HookSounds vs Uppbeat Comparison 2026
HookSounds writes its own catalogue and charges $9.99 a month billed yearly for personal work only, with no free tier at all. Uppbeat gives away three downloads a month permanently, covering a quarter of its catalogue, then charges from $6.99 a month, cheaper than HookSounds at every comparable cadence. The axis is catalogue depth against price: Uppbeat is the cheaper, freer option, while HookSounds trades a smaller, in-house library for licensing terms that are simpler to explain to a client.
Royalty-free music written in house
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
HookSounds | Uppbeat | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $9.99 | From $6.99 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | None |
| API |
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.
Our note
Read the licence scope before the price, because the cheapest tier excludes client work and that is the line most freelancers cross without noticing. Against Epidemic Sound or Artlist this is smaller and cheaper, and the trade is exactly that.
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 HookSounds
- Uppbeat keeps a free tier that still clears claims, plus a paid plan from $6.99, cheaper than HookSounds and free to test before committing to a genre.
- HookSounds instead of Uppbeat
- HookSounds writes its whole catalogue in house rather than licensing outside artists, from $9.99 with no free tier, a smaller hand-picked library at a close price.
Which one should you pick
Choose HookSounds if a small, self-written catalogue with plainly stated terms is worth paying for over a free option, at $9.99 a month billed yearly for personal work. Client and multi-channel work steps up to $19.99, a real cost most freelancers do not notice until the invoice has a client's name on it.
Choose Uppbeat if budget matters most: three downloads a month cost nothing forever, and paid tiers start at $6.99 a month, undercutting HookSounds at every cadence. Client content and ads need the $14.99 Pro tier and its extended licence, and the catalogue is smaller than Epidemic Sound's, which is the trade being made for the lower price.
Common questions
- Does HookSounds have a free plan like Uppbeat?
- No. HookSounds has no free tier at all, only paid plans starting at $9.99 a month billed yearly. Uppbeat gives three downloads a month for free, permanently, across a quarter of its catalogue.
- Which one is cheaper for personal, non-client use?
- Uppbeat: its entry tier is $6.99 a month against HookSounds' $9.99 billed yearly or $16.99 paid monthly. Uppbeat also has a free tier that covers occasional use without paying anything.
- Which plan covers client work and ads?
- On Uppbeat, that is the $14.99 Pro tier with its extended licence for client content, digital ads and organisations of any size. On HookSounds, client and multi-channel work needs the $19.99 freelancer tier instead of the $9.99 entry plan.
- How does channel safelisting work on Uppbeat?
- A safelisted channel is checked against claims before they arrive: one channel on the free plan and the cheapest paid tier, three on Creator, ten on Pro. HookSounds instead clears a track for as long as it stays in the specific video it was downloaded for, without a channel-count limit stated.
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.