Artlist vs Uppbeat Comparison 2026
Artlist is a paid-only subscription from $19.99 a month billed annually, and its licence keeps covering anything you published even after you cancel. Uppbeat gives three downloads a month for free, renewing rather than trialling, with paid tiers from $6.99 to $14.99 a month. Artlist sells a cancellation guarantee. Uppbeat sells a cheap bill and a real free plan instead.
One licence covering music, footage and plugins
Music for video with a free tier that clears claims
At a glance
- Uppbeat starts cheaper, at $6.99.
- Only Uppbeat has a free tier.
Side by side
Artlist | Uppbeat | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $19.99 | From $6.99 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | None |
| API | Not stated |
Artlist
One licence covering music, footage and plugins
Artlist sells a subscription that licenses everything on it for everything you make, including the videos you monetise, and the licence survives the subscription ending for anything already published. That last clause is the one worth reading twice, because it is where most stock music libraries hedge. The catalogue leans cinematic. Somebody who needs one track this month will find a per-track shop cheaper, and Artlist does not sell that way.
Our note
The licence terms are the product here and the catalogue is secondary, which is the opposite of how these are usually sold. Compare against Epidemic Sound on what happens when you stop paying rather than on how many tracks each claims.
Uppbeat
Music for video with a free tier that clears claims
Uppbeat licenses music for YouTube and social video, and its free plan is three downloads a month rather than a trial that runs out. Channels are safelisted so a claim does not arrive a week after publishing. The catalogue is smaller than Epidemic Sound's, which is the trade being made for a bill under ten dollars.
Why people weigh these two
- Uppbeat instead of Artlist
- Uppbeat keeps a free tier that still clears copyright claims, from $6.99 a month, well under Artlist's $19.99 with no free option.
- Artlist instead of Uppbeat
- Artlist bundles music with footage and editing plugins under one licence, from $19.99, a bigger catalogue and more than just music for the higher price.
Which one should you pick
Choose Artlist if you publish enough that a licence surviving cancellation actually matters, and $19.99 a month billed annually is a reasonable cost for not thinking about it again. The catalogue leans cinematic, built for picture rather than for a playlist, which suits narrative or brand video over a straight talking-head upload.
Choose Uppbeat if the bill matters more than catalogue size. Three downloads a month, free and renewing, cost nothing, and the paid tiers top out at $14.99 a month for ten safelisted channels and an extended licence covering client work and ads. Uppbeat is the wrong pick for anybody who needs a licence that survives after they stop paying, since its coverage runs on channel safelisting rather than on a clause like Artlist's.
Common questions
- Is Uppbeat really free, or a limited trial?
- Free is three downloads a month across a quarter of the catalogue, and it renews every month rather than running out. One YouTube channel gets safelisted on that tier, which is what stops a claim landing after you publish.
- How much cheaper is Uppbeat than Artlist?
- Uppbeat's paid tiers run $6.99 to $14.99 a month. Artlist starts at $19.99 a month billed annually, the pricier of the two by a wide margin. The trade for Uppbeat's lower bill is a smaller catalogue, a quarter of it on the free tier.
- Does Uppbeat's licence survive if I stop paying?
- Uppbeat's coverage runs through channel safelisting instead: one channel on Free, up to ten on Pro, which is what keeps a claim from landing on a published video. Artlist's guarantee is different in kind, since anything published while subscribed stays cleared even after cancellation.
- What do I get on Uppbeat's Pro plan that the free tier lacks?
- Pro is $14.99 a month and adds ten safelisted YouTube channels, the full catalogue, and an extended licence covering client work, digital ads and organisations of any size. That extended licence is what a freelance editor needs, and it is not part of the free tier's three downloads a month.
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