> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://soundforgepro.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Best iZotope Plugins for Vocals: Which Tool and Edition to Buy - URL: https://soundforgepro.com/best-izotope-plugins-for-vocals/ - Published: 2026-10-21T02:35:38.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T01:07:28.000Z - Description: RX 12 Standard to repair the take and Nectar 4 Standard to shape it, plus Velvet, VocalSynth 2, Neoverb and the free Vocal Doubler. Which edition holds each vocal tool, what reviewers scored them and when the Pro plan beats buying. - Author: Erick Finn - Tags: iZotope, Voice Recording **For most singers, the best iZotope plugins for vocals are a pair: RX 12 Standard ($399) to repair the recording and Nectar 4 Standard ($199) to shape the tone and run the chain, at US iZotope store prices on October 21, 2026\. Add Velvet ($49) if sibilance and mouth clicks are the main problem, VocalSynth 2 ($199) only for synthetic voice effects, and the free Vocal Doubler for width.** The edition matters more than the brand. The vocal repair modules, Mouth De-click, De-ess, Breath Control and De-plosive, are not in RX 12 Elements, and Nectar's EQ, compressor and de-esser are not in Nectar 4 Elements. I would start from the damage, not from the effect. If your takes have clicks, popped P's, loud breaths or noise under the voice, the edition that matters is RX 12 Standard, because no EQ setting removes a lip smack. If the recording is clean, Nectar 4 Standard is the better first purchase: its Vocal Assistant gets you to a starting point, and its modules cover EQ, compression, de-essing and reverb in one window. Creative tools come last, after the vocal already sounds right. The rest of the catalog, from mastering to metering, is mapped by job on the [iZotope hub](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope/). ## Quick picks: one iZotope plugin per vocal job Each row names the tool for that job and the edition that contains the feature. Prices are the US iZotope store prices on October 21, 2026, with no sale shown that day. They change often, so check before you pay. | Job | Plugin | Edition you need | US store price (Oct 21, 2026) | Review verdict | | ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Repair: pops, clicks, breaths, noise | RX 12 | Standard | $399 | MusicTech 7/10; both RX 12 reviews point to Standard | | Sibilance and mouth clicks | Velvet | No tiers | $49 | Sound On Sound: "very effective" on spoken and sung vocals | | Tone and the full chain | Nectar 4 | Standard; Advanced for Auto-Level and component plug-ins | $199 (Advanced $299) | MusicTech 9/10; Sound On Sound lists no cons | | Synthetic and robotic voices | VocalSynth 2 | No tiers | $199 | MusicRadar 4.5/5 (2018 review) | | Doubling and width | Vocal Doubler | Free | $0 | No published score; free to try on your own vocal | | Space | Neoverb (Aurora as the cheaper option) | No tiers | $99 (Aurora $49) | Sound On Sound: "no obvious cons"; MusicTech MT Choice award | | Podcast and voice-over | VEA; RX 12 Standard for heavy noise | No tiers / Standard | $29 / $399 | No published VEA score; Dialogue Isolate top pick in 2 of 15 dialogue scenarios | Two things the table hides. Velvet and Neoverb are only in the Pro subscription, not Plus, and VEA is in neither plan. The [buy-or-subscribe section](#buy-or-subscribe) does the arithmetic. ## Repair first: RX 12 Standard is the vocal edition RX 12 Standard is the edition I would buy for vocals, because every vocal-specific repair plug-in starts there. [iZotope's RX 12 edition overview](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/rx-overview.html) puts Mouth De-click, De-ess, Breath Control, De-plosive, Dialogue Isolate and Spectral De-noise in Standard and Advanced only. RX 12 Elements ($99) is six plug-ins, De-click, De-clip, De-hum, De-reverb, Repair Assistant and Voice De-noise, with no RX Audio Editor. That is enough for quick fixes on speech, but it has no module built for lip smacks, breaths or plosives. The [full RX 12 edition comparison](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-elements-vs-standard-vs-advanced/) shows exactly where each module starts. ![Lookup chart of seven vocal problems and the RX 12 module for each: plosive pops to De-plosive, lip smacks and clicks to Mouth De-click, harsh S sounds to De-ess, loud breaths to Breath Control, noise under singing to Spectral De-noise, noise under speech to Dialogue Isolate, all tagged Standard and up, and live voice noise