Artlist review: $199 a year, annual billing only, licence that survives cancellation
Artlist sells one thing a monthly music service cannot: a licence that outlives the subscription. A track downloaded while you are paying stays licensed for that video after you stop. Our check of artlist.io on 11 June 2026 recorded Music Only at $199 a year, annual billing only, with no free trial.
The short answer
Buy Artlist if you are building a video archive you intend to keep online for years. Music Only was $199 a year when we checked artlist.io on 11 June 2026, billed annually with no monthly option, and every track downloaded during an active subscription stays licensed for that content permanently.
Skip it if you upload weekly to a monetised channel and want copyright claims prevented rather than disputed, or if you cannot commit a year upfront. Epidemic Sound Personal was $9.99 a month on our 10 June 2026 check, with ContentID whitelisting for linked channels and a 30-day trial. Artlist has no trial at all.
Where Artlist fits
Artlist is a music and stock media subscription sold on a licence term rather than on a feature list. The question it answers is not how many tracks you can download a month, because downloads are unlimited on every tier, but what happens to the videos you have already published when you stop paying. On Artlist, our 11 June 2026 check recorded that every track downloaded during an active subscription is licensed for that content permanently, even after cancellation. That is the product.
The billing period is the first thing to settle, because there is no choice in it. Artlist is annual only, with no monthly billing option, and our check recorded no free trial either: the annual commitment comes upfront. Music Only at $199 a year works out at about $16.58 a month if you divide the year by twelve, but that monthly figure is arithmetic for comparison only. You cannot pay it monthly, and if you cancel in month two you have still paid for the year.
Three tiers sat on the rate card when we looked. Music Only was $199 a year for unlimited music downloads across all platforms. Music + SFX was $259 a year, which is $60 more than Music Only, and adds a library our check recorded as more than 70,000 sound effects under the same perpetual licence. Artlist 360 was $499 a year, which is $300 more than Music Only, and adds more than a million stock footage clips, photos and templates.
Licence scope, not catalogue size, is what the tiers separate, with one exception: the type of asset. All three tiers carry the same permanent-on-download licence and the same all-platform coverage recorded on our check. What changes as you climb is whether sound effects and footage are included. If you only need music, the $199 tier is not a crippled entry plan, it is the whole music product.
For client work and commercial delivery, read the licence agreement rather than this page. Our 11 June 2026 check recorded Music Only as covering all platforms, and it did not record a separate client-work, broadcast or theatrical tier the way some competitors publish one. That silence in our snapshot is not permission. If you are delivering to an agency client, or to broadcast, confirm the scope against Artlist's own licence terms before you cut the track in.
Against the rest of the category the comparison is mostly about billing shape and claim handling. Epidemic Sound Personal was $9.99 a month, or $107.88 a year, when we verified epidemicsound.com on 10 June 2026, and that plan is subscription-licensed rather than permanent. Storyblocks All Access was $299 a year on our 12 June 2026 check and carries a similar download-era licence across footage as well as audio. Musicbed Solo was $16.99 a month, verified 12 June 2026, with commercial use starting at the $49 a month Plus tier.
All of these figures, including Artlist's own, come from checks made in June 2026. Artlist's was 11 June 2026, which makes it around four months old at the time of writing, and we have not re-verified it since. Read the live rate card before you commit a year's fee, and treat the tier names as the thing most likely to have moved. The stock media and music licensing category holds the alternatives with their own dates.
Artlist pricing
Artlist prices per year, not per month, and the unit is the subscription rather than the seat or the download. Everything below comes from our check of artlist.io on 11 June 2026 and has not been re-verified since, so confirm it before paying.
| Plan | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Music Only | $199/year | Unlimited music downloads, all platforms, permanent licence on every track downloaded while subscribed |
| Music + SFX | $259/year | $60 a year more than Music Only. Adds more than 70,000 sound effects under the same licence |
| Artlist 360 | $499/year | $300 a year more than Music Only. Adds more than a million stock footage clips, photos and templates |
There is no quoting process here and no usage meter. Four things decide what you pay:
- Which asset types you need. Music alone was $199 a year; adding sound effects took it to $259 and adding footage took it to $499 on our 11 June 2026 check.
- The billing period, which is fixed. Annual only, paid upfront, so $199 is a single payment rather than a monthly line item of about $16.58.
- Whether you will still be subscribed next year. The licence on tracks already downloaded does not depend on it, which changes how a lapsed year reads.
- Your delivery scope. Our check recorded all-platform coverage but no separate broadcast or client tier, so anything beyond online distribution is a licence question to settle in writing first.
- Whether you need a trial. There is none, so the first $199 is also the evaluation budget.
Artlist pricing against the rest of the category
At $199 a year on our 11 June 2026 check, Artlist sits above the cheap monthly option and below the professional one. Epidemic Sound Personal was $9.99 a month, or $107.88 a year, verified 10 June 2026, which is the cheaper annual outlay and comes with whitelisting and a 30-day trial, but licences by subscription rather than permanently. Storyblocks Audio was $149 a year and All Access $299 a year, verified 12 June 2026, so footage and music together cost less there than Artlist 360. Musicbed Plus, the tier that covers client work, was $49 a month, verified 12 June 2026. These check dates are all within three days of each other, which is unusually like for like for this site.
