Comparison · November 2026
Checked on 10 November 2026 by Sonisto, which makes one of the apps on this page. Every fact about another app comes from its developer’s own website, linked below, and every price is as that site listed it that day.
Plugoff, by Midifex, is free for now on Mac and Windows, and its developer says it will become a paid product. It moves unused AU, VST, VST3 and AAX plugins to a vault folder or an external drive and back, and exports a PDF inventory. For update checks, a serial-key vault or a known price, see below.
| App | Mac | Windows | Price, as listed | Stands out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonisto | Yes | Yes | Free plan; Basic $2.99/month or $29.99/year; Pro $9.99/month or $99.99/year | One library across every brand, with update notifications and links to the latest installers |
| Plugoff | Yes | Yes | Free today; its developer says it will become a paid product | Moving unused plugins to a vault folder or an external drive, and back |
| Pluginize! | Yes | No | €69.99 one-time (2 Macs); 14-day free trial | Switching single plugins on and off, including Waves and UAD |
| PluginHub | Yes | Yes | One-time: $39.99 (2 machines), $69.99 (5), $129.99 (10); three free scans | Update checks across 357 vendors, and installing updates from inside the app for nearly 60 of them |
| ProducerGrid | Yes | Yes | Free plan with daily limits; Pro €19.99/year or €79.99 once (1 device) | Plugins, presets, libraries, licenses and projects from one scan, and opening plugins outside the DAW |
| KVR Studio Manager | Yes | Yes | Free (donationware), for KVR members; beta | Comparing your versions with the KVR database, and comparing setups with a client |
| VST Manager | Yes | No | One-time $4.99 on its website | Duplicates, disk space per plugin and a license vault, offline |
| OwlPlug | Yes | Yes (and Linux) | Free and open source (GPL-3.0) | Installing plugins from open registries, and finding plugins missing from Ableton Live, Reaper and Studio One projects |
Pluginize! on Mac switches plugins on and off per format, including single Waves and UAD plugins. PluginHub lists hiding, parking and uninstalling. KVR Studio Manager takes you to a plugin’s folder so you can move it yourself.
ProducerGrid’s free plan allows 2 bulk uninstalls a day, and Pro has unlimited uninstall in its clean-up mode. PluginHub can uninstall too. Sonisto can only uninstall plugins it manages itself.
PluginHub checks 357 vendors, KVR Studio Manager compares your versions with the KVR database, and Sonisto gives update notifications for 10 plugins on its free plan and every plugin on Basic and Pro.
Plugoff exports a PDF grouped by manufacturer. ProducerGrid Pro exports to Excel, and Sonisto Basic and Pro export your library. For a list on screen at no cost, Sonisto’s free plan, OwlPlug and KVR Studio Manager all give you one.
Sonisto (Basic and Pro), PluginHub, ProducerGrid (Pro) and VST Manager each have a vault for serial keys. Plugoff’s site does not list one.
Plugins you offloaded with Plugoff sit in its vault folder or on your external drive, not in the usual plugin folders, and a new scan only finds what is in the folders it reads. Restore them first, or keep a copy of Plugoff’s list. Our guide to where plugins are stored lists the usual locations.
Offloading with one click and restoring just as easily, to a vault folder or an external drive. It keeps your edits to manufacturer names across rescans, shows when each plugin was offloaded, flags formats your DAWs may not need, and can read a UA Connect System Profile to sort Universal Audio plugins by license. It is free today. If offloading is what you want, keep it.
Sonisto’s free plan covers one computer, one scan a month and update notifications for 10 plugins. Basic adds a second computer, 20 scans a month, update notifications for every plugin, a vault for serial keys, comparing computers and exporting your library. Pro raises that to 10 computers and unlimited scans. A yearly Pro subscription comes with 12 plugins to claim and keep from the day you join.
Sonisto tells you an update exists and links to the installer; it does not install updates for you, apart from freeware and a few selected brands. It has no tags and no way to switch a plugin off, and it can only uninstall plugins it manages itself.
Yes, for now. Midifex’s page says Plugoff is free for a limited introductory period on Mac and Windows and will become a premium paid product in the future. It gives no price or date for that change, so check the page again before you rely on it for the long term.
Its page lists AU, VST, VST3 and AAX, on Mac and Windows. You pick the DAWs you use and it flags formats you may not need, such as VST2 copies when you work in Logic. Sonisto lists VST2, VST3, AU and AAX plugins and shows where each format installed.
They stay where Plugoff put them, in its vault folder or on the drive you chose, outside the folders your DAW reads. Restore them from Plugoff before you remove it, or move them back by hand, then rescan in your DAW so it finds them again.
Its page does not list update checks. PluginHub checks 357 vendors, KVR Studio Manager compares your versions with the KVR database, and Sonisto gives update notifications for 10 plugins on its free plan and every plugin on Basic and Pro, with links to the installers.
Also: all the plugin managers side by side, PlugPane alternatives, plugin managers for Windows, and how to organize your plugins.
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