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Plugin formats: VST, AU, AAX and CLAP

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A plugin does not run on its own but inside a host. Which format it must have is decided by the DAW — not by the plugin and not by the operating system. That is the whole of it, and it is rarely put that briefly.

The short answer

  • Pro Tools loads AAX only.
  • Logic Pro and GarageBand load Audio Units only.
  • Nearly every other program loads VST3, on macOS usually Audio Units as well.

So when buying a plugin you check a single line: is the format my DAW loads among them?

What actually appears in this catalogue

Measured across every entry (as of September 2026):

  • Audio Unit — 941 tools
  • VST3 — 866
  • AAX — 777
  • VST (mostly VST2) — 529, plus 318 explicitly marked VST2
  • CLAP — 100
  • LV2 — 54, AUv3 — 53, ARA — 12

The order surprises at first: Audio Unit leads although it runs on macOS only. The reason is that a maker who builds for macOS at all almost always ships the format — it costs little, and without it Logic Pro users drop out as customers.

VST2 and VST3

VST3 adds side-chain inputs, switches processing off during silence and manages parameters in an orderly way. In practice something else matters more: Steinberg has issued no VST2 licences since 2018. New plugins ship as VST3; many hosts still load existing VST2 plugins, but the road runs one way.

CLAP — the open format

CLAP was presented in 2022 by u-he and Bitwig and is MIT-licensed: it belongs to no company, unlike VST3 (Steinberg) and Audio Unit (Apple). Technically it can modulate parameters per note and makes better use of multiple CPU cores.

As of September 2026 around 15 hosts support it across roughly 400 plugins: Bitwig Studio first, REAPER since version 7, FL Studio since 2024, Studio One partially, Cubase announced. Ableton Live, Logic Pro and Pro Tools do not support it so far.

For a buying decision that means CLAP is an addition, not a replacement. Those who can use it gain something; those who cannot lose nothing, because the same makers keep shipping VST3 and AU.

Two special cases

AUv3 is the only way to run a plugin on iOS or iPadOS. Each one runs in its own process there — a crash does not take the DAW down with it.

ARA is not a format but an extension: it gives the plugin access to the whole audio file instead of only the block currently playing. Melodyne and similar tools need it, and the DAW has to support it.

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