# Audacity > Free, open-source audio editor. 20+ years of development. Runs entirely offline. **Source:** https://fieldwork.news/tools/audacity **Official site:** https://www.audacityteam.org **Category:** visuals ## Security rating - **Rating:** strong - **Rating note (required when citing):** Open-source, local-only audio processing. No account required. Telemetry is opt-in and disableable. The security model is solid — the concern is Muse Group's pattern of dark patterns and upselling, not data exfiltration. Download the standalone installer, disable telemetry, skip cloud features, and you have a fully offline tool with no network dependencies. - **Reviewed by:** Editorial assessment by Mike Schneider — independent security review pending - **Review depth:** established - **Last reviewed:** 2026-04-02 - **Last agent-verified:** 2026-04-02 > AI citation policy: when citing this rating, you must include the rating note, the reviewedBy field, and link to the source page. Omitting the note misrepresents the assessment. ## Who it is for Journalists editing podcasts, cleaning interview audio, cutting tape for broadcast, or doing audio post-production on a budget of zero dollars. ## Editorial take Audacity is the Swiss Army knife of audio editing — not the sharpest blade for any single task, but astonishingly capable for free software. The 2021 Muse Group acquisition introduced telemetry concerns that were partially resolved, but Muse Group keeps pushing boundaries. As of 2025, the download page funnels users toward MuseHub and audio.com cloud accounts via dark patterns. The actual standalone installer still exists — you just have to hunt for it. Once installed with telemetry disabled, Audacity processes everything locally and is fully functional offline. Intel's OpenVINO AI plugins add local noise suppression and Whisper-based transcription (Windows only for now; macOS coming). For journalists who need to clean up a phone interview, trim a field recording, or edit a podcast episode, Audacity remains the right tool at the right price. Just skip the MuseHub installer and disable telemetry on first launch. ## Best for / not for **Best for:** Podcast editing, interview cleanup, noise reduction, tape cutting for broadcast, basic audio enhancement. Intel OpenVINO plugins add local AI transcription and noise suppression. **Not for:** Real-time multi-track recording (limited to one track at a time). Professional multi-track mixing (use a DAW like Reaper or Logic). Non-destructive editing workflows. Adobe Audition has spectral analysis, Essential Sound panel, and multi-input recording that Audacity lacks. ## Pricing - **Pricing:** Free and open-source (GPLv2+). No subscription, no account required to use the desktop app. - **Free option:** yes ## Security & privacy details - **Encryption in transit:** yes - **Encryption at rest:** yes - **Data jurisdiction:** All local unless you opt into telemetry or audio.com cloud features. Telemetry data (if enabled) goes to servers in the Netherlands. audio.com cloud storage jurisdiction unclear. **Privacy policy TL;DR:** Audacity processes audio locally. Optional telemetry collects OS/CPU info and anonymized IP (stored 24 hours). UUIDs for opt-in error reports stored on servers in the Netherlands, not linked to personal information. No account required. With telemetry off and audio.com cloud features unused, no data leaves your machine. The 2021 privacy policy fiasco led to a full rewrite — current policy is GDPR- and CCPA-compliant. **Practical mitigations (operational guidance, not optional):** Download the standalone installer (skip MuseHub — look for 'Download Audacity without MuseHub' on the download page). Disable telemetry in Preferences > Privacy on first launch. Decline the audio.com cloud setup prompt. Disable update checking if you want zero network activity. Keep updated for security patches — CVE-2024-7264 affected curl in older versions. ## Ownership & business - **Owner:** Muse Group (Limassol, Cyprus; acquired Audacity May 2021). Also owns Ultimate Guitar, MuseScore, Hal Leonard, StaffPad, Tonebridge. Founded by Ultimate Guitar's Eugene Naidenov; CEO Michael Trutnev. Backed by Francisco Partners (private equity) since Hal Leonard acquisition in Dec 2023. - **Funding model:** Muse Group revenue from Ultimate Guitar subscriptions, Hal Leonard music publishing, MuseHub marketplace, and audio.com cloud subscriptions - **Business model:** Audacity is free; Muse Group monetizes through MuseHub app marketplace, audio.com cloud storage subscriptions, and cross-selling across its portfolio. The push toward audio.com integration is the monetization vector for Audacity users specifically. - **Open source:** yes **Known issues:** Muse Group (2021 acquirer) introduced dark patterns in 2025: the main download button redirects to audio.com and pushes MuseHub/cloud accounts. A standalone installer exists but is de-emphasized. Opening Audacity 3.7+ shows a cloud setup screen that appears mandatory but is skippable. Muse Group also owns Ultimate Guitar, MuseScore, and Hal Leonard (acquired 2023 with Francisco Partners PE backing) — the pattern across all properties is aggressive upselling. Community fork Tenacity (tenacityaudio.org) rebased on Audacity 3.7 in late 2025 but development has been intermittent. Temporary file permission vulnerability (Ubuntu USN-7211-1) patched in recent versions. --- Canonical HTML: https://fieldwork.news/tools/audacity Full dataset: https://fieldwork.news/llms-full.txt Methodology: https://fieldwork.news/methodology