Artlist billing and licence terms worth knowing
The licence term is the reason to buy this product, so it belongs in the pricing section rather than in a feature list.
- Music Only
- $199 per year as of 11 June 2026. About $16.58 a month if you divide by twelve, but monthly billing is not offered.
- Music + SFX
- $259 per year, which is $60 more than the $199 Music Only tier.
- Artlist 360
- $499 per year, which is $300 more than Music Only and $240 more than Music + SFX.
- Billing period
- Annual only. No monthly option was recorded on our check, so the year is paid upfront.
- Free trial
- None. You can preview the catalogue, but downloading needs a paid year.
- Licence on cancellation
- Tracks downloaded during an active subscription stay licensed for that content permanently, as recorded on 11 June 2026.
- Check date
- 11 June 2026. Not re-verified since, so read the current rate card first.
The figures here are four months old and are given with their date for that reason. If artlist.io now shows something different, artlist.io is right and this page is behind. Our creator tool cost calculators will total a music and footage stack once you have today's numbers, and how we review software explains what a dated check does and does not promise.
What Artlist gives up
There is no trial, so the evaluation is the purchase. Our 11 June 2026 check recorded no free trial and annual billing only, which means the cheapest way to find out whether the catalogue suits your edit is to pay $199 for a year. Competitors in the same category hand you a fortnight or a month for nothing, and that gap is real.
Monthly billing does not exist. A creator with an irregular production schedule, three busy months and nine quiet ones, cannot match the spend to the work. The permanent licence softens this, because downloads made in the busy months stay licensed, but the cash still leaves in one lump.
Our Artlist check recorded no ContentID whitelisting. Epidemic Sound, verified 10 June 2026, does record whitelisting for channels linked to an active account, which prevents a claim from being filed. With Artlist you hold a licence to resolve a claim after it appears, and the resolution is paperwork rather than a switch. Our snapshot does not record how long that takes and we will not guess at it.
The footage in Artlist 360 is a bundled extra rather than the main product. At $499 a year it is $300 more than the music-only tier, and Storyblocks All Access was $299 a year on our 12 June 2026 check for footage, audio and images together. If footage volume is your first requirement, you are paying Artlist's music premium to get it.
A single catalogue is a single taste. Unlimited downloads do not help if the genre you need is thin, and there is no trial to test that before you pay. Browse hard before committing, and search for the specific style your edits call for rather than the showreel.
The permanent licence covers the content you made, not everything you might make. Our check recorded the licence as attaching to the content created while subscribed, which means a lapsed subscription does not let you drop an old download into a new video. Plan the archive accordingly.
The pricing evidence on this page is from 11 June 2026, which is the weakest part of it. Four months is long enough for a tier to be renamed or a rate to move, and on a product billed annually and upfront that matters more than it would on a cheap monthly subscription.
How Artlist compares
The four tools below are the stock media and music subscriptions weighed against each other, and the axis is licence term against monthly cost. Each price is that vendor's own published rate with the date we checked it, and those dates fall within three days of each other in June 2026. The wider field sits in the stock media and music licensing category.
| Tool | Best for | Price | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artlist | Archives you want licensed after you cancel | $199/year Music Only (June 2026) | No trial, no monthly billing, year paid upfront |
| Epidemic Sound | Monetised channels that want claims prevented | $9.99/mo Personal (June 2026) | Licence runs with the subscription, not the download |
| Storyblocks | Footage and audio in one annual fee | $299/year All Access (June 2026) | Audio is the weaker half of the bundle |
| Musicbed | Commercial and broadcast delivery | $16.99/mo Solo, $49/mo Plus (June 2026) | Solo excludes commercial use, so most paid work needs Plus |
How to test Artlist when there is no trial
Our 11 June 2026 check recorded no free trial and annual billing only, so the testing happens before you pay and then inside the first fortnight of a year you have already bought. Confirm that this is still true before anything else, because our figures are four months old.
- Check artlist.io/pricing for the current tiers and for any trial that did not exist on 11 June 2026. This is the step not to take on trust.
- Search the public catalogue for the three most specific music briefs you have had this year. Genre depth is the thing you cannot test after paying.
- Decide which asset types you need before you choose a tier: $199 a year for music, $259 with sound effects, $499 with footage on our check.
- Read the licence agreement for the delivery you make. Our check recorded all-platform coverage and no separate broadcast tier, so client and broadcast scope is a question for Artlist in writing.
- If claim prevention matters more than a permanent licence, price Epidemic Sound Personal at $9.99 a month, verified 10 June 2026, and use its 30-day trial to compare catalogues at no cost.
- If you need footage volume, price Storyblocks All Access at $299 a year against Artlist 360, verified 12 June 2026, before paying the higher fee.
