About
What this is
vstdex is a curated guide to professional audio plugins — VST3, AU, and AAX tools used by mixing engineers, producers, and sound designers. The goal is to help you find the best tool for the job, not to list every plugin in existence.
What's covered
We focus on paid, professional plugins from established developers. Free plugins aren't included — there are plenty of lists for those elsewhere, and our value is in curation toward quality, not completeness.
For each plugin we track:
- Formats and OS support (VST3, AU, AAX; macOS, Windows)
- Initial release, latest version, and latest-version release date
- Type and group (Compressor in Dynamics, Reverb in Space, and so on)
- Current pricing from up to five retailers
What's not covered yet
Instruments and sample libraries aren't tracked yet — the catalog is focused on effects so the comparisons (format support, retailer pricing, sale patterns) stay honest. Bringing instruments in needs a different taxonomy and price model that doesn't pretend a synth and a reverb are the same kind of thing, and that's a separate project.
If you'd like a heads-up when instruments are tracked, drop us a note and we'll add you to the list.
How pricing works
We compare prices across Plugin Boutique, Audio Deluxe, Best Service, and direct developer stores. When a plugin is sold at multiple retailers in the same currency, we surface the cheapest as "lowest." Single-source prices are shown as-is — you can compare for yourself by clicking through.
Prices are observed at the time we last checked each retailer and can shift between checks. Always verify the price on the retailer's page before purchasing.
Affiliate disclosure
This catalog may include affiliate links to some of the retailers we track. When affiliate relationships are active, clicking through to buy a plugin may earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you — this helps cover the hosting and tooling that keep the catalog running.
Affiliate relationships do not influence which plugins are featured, how they're described, or which retailer we mark as the lowest price. The price comparison is determined by the data, not by any partnership.