to Voice De-noise, tagged Elements and up](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/4b/af4b05d4-2e0b-4edc-8378-1e2a62fecc70/content/images/2026/10/rx-vocal-repair-map.webp) Only Voice De-noise is in RX 12 Elements; the vocal-specific repair modules start at Standard. Each module maps to one problem: - **Popped P's and B's:** [De-plosive looks for plosives between 20 and 80 Hz](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/de-plosive.html), and iZotope says to run it before any high-pass filter. Put it first. - **Lip smacks and clicks:** [Mouth De-click detects clicks and lip smacks](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/mouth-de-click.html), and the manual notes that a second pass can catch the quieter ones. - **Loud breaths:** [Breath Control uses machine learning](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/breath-control.html) to find and lower breaths in dialogue or sung vocals, and detection works better on selections of at least 3 seconds. It automates what [editing breaths by hand in Sound Forge](https://soundforgepro.com/edit-breaths-sound-forge/) does one breath at a time. - **Noise under singing:** Spectral De-noise. The [RX manual's Dialogue Isolate page](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/dialogue-isolate.html) says that module is designed for spoken dialogue and points singing voice to Spectral De-noise instead. - **Noise while you track:** [Voice De-noise is zero-latency](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/voice-de-noise.html), while Spectral De-noise uses more resources and adds latency. Voice De-noise is also the one voice-noise tool in Elements. RX 12 Advanced ($1,399) adds a high-quality offline mode and multi-band processing to Dialogue Isolate. That is post-production work, and I would not pay the extra $1,000 to fix vocals. RX is the repair layer of the chain, and the [RX hub](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx/) collects every module guide. RX 12 plug-ins come as AU on Mac, AAX, AAX AudioSuite, VST3, AU ARA on Mac and VST3 ARA, all 64-bit. Pulling a vocal out of a finished song is a different job: that is Music Rebalance, not Dialogue Isolate. There is no free RX edition; Elements is the cheapest way in, and the subscription trial is covered further down. If you edit in Sound Forge, the [Sound Forge Pro vs iZotope RX comparison](https://soundforgepro.com/sound-forge-pro-vs-izotope-rx/) explains when you need both. ## Sibilance and mouth noise: Velvet, RX De-ess or Nectar For sibilance on its own, I would buy Velvet. At $49 it costs about half as much as RX 12 Elements, and [iZotope's Velvet page](https://www.izotope.com/products/velvet) describes split Sibilance and Tonal channels plus a De-Click section for mouth noises and clicks, with 50 presets. [Sound On Sound's Velvet review](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-velvet) found it very effective on both spoken and sung vocals and summed it up as "a very effective sibilance, tonal balancing and de-clicking plug-in at a very cost-effective price". Velvet 1.0.0 arrived on May 6, 2025. Two limits. Velvet is AAX, AU and VST3 only, with no VST2\. And the Sound On Sound reviewer saw around 100 ms of latency on his Cubase system, which made it better for mixing than for tracking. That is one host reading with no buffer size stated, but it is still enough to keep Velvet off a live monitoring chain. RX De-ess is the surgical option. The [RX De-ess manual](https://docs.izotope.com/rx12/en/de-ess.html) lists S, F, X, SH and soft C sounds as targets, and its Spectral mode works as a multiband compressor with dozens of bands. It is in RX 12 Standard and Advanced, so if you already own Standard you do not need Velvet for de-essing. Nectar 4 Standard and Advanced also have a De-esser module inside the chain. Without any iZotope de-esser, you can still [reduce sibilance in Sound Forge](https://soundforgepro.com/reduce-sibilance-sound-forge/) with its own tools. For clicks, Mouth De-click in RX Standard is the dedicated tool and Velvet's De-Click section is the budget route. The [guide to removing mouth clicks from audio](https://soundforgepro.com/remove-mouth-clicks-from-audio/) covers the clicks that slip through both. As for "iZotope settings for vocals": there is no single correct preset. Velvet's presets and Nectar's Vocal Assistant give you a starting point, and you adjust from there by ear. ## Nectar 4: which edition for tone and the full chain Standard is the Nectar I would buy. [iZotope's