of sounds.

   Pros:

   • Natural pitch correction.

   • Chord track and chord grid for chord recognition.

   • Sibilant detection and balance tool.

   Cons:

   • The best features are not available in the Essential version.

7. CrumplePop Complete

   

   The paid version of CrumplePop Complete features all the AI noise reduction tools with real time playback for Pop, Clipping, Wind, Rustle, Traffic, and Echo for removal of a huge range of background noises.

   The brand-new Voice Enhance plugin is designed to reduce your workload in post-production and grab your audience's attention with improved, polished, and professional audio quality.

   CrumplePop VST plugins are intuitive, with a simple interface easy to navigate with a single knob, making it simple for beginners who are not experts in audio and professionals who want to focus on other tasks of production.

   Pros:

   • Quick audio fix solution.

   • Improved AI technology does good work detecting and isolating noises and voices.

   • Easy to use.

   • Subscription plan available.

   Cons:

   • VST plugins are installed via a desktop hub.

Final Thoughts

Finally, let me summarize what I believe are the things to consider when choosing the best FL Studio plugin, virtual instruments, and effects.

Paying for VST plugins doesn’t mean getting better results; sometimes, you can improve your sound with stock plugins or free VST plugins. Among the best plugins, you can certainly find a stock plugin that will work perfectly without investing in a professional and expensive one.

I'd recommend getting only the VST plugins you need and know you'll use in the future instead of downloading a bundle with thousands of free plugins with virtual instruments and effects or new features that FL Studio may already have.

You don’t have to buy all the best plugins and VST instruments that everyone else uses. You can start with your factory library or the best free VST plugins from this list, learn how they work, and upgrade once you find limitations that compromise your workflow and musical ideas or require new features. You may also prefer a subscription plan over buying full licenses if available. That’s up to you.

If you want to try a paid VST plugin, check if it has a trial version before buying it, and check for some reviews from other users.

Good luck, producer!