- Within the first two weeks of paying, download every track you can imagine using. The licence attaches at download and survives cancellation, which makes front-loading rational, and the cost calculators will total the year once you have the current rate.
Artlist questions buyers ask
How much does Artlist cost?
Our check of artlist.io on 11 June 2026 recorded Artlist as billed annually only, with no monthly option: Music Only at $199 a year, Music + SFX at $259 a year, and Artlist 360, which adds stock footage, photos and templates, at $499 a year. All plans carry the perpetual licence, so every track downloaded during an active subscription is licensed for that content permanently, even after cancellation. There is no free trial. You can preview tracks on artlist.io without an account but cannot download without subscribing. Those figures are about four months old, so read the current rate card before committing to a year.
What is Artlist's perpetual license and how does it work?
Artlist's perpetual license means that when you download a track during an active subscription, that track is licensed for that specific content forever: even if you cancel your subscription later. You're not renting access to the track. You're purchasing a permanent license at the moment of download, bundled with your subscription fee. This is the opposite of Epidemic Sound's subscription-based model, where your content's protection can lapse if you cancel. With Artlist, a video made using a downloaded track remains legally licensed for that content indefinitely.
Does Artlist protect against ContentID claims on YouTube?
Artlist authorises your use through its licence, and our check recorded no proactive ContentID whitelisting of the kind Epidemic Sound offers for channels linked to an active account. That means an automated ContentID claim may still be filed against your video, and you then dispute it using your Artlist licence certificate. We hold no verified figure for how long that dispute takes and will not estimate one, but monetisation on the affected video can be restricted while it runs. If zero ContentID friction is the priority, Epidemic Sound's whitelisting model prevents the claim rather than resolving it.
Is Artlist better than Epidemic Sound?
Neither is universally better; they serve different priorities. Artlist is better if you want the perpetual licence, so your published videos stay covered after you cancel, plus per-track licence certificates for client documentation, and you can pay $199 a year upfront with no trial, as recorded on our 11 June 2026 check of artlist.io. Epidemic Sound is better if you want ContentID whitelisting on linked channels, monthly billing, a 30-day free trial and a lower entry cost: Epidemic Sound Personal was $9.99 a month, or $107.88 a year, when we checked epidemicsound.com separately on 10 June 2026. For monetised channels focused on claim prevention, choose Epidemic Sound. For filmmakers who need long-term archive security, choose Artlist.
Can I cancel Artlist and still use the music I downloaded?
Yes: this is Artlist's defining feature. Every track you downloaded during your active subscription is licensed for the content you created using it permanently, even after cancellation. You cannot use downloaded tracks in new content after cancellation, but content you made while subscribed is protected forever. This means strategic users can subscribe, front-load their download library, and cancel: the content they made during the subscription period remains legally licensed.
Does Artlist cover commercial use and client work?
Artlist's base plans cover most commercial digital distribution, including online advertising, branded content, and social media campaigns. Full agency workflows, broadcast use, and theatrical distribution may require verification against your specific plan tier's license terms. Artlist offers team accounts and higher-tier commercial licensing for agencies. Review the license agreement for your specific plan before producing deliverables for clients, especially for broadcast or distribution beyond online platforms.
What creators use Artlist?
Artlist is used by MrBeast, MKBHD (Marques Brownlee), and Mark Rober, among others. These are some of the highest-production-value YouTube channels in the platform's history. The association is meaningful as a catalog quality signal: if you've heard music in these creators' videos and liked the production quality, the Artlist catalog is where much of that music comes from.
Is there a free trial for Artlist?
No. Our 11 June 2026 check recorded no free trial. You can browse and listen to tracks on artlist.io without an account, but downloading requires a paid subscription, and the $199 a year Music Only plan was the cheapest way in. That is a real barrier next to Epidemic Sound, whose own check on 10 June 2026 recorded a 30-day free trial. The practical workaround is to browse the public catalogue hard against your real briefs first, and to run a competitor's trial alongside it, so the first $199 is not also your evaluation budget.
Does Artlist include sound effects?
Not on the base Music Only plan. Our 11 June 2026 check recorded Music + SFX at $259 a year against Music Only at $199, so the sound effects add $60 a year, and the library was recorded as more than 70,000 effects under the same perpetual licence. If you use sound effects regularly in video editing, that $60 removes the need for a separate effects subscription. If you rarely use them, Music Only at $199 a year is enough.
What is Artlist 360?
Artlist 360 was $499 a year on our 11 June 2026 check, the all-in-one tier that adds stock footage, stock photos and templates to the music and sound effects subscription, with more than a million footage clips recorded. The perpetual licence applies to footage as well, so footage downloaded during your subscription stays licensed for that content. Against the category, Storyblocks All Access was $299 a year when we checked storyblocks.com separately on 12 June 2026, which is the cheaper bundle, and our Storyblocks snapshot records no clip count to compare against. Choose Artlist 360 if music quality is the priority and footage is secondary; choose Storyblocks All Access if price and footage breadth matter more.