Nectar 4 edition comparison](https://www.izotope.com/products/nectar-advanced) puts the De-esser, Compressor, EQ, Gate, Reverb and Saturation modules in Standard and Advanced, not Elements. Standard also bundles Melodyne 5 essential for pitch correction. Elements ($55) gives you the Vocal Assistant, Backer's eight personas and the auto-harmony styles, but none of those six modules. I would buy Elements only as a cheap way into Backer and Voices. The module-by-module split is in the [Nectar 4 Elements vs Standard vs Advanced](https://soundforgepro.com/nectar-4-elements-vs-standard-vs-advanced/) comparison. | Feature | Nectar 4 Elements | Nectar 4 Standard | Nectar 4 Advanced | | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ----------------- | | US store price, Oct 21, 2026 | $55 | $199 | $299 | | Vocal Assistant (referencing, intent controls, target library) | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Backer and Voices | 8 Backer personas, 11 auto-harmony styles | Adds custom style editing and custom Backer uploads | Same as Standard | | De-esser, Compressor, EQ, Gate, Reverb, Saturation | No | Yes | Yes | | Melodyne 5 essential | No | Yes | Yes | | Auto-Level (ALM) | No | No | Yes | | 13 component plug-ins, including Breath Control | No | No | Yes | ![Three ascending blocks: Nectar 4 Elements with Vocal Assistant, 8 Backer personas and 11 Voices styles; Nectar 4 Standard adding De-esser, Compressor, EQ, Gate, Reverb, Saturation and Melodyne 5 essential; Nectar 4 Advanced adding Auto-Level, the Breath Control plug-in and 13 component plug-ins](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/4b/af4b05d4-2e0b-4edc-8378-1e2a62fecc70/content/images/2026/10/nectar-4-edition-ladder.webp) Each Nectar 4 edition keeps everything below it. Standard is where the vocal chain modules start. Advanced ($299) earns its extra $100 with two things. Auto-Level (ALM) sits at the start of the chain, and iZotope pitches it as a transparent alternative to a compressor for evening out vocal levels. The 13 component plug-ins let you load Nectar's modules as separate inserts in your DAW, and one of them is a Breath Control plug-in that Standard does not have. If you already own RX 12 Standard, you have RX Breath Control there, which removes one reason to step up. If you know you want Advanced, buy it outright: Standard plus the $149 upgrade comes to $348, which is $49 more than Advanced. Voices builds harmony parts from your lead vocal. Backer re-sings the same line, in unison or an octave up or down, with a different voice, so one singer can sound like a small group. iZotope says Backer was trained only on English-language singing, so check it on other languages before you rely on it. Reviewers split on the result: [Sound On Sound's Nectar 4 Advanced review](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-nectar-4-advanced) found it "very convincing indeed", while [MusicTech's Nectar 4 review](https://musictech.com/reviews/plug-ins/izotope-nectar-4-brings-valuable-updates-alongside-some-unexpected-creative-tools/) listed Backer sounding quite artificial as a con. Keep it low in the mix. MusicTech also found the new Assistant more natural than Nectar 3's and gave Nectar 4 a 9/10, but it flagged Nectar 4 as CPU-hungry with several modules running. On a laptop, that matters while you track. Nectar 4 runs as AU, AAX and VST3, 64-bit only, with no VST2\. Standard and Advanced include Melodyne 5 essential; whether you need a higher Melodyne tier is covered in [Melodyne essential vs assistant](https://soundforgepro.com/melodyne-essential-vs-assistant/). ## Creative voices: VocalSynth 2, Vocal Doubler and Trash VocalSynth 2 ($199) is the iZotope tool for voices that should sound like instruments. [iZotope's VocalSynth 2 page](https://www.izotope.com/products/vocalsynth) lists five engines, Biovox, Vocoder, Talkbox, Polyvox and Compuvox, plus stompbox-style effects, in AAX, AU, VST2 and VST3\. The current release is [version 2.7.0 from May 6, 2025](https://www.izotope.com/pages/release-notes/vocalsynth). [MusicRadar rated it 4.5 out of 5](https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/izotope-vocalsynth-2) in 2018 but noted the onboard synth engine is still limited. [Sound On Sound called it a major improvement](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-vocalsynth-2) whose results always have an electronic, synthetic quality. Both reviews cover the 2018 launch version. Searching for "VocalSynth 2 Pro"? The US store sells one VocalSynth 2 product at $199, with