ACE-Step
Free song maker that runs on an ordinary gaming PC or Mac.
Best on your computerFreeOpenRuns on your PC
- Best for
- Making songs offline for free
- On your PC
- Some setup
- Works on
- Windows, Mac, Linux
- License
- MIT
What’s good
- Runs on graphics cards with under 4 GB
- One-click packages for Windows and Apple Silicon Macs
- Makers say it was trained on licensed music
Downsides
- Clearly behind Suno and Mureka on vocals
- Bigger XL model needs 12 to 20 GB of graphics memory
- Local web app; no phone app
At a glance.
- Best for
- Making songs offline for free
- Price
- Free, open source
- Version
- ACE-Step 1.5 XLReleased 2026-04
- Works on
- Windows, Mac, Linux
- Open source
- Yes, MIT
- Made by
- ACE Studio and StepFun
- Website
- github.com
Should you use it?
Yes: it is our best on your computer pick for music generators. Runs on a 4 GB graphics card or a Mac, free for commercial use.
Can I run it myself?
Yes. Some setup: download a model inside an app.
Use Portable app (Windows, Mac), ComfyUI, Pinokio.
- You need
- Any NVIDIA card with 4 GB, or an Apple Silicon Mac
- Setup
- Some setupDownload a model inside an app
- Laptop, 8 GBToo small
- PC, 16 GB+Too small
- Mac, 16 GBToo small
- Mac, 32 GBToo small
- Mac, 64 GB+Too small
- PC, 8 GB GPURuns
- PC, 12 GB GPURuns
- PC, 16 GB GPURuns
- PC, 24 GB GPURuns
- WorkstationRuns