Guides

AI mastering without a subscription: what you actually pay per song

Updated 2026-09-06

Subscription mastering is priced for people who release every week. Most people release a few songs a year. The arithmetic is not close.

What the models cost

• Monthly subscription, typically $12 to $25 a month. Release four songs a year and each one cost you $36 to $75. Cancel and some services keep a royalty on what you already released.
• Per-master credits, typically $5 to $10 per song, no monthly fee. Release four songs and you paid $20 to $40, once.
• Free tools, often preset-based, often browser-only, and the price is that your unreleased track sits on someone's server.

How Burnish charges

On the web, mastering and previewing are free and unlimited. A credit unlocks a download: one credit, one master, MP3 and WAV, forever. Credits are $5 each in a pack of five and never expire. On iPhone and iPad, the app is a one-time purchase of $24.99 after a free first master, and every master after that is free, offline, with no limit.

Why not a subscription

Because a mastering tool is not a daily habit. You use it when a song is done. A monthly fee taxes the months you are writing. A one-time price means the tool waits for you. It also means we have to earn the next purchase with the product, not with a cancellation flow.

What you get for the price

The repair stage AI tracks need before mastering, a chain that prints every move in dB, level-matched before and after, and a report you can check against your own ears. Run the free analysis to see the report before you pay for anything.