no separate Pro edition. The iZotope Pro subscription includes it, and so does Plus. For width, start with the free [Vocal Doubler](https://www.izotope.com/products/vocal-doubler), a natural doubling effect in AU, AAX, VST2 and VST3\. [Version 1.4.0 from June 9, 2025](https://www.izotope.com/pages/release-notes/vocal-doubler) needs at least macOS Ventura. It costs nothing, so try it before you pay for a doubling or harmony tool. Vocal Doubler is one of iZotope's free plug-ins, and the [free iZotope plugins list](https://soundforgepro.com/free-izotope-plugins/) covers the rest. Trash ($99) is the distortion pick, with over 600 distortion types and impulse responses. It is also the lowest-rated tool in this guide: [MusicRadar gave it 3.2 out of 5](https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/izotope-trash-review) in 2024, calling it decent but disappointing next to the competition and Trash 2\. Both subscription plans include Trash, and that is how I would get it. ## Nectar vs VocalSynth: two different jobs Nectar and VocalSynth do not compete. Nectar polishes a natural vocal: level, tone, de-essing and space. VocalSynth turns a vocal into an instrument, and Sound On Sound's point that its results always sound electronic is the reason it is not a first tool for natural vocals. If you sing pop, folk or spoken word, buy Nectar. If you produce electronic music and want vocoder or talkbox parts, buy VocalSynth. | Question | Nectar 4 Standard | VocalSynth 2 | | ---------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | | Main job | Natural vocal chain | Synthetic and robotic voices | | US store price, Oct 21, 2026 | $199 | $199 | | Formats | AU, AAX, VST3 | AAX, AU, VST2, VST3 | | Published score | MusicTech 9/10 (2023) | MusicRadar 4.5/5 (2018) | | In the subscriptions | Plus has Standard; Pro has Advanced | Plus and Pro | A Plus subscriber gets both, which is the cheapest way to have Nectar and VocalSynth side by side. ## Space: Neoverb or Aurora Neoverb ($99) is my reverb pick for vocals. [iZotope builds Neoverb on Exponential Audio reverb engines](https://www.izotope.com/products/neoverb), with a real-time Reverb Assistant and an AI-assisted EQ meant to keep the reverb from masking the vocal. It comes as AU, AAX, VST3 and VST2, and the current release is [1.4.0 from March 19, 2025](https://www.izotope.com/pages/release-notes/neoverb). [Sound On Sound's Neoverb review](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-neoverb) found "no obvious cons" and convincing, time-saving results. [MusicTech gave it an MT Choice award](https://musictech.com/reviews/plug-ins/izotope-neoverb/) and said the presets get you "95 per cent of the way there". Both reviews date from the 2020 and 2021 launch period. Aurora ($49) is the cheaper option. [iZotope's vocal processing collection](https://www.izotope.com/collections/vocal-processing) describes it as reverb that reacts to your audio to unmask instruments and vocals, so the space does not drown the track. No independent review of Aurora is in my source set, so I would pick Neoverb when the reverb carries the sound and use Aurora when a plan already includes it. Both plans include Aurora; Neoverb is Pro only. ## Podcast and voice-over: VEA, Nectar Elements or RX For a podcast voice recorded in a decent room, VEA ($29) is the cheapest fix. [iZotope aims VEA at podcasters and content creators](https://www.izotope.com/products/vea): it adds clarity, sets more consistent levels and reduces background noise. It comes as AU, AAX and VST3, and version 1.1.0 came out on September 24, 2025\. VEA is not in either subscription's included-tools table, so treat it as a separate purchase. Nectar 4 Elements ($55) is the next step if you want the Vocal Assistant's referencing on your voice. For noisy speech, RX 12 Standard's Dialogue Isolate is the strongest tool in this guide, with limits worth knowing. [MusicTech's RX 12 review](https://musictech.com/reviews/plug-ins/izotope-rx-12-review/) says it now delivers markedly higher quality than before. In four published dialogue-cleanup comparisons it was the top pick in 2 of 15 scenarios, including the steady-background-noise test in [ProVideo Coalition's RX 12 shootout](https://www.provideocoalition.com/izotope-rx-12-shootout/), where the author found RX truer to the original voice. Where it wins, the praise is for keeping the voice natural. The [Dialogue Isolate guide](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-dialogue-isolate/) walks through its settings. The full voice-over workflow, from recording to delivery, is in the [Sound Forge voice-over guide](https://soundforgepro.com/sound-forge-pro-for-voice-over-recording/). ## An iZotope vocal chain, in order The chain runs in this order. Two parts come from iZotope's own documentation: De-plosive before any high-pass filter, and Auto-Level at the start of the Nectar stage. The rest is my recommendation. 