How homecrate compares

The short version

Pricing verified August 2026 against each vendor's App Store listing and official pages. US prices. Things change, and I would rather be corrected than wrong: if something here is out of date, tell me and I'll fix it.

Is homecrate a good alternative to Moises?

It depends on what you need. Moises is a mature, cross-platform product with a very large user base, and it does generative work homecrate deliberately does not. homecrate separates stems entirely on the device, with no account, no upload and no monthly cap, and the stems land straight onto a DAW timeline. If you are on Apple hardware and want unlimited separation inside a recording workflow, homecrate fits. If you need Android or a browser, Moises is the answer and homecrate is not.

What Moises does better

• Runs on Android and in a browser. homecrate does neither.
• A far larger and more mature product, with over 60 million users claimed.
• Generative features, including generated instrument parts and voice models, that homecrate deliberately does not have.
• Chord detection and a large jam-track library built around practice.

What homecrate does differently

• Separation runs on the device. Nothing is uploaded, no account exists, and there is no monthly cap.
• Stems land directly on a recording timeline, so you can mute the guitar and play the part yourself through a NAM amp without leaving the app.

Choose Moises if you need Android or browser access, or you want generative features. Choose homecrate if you are on Apple hardware and want unlimited separation inside a recording workflow.

Is homecrate an alternative to BandLab?

Only partly, because they are built for different things. BandLab is a social and collaborative platform with over 100 million registered creators, cloud storage, cross-platform access and built-in distribution, and its free tier is genuinely generous, including a 4-stem splitter. homecrate has none of that: no accounts, no cloud, no social layer, no distribution. What it offers instead is a one-time purchase with nothing held behind a monthly tier.

What BandLab does better

• Over 100 million registered creators and a real social and collaboration network.
• Android and browser access, with free cloud storage and unlimited projects.
• Built-in distribution to streaming services.
• A free tier that includes a 4-stem splitter, 436 virtual instruments and mastering presets.

What homecrate does differently

• One purchase. Nothing is held behind a monthly tier, and there are no ads.
• No account and no cloud. Your projects are files on your device.

For accuracy: BandLab split its membership into Pro and Max tiers, announced on its own blog in July 2026. Pro runs $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year, and gates things like the 7-stem splitter, MIDI conversion and distribution. The free tier remains substantial. I have seen this described elsewhere as a sudden paywalling of previously free features, but the only source I could find for that framing was a post by a competitor with numbers that contradict BandLab's own published table, so I am not repeating the claim.

Choose BandLab if you want cloud collaboration, cross-platform access or distribution. Choose homecrate if you own your files, don't want an account, and prefer to buy once.

How does homecrate compare to Cubasis 3?

Cubasis is the closest philosophical peer here, because it is also a one-time purchase with no subscription. It has a far longer track record, Steinberg and Yamaha behind it, an Android version, and more mature MIDI editing conventions. homecrate is $9.99 against $49.99 and adds on-device stem separation, audio-to-MIDI, VST3 hosting through a Mac companion, NAM amp modeling and the video tools. Cubasis does not offer stem separation, and both host AUv3 plugins.

What Cubasis does better

• A much longer track record, with Steinberg and Yamaha behind it.
• Runs on Android and ChromeOS as well as Apple platforms.
• More mature MIDI editing conventions and a large established user base.
• Optional first-party expansions from Steinberg and Waves.

What homecrate does differently

• $9.99 against $49.99, both one-time.
• On-device stem separation and audio-to-MIDI, neither of which Cubasis offers.
• Real VST3 hosting through the Mac companion, plus NAM amps instead of generic models.
• Video effects and gesture control, which are outside what Cubasis sets out to do.

Choose Cubasis if you want the most established mobile DAW or need Android. Choose homecrate if you want stem separation, VST3 access or the guitar-focused signal chain.

How does homecrate compare to Fender Studio?

Fender Studio is free, backed by a large brand, and gives you Fender's own officially modeled tones, which homecrate cannot. Its track count rises from 8 to 16 when you register and to 32 with a one-time $49.99 unlock. Stem separation is not in the mobile app at all: that lives in Fender Studio Pro, the desktop DAW formerly known as Studio One, where it runs through Moises and is metered at 10 separations a month. homecrate uses the open NAM format, so any community capture works, and its separation is unlimited and on-device.

What Fender Studio does better

• Free to start, from a brand with real weight behind it.
• Officially modeled Fender amps and effects, which no open capture can claim to be.
• A desktop Pro tier with a full professional DAW lineage.

What homecrate does differently

• Open NAM format, so any capture the community makes will load, not just one company's tones.
• Unlimited on-device separation rather than 10 metered cloud runs a month on a separate desktop purchase.
• AUv3 and VST3 hosting, which the Fender mobile app does not offer.
• The full feature set on the phone, rather than the deep tools living on desktop.

Choose Fender Studio if you want Fender's own tones and free mobile capture. Choose homecrate if you want open-format captures and the whole studio on the device.

Can you run desktop VST3 plugins on an iPhone?

Not directly, and not through any app. iOS has no VST3 plugin ecosystem: the platform supports AUv3 Audio Unit extensions, and code signing prevents an app from loading a third-party plugin binary at runtime. homecrate works around this by streaming rather than loading. The hc_vstpipe plugin sends audio, MIDI and transport to a free companion app on a Mac, which hosts the real VST3 or Audio Unit and streams the processed audio back. This requires a Mac on the same network.

Once paired, the plugin behaves like any other insert on the track. Its parameters show up as automatable lanes in the phone's clip editor, and the binding and every parameter value are saved with the project. The session never moves to the Mac: the phone keeps the transport, the clock, the project file and the automation, and the Mac renders one plugin when asked.

The dependency is real and worth stating plainly. Without a Mac on the same network, hc_vstpipe does nothing. If you have no Mac, this feature is not available to you, and none of the other apps here offer an alternative.

Desktop-to-desktop versions of this idea already exist and are good: AudioGridder, which is free and open source, and Vienna Ensemble Pro. Both are desktop to desktop. The phone-as-host direction is the part I could not find prior art for, and I would genuinely like to be pointed at it if it exists.