Soundstripe vs. Bensound

     *Updated March 2022

Royalty free music is an important way to cut down on your production costs while still protecting yourself from having your content taken down because of copyright claims.

(Who really has $1,000 for a single music license?)

And if you’re in the market for royalty free music, chances are you’ve already looked into a few of the companies in this business. That’s why you’re here, trying to figure out whether Soundstripe or Bensound will meet your filmmaking needs.

But we don’t want to try to convince you to choose our service over a competitor’s. Our goal is for filmmakers to find the tools they need to create great videos. So when it comes to comparing royalty free music services, we’d rather give you the resources to make an educated decision for yourself.

In this post, we’ll share a third-party, unsponsored review of Soundstripe from a YouTuber. Then we’ll provide a written breakdown of the major music and pricing differences in the Soundstripe vs. Bensound comparison.

Up first is the video review, and then we’ll dive right into a look at Bensound from an outside perspective:

And just to keep things on an even level, here's a creator's unbiased review of Soundstripe:

Let’s Talk About The Music

We know the main thing you’re interested in is finding great music. Chances are you already searched for free song sites or checked out some of the other royalty free music companies. The fact that you’re still here means you’ve got high standards, and that’s good.

Soundstripe and Bensound have excellent music libraries, because both sites are committed to delivering good music. Bensound doesn’t list a specific number of tracks, but that’s not entirely surprising since it was a one-man show for a long time.

Bensound is the brainchild of a single musician. Benjamin Tissot has been composing and licensing songs for over a decade. And as his service has grown, he started accepting submissions from other artists.

However, the smaller library means the site is easy to search through. You can filter the library by eight different genres, or use the search function if there’s a specific keyword you want. Other than that, you’ll just need to browse page by page.

Soundstripe uses a web-based app rather than a traditional site, and our library includes more than 60,000 SFX and 7,000 songs with dozens of new tracks coming each week.

(You can also upgrade your subscription to get access to 100,000+ stock video clips.)

Everything in our library is curated by professional engineers, which means you can also check out our hand-picked playlists or browse the library. You can filter by mood, genre, tempo, key, and even instrument.

Most royalty free music companies license songs from artists who also publish the same music on competing sites. That means there’s always a chance for copyright claims — even if you can prove you licensed the song from another company, that’s still an annoying hassle.

So, we did things a little differently. We’ve actually contracted our composers and artists as employees, so when you download a song from Soundstripe, you know it’s a song you can’t find anywhere else (and that no other sites could incorrectly file a claim against your work).

Licensing And Cost Comparison

The cost comparison of Soundstripe vs. Bensound is...somewhat confusing.

Soundstripe uses a subscription service plan, which is fairly straightforward. It functions like your Disney+ or Spotify Premium subscriptions: You pay a fee and get access to a library of awesome stuff.

Here's what that looks like:

For a $9.99 monthly payment (or $119 yearly), you’ll get access to our Creator plan — that gives you unlimited access to thousands of high quality songs and SFX. And if you upgrade to the Pro plan or Pro Plus plan, you’ll unlock even more amenities.

That’s it. We don’t have any hidden fees or licensing costs. And because our music is composed by in-house artists, you’ll never have to worry about paying royalties out of any revenue your videos generate.

Bensound’s pricing model, on the other hand, can be a bit convoluted. Some of the songs on the site are available for free under Creative Commons licensing, although it’s only certain songs and each one can have different prerequisites based on the artist’s requests.

You can also purchase licenses for individual songs or sign up for one of Bensound’s subscription models. We’ll try to break that down as clearly as possible.

You can purchase single tracks for $38, and that lets you use the songs in social media or web videos. Extended licenses — which let you use the music in broadcast form or personal projects — cost $72. Advertising licenses for national TV ads cost $639 per track.

(Also, these prices are converted from euros.)

In addition, you can purchase “Pro” licenses for each song. This is a useful option if you don’t want to credit Bensound in your project, or if you want access to high quality audio files, or if you want to access some of the Premium-tier songs on the site.

Now, for the subscription plans:

Bensound’s standard plan covers web and social media use. A Standard Subscription will cost you $165 per year; an Extended Subscription covers commercial and broadcast use and costs $463 per year.

Soundstripe vs. Bensound

We know that was a lot of numbers to deal with, so feel free to read over the last section a few times (or write things down). Either way, it helps to know what kinds of songs/licenses you need so you can choose the plan that works best for you.

The most important takeaway is that any good music licensing company will get you access to great songs. And a good royalty free music company will offer you the same quality at a much more affordable price.

Both Soundstripe and Bensound have a broad music selection and a competitive pricing model. The important thing for you to do now is check out the songs available and figure out which option is going to help you keep creating awesome content.