Epidemic Sound vs HookSounds Comparison 2026
Both cover music licensing and stock footage & assets. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
At a glance
- Neither has a free tier.
- Epidemic Sound bills annually only, so there is no month to try it for.
Side by side
Epidemic Sound | HookSounds | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $9.99 | From $9.99 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free trial, then paid | Paid subscription |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing (they differ) | Annual only | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | 30 days | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export |
Epidemic Sound
Music cleared for monetized video
Epidemic Sound exists to solve one problem, which is a copyright claim landing on a video that was earning. Every track is licensed for the platforms creators publish on, and the clearance follows the channel rather than the upload. The catalogue is smaller than a stock library's, and cancelling ends the licence on work you already published.
Our note
The subscription is a licence rather than a purchase, so treat leaving as a decision about your back catalogue and not just about next month's bill. Uppbeat's free tier is the cheaper starting point if you are not yet earning.
Only on this side
- Works with Twitch
HookSounds
Royalty-free music written in house
HookSounds writes its own catalogue rather than aggregating other people's, which keeps it smaller than the big libraries and makes the licensing simpler to reason about. Music, sound effects and intros are covered by one subscription, cleared for as long as the track stays in the video. The cheapest tier is for personal work and does not cover clients. Anybody who needs a specific genre in depth will find the size a limit.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.