LALAL.AI sells separation by the minute and runs it on its servers. Audiofilter runs the model in your browser and does not meter anything, but caps each track at five minutes and only splits into vocals and instrumental.
If you separate a handful of short tracks and would rather not upload them or buy minutes, this is the swap. If you need a full-length song in one pass, or drums and bass as separate stems, LALAL.AI is the better tool and you should use it.
Why people look for an alternative
Two reasons come up, and neither is a complaint about quality — LALAL.AI's separation is good.
The minute arithmetic. Minutes are consumed as track duration multiplied by the number of stem types you ask for. A four-minute song split into five stems is not four minutes of your allowance; it is twenty. The free tier's ten minutes per month can be spent on a single experiment, and people discover this after the fact.
Uploading the file. For a released track nobody cares. For an unreleased mix, a client's stems under NDA, or a recording of someone who did not agree to it being sent anywhere, "upload to process" is a decision rather than a step.
The one difference that matters
LALAL.AI is a server-side service: your file is uploaded, processed on their hardware, and the result is sent back. Audiofilter is the inverse — the model is downloaded to your browser and runs on your own processor, so the audio never leaves the machine. You can confirm that in ten seconds by opening your browser's network tab before you start.
Everything else in the table below follows from that one choice, in both directions. Their model has no idea what device you are on, so track length is not your problem. Ours never sees your file, so privacy is not a policy question. Each buys its advantage with the other's.
| Audiofilter | LALAL.AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Where processing happens | Your browser, on your device | Their servers |
| Is the file uploaded | No | Yes |
| Account | Not required | Required, including for the free tier |
| Cost | Free, unmetered | Free tier of 10 min/month; paid plans from €6.75/month |
| How usage is counted | Not counted | Duration × number of stem types |
| Track length | Up to 5 minutes | Long files; 200 MB free, 2 GB on paid plans |
| Stems | Vocals and instrumental | Vocals, instrumental, drums, bass, guitar, synth, strings, wind |
| API and DAW plugin | No | Yes, on the Pro plan |
| Works offline | Yes, after the first load | No |
When to use LALAL.AI instead
Genuinely, in these cases:
- You need more than two stems. Drums, bass and guitar as separate tracks is a different product, and we do not have it.
- The track is longer than five minutes and you need it whole. Trimming a section works for sampling and for karaoke practice, but not if you need the full arrangement in one file.
- You want it inside your DAW. Their VST plugin removes the export-and-reimport step entirely.
- You are processing in volume, or automating. Their API exists; we have no API and no batch mode, by design.
- Your device is weak. Server-side processing does not care that you are on a five-year-old laptop or a phone. Ours does.
When to use Audiofilter instead
- The material is not yours to upload. An unreleased mix, a client's session, a recording of a person who did not consent to it being transmitted.
- You want vocals and instrumental, nothing more. That is the common case, and it is the case we cover.
- You separate occasionally. Ten minutes a month runs out; nothing here runs out.
- You do not want another account. No email, no password, no verification link.
- You work offline. Once the model is cached, the tool works with the network off.
Switching
There is nothing to migrate. No account to close, no data to export, no settings to port. Open the vocal remover, drop the file in, download the two stems. If it does not suit you, close the tab — you will not have left anything behind, because there was never anywhere to leave it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Audiofilter really free, or is there a paid tier?
Free, with no paid tier behind it. Processing runs on your device, so there is no server compute for us to bill for. See Pricing.
Is the separation quality as good as LALAL.AI?
For a two-stem vocal/instrumental split on typical material, the results are comparable — both are neural source separation rather than the phase cancellation older tools used. LALAL.AI's advantage is breadth: more stem types, longer files, and processing that does not depend on your hardware. We do not claim to beat it; we claim a different trade.
How do I handle a song longer than five minutes?
Trim the section you need first in any editor and process that. For karaoke practice or sampling that is usually all you wanted. If you need the whole arrangement, use a server-side tool.
Do I have to upload my file to Audiofilter?
No. The model is downloaded to your browser and runs there. Open the network tab before you process a file and you will see nothing being sent.