1. **RX repair:** De-plosive, then Mouth De-click and Breath Control. Fix the damage before anything adds gain to it. 2. **Nectar 4:** Auto-Level first if you have Advanced, then EQ and compression. 3. **De-ess:** Velvet or Nectar's De-esser, after compression, which tends to bring sibilance forward. 4. **Creative inserts:** VocalSynth 2 for effect parts, or Vocal Doubler for width. 5. **Space:** Neoverb on a send, not an insert. ![Five-step signal flow from left to right: 1 RX 12 with De-plosive, Mouth De-click and Breath Control; 2 Nectar 4 with Auto-Level, EQ and Compressor; 3 De-ess with Velvet or the Nectar De-esser; 4 Creative with VocalSynth 2 and Vocal Doubler; then a dashed arrow to 5 Send with Neoverb](https://storage.ghost.io/c/af/4b/af4b05d4-2e0b-4edc-8378-1e2a62fecc70/content/images/2026/10/vocal-chain-order.webp) Fix damage before you shape tone; reverb goes on a send so the dry vocal stays clear. Spectral De-noise and Velvet both add latency, so leave them for the mix. While you record, Voice De-noise is the zero-latency option for cleaning the monitor signal. In Sound Forge, this order can be saved once in the [Plug-in Chainer](https://soundforgepro.com/how-to-use-plug-in-chainer-sound-forge-pro/) and reused on every take. ## Test results: what published reviews and comparisons show Fourteen published reviews and comparisons from five publications back the picks above. Nectar 4, Neoverb, Velvet and VocalSynth 2 come out well, Trash comes out weakest, and RX 12 Standard is the edition reviewers point to for repair. The four numeric scores use two scales and cover four different products, so I report them as published and do not calculate a median. | Product | Review | Date | Version reviewed | Score or verdict | | -------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------- | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Nectar 4 | MusicTech, Alex Holmes | Oct 27, 2023 | Advanced, launch version | [9/10](https://musictech.com/reviews/plug-ins/izotope-nectar-4-brings-valuable-updates-alongside-some-unexpected-creative-tools/) | | Nectar 4 | Sound On Sound, John Walden | April 2024 | Advanced | No score; [cons listed as "None"](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-nectar-4-advanced) | | VocalSynth 2 | MusicRadar | Aug 4, 2018 | 2.0 (now 2.7.0) | [4.5/5](https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/izotope-vocalsynth-2) | | VocalSynth 2 | Sound On Sound, Paul White | October 2018 | 2.0 | No score; ["a major improvement"](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-vocalsynth-2) | | Neoverb | MusicTech, Robbie Stamp | Nov 16, 2020 | 1.0 (now 1.4.0) | [MT Choice award](https://musictech.com/reviews/plug-ins/izotope-neoverb/), no score | | Neoverb | Sound On Sound, Paul White | February 2021 | 1.0 era | No score; ["No obvious cons"](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-neoverb) | | Velvet | Sound On Sound, John Walden | August 2025 | 1.0 | No score; ["very effective"](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-velvet) | | Trash | MusicRadar, Si Truss | Aug 1, 2024 | 2024 release | [3.2/5](https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/izotope-trash-review) | | RX 12 | MusicTech, Adam Crute | Apr 29, 2026 | RX 12, all editions | [7/10](https://musictech.com/reviews/plug-ins/izotope-rx-12-review/) | | RX 12 Advanced | Sound On Sound, Hugh Robjohns | July 2026 | RX 12 Advanced | No score; [Standard "does retain the Dialogue Isolate tool"](https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/izotope-rx12-advanced) | Across these ten reviews and four dialogue comparisons, the findings line up like this: - **Assistants save time: 4 of 4.** Every review that judged an assistant, Nectar's Vocal Assistant in two and Neoverb's Reverb Assistant and presets in two, said it reaches a usable starting point quickly. - **Nectar 4 scores high: 2 of 2.** MusicTech gave 9/10 and Sound On Sound listed no cons. - **Backer splits reviewers: 1 positive, 1 negative.** Sound On Sound found Backer convincing; MusicTech found it artificial. - **A performance cost shows up in 2 of 10 product reviews.** MusicTech found Nectