SoundXtract vs BeatEdit
Both put markers on the beat in Premiere Pro. They part company over what counts as a beat, and over how you pay for it. We make SoundXtract, so judge us on the concessions below rather than on our say-so.
BeatEdit 2.2.006 for Premiere Pro, checked September 2026. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
Side by side
| Capability | BeatEdit 2 | SoundXtract |
|---|---|---|
| Beat markers | Yes | Yes |
| Markers on individual instruments | No | Kicks and toms, snares and cymbals, bass, melody |
| Beat subdivisions | Yes | Yes |
| Place clips on the beat | Premiere's own Automate to Sequence, driven by the markers | From the timeline or the Project panel, in order or shuffled with no back-to-back repeats |
| Cut and re-align clips already on the timeline | No | Snap existing cuts onto the beat, cut on the beat, or switch between stacked angles |
| Stem separation | No | Vocals, bass, melody, drums split in two |
| Audio-reactive video effects | No | Yes |
| How BPM is detected | One classical algorithm, fixed in the plugin you installed | Two classical estimators plus a neural tie-breaker, run in the cloud and upgraded as new models ship |
| Where the analysis runs | On your machine, offline | Our GPU servers, over the internet |
| Tracks you can analyse | Unlimited | Metered: 1 free per month, 10 or 30 on a plan, more as extra credits |
| Host apps | Premiere Pro (After Effects and Audition sold separately) | Premiere Pro (After Effects is in the works) |
| Price | $99.99 once, perpetual | Free tier, or from $9.99 / month |
| Try before paying | Free trial | Free tier, no card |
Buy BeatEdit if
These are real advantages and we are not going to argue them away.
One payment, not a subscription
$99.99 once, and it is yours for good. No monthly bill, no card on file.
No monthly limit
Analyse a hundred tracks a week if the work calls for it. We meter by track, and a heavy month runs out.
It runs on your machine
Analysis is local, so it works on a plane, inside a facility with no outbound network, and on material you would rather not hand to a server. SoundXtract needs a connection.
After Effects and Audition today
Separate purchases, but the same beat workflow across three apps, working now. Ours is a Premiere Pro panel, and After Effects is a plan rather than a feature you can buy today.
Buy SoundXtract if
The beat grid is where we start, not where we stop.
Markers on sounds, not only on the grid
A tempo grid is a metronome. It knows where beats belong and it is right about that, but it cannot tell you where the snare actually lands, where the bass changes note, or where the piano enters. Those are detected per instrument, from the audio.
It edits the timeline, not just the markers
BeatEdit hands you markers and stops there, so assembling against them means whatever Premiere’s own Automate to Sequence can do with project items. SoundXtract places the clips itself, from the Project panel or the timeline, in order or shuffled without back-to-back repeats. It also snaps an edit you already cut onto the beat, rolling each cut instead of starting over, and switches multicam angles on the beat.
The music comes apart
Stem separation runs in the same panel: pull the vocal up under dialogue, drop an instrument, build a bed. No round trip to another app.
Effects that follow an instrument
Point a flash at the kick and a colour shift at the hi-hat, and the keyframes are placed for you. Nothing to sync by hand.
A free tier, not a countdown
Three tracks to start, then one a month, forever, without a card. Enough to run it on real footage before deciding. Every new account also gets an offer for 5 more credits just for a few honest words about the first session.
What you get from either one
Most of the beat-marker workflow is common ground. If this list is all you need, both tools will do it.
- Beat markers as sequence or clip markers
- Beat subdivisions
- Markers to guide a manual edit
- macOS and Windows, Apple Silicon native
The short version
BeatEdit finds the beat and drops markers; turning those into a cut is Premiere's own Automate to Sequence. SoundXtract reaches the edits a marker alone cannot: instrument-level markers, clips assembled and re-trimmed for you, stems to mix with, effects that follow a kick, and detection that keeps improving server-side with nothing to reinstall. If a one-time purchase and markers you place by hand are genuinely all your edit needs, BeatEdit earns its $99.99, and the free tier is there to tell you whether that is you.
Try SoundXtract freeThree tracks to start, then one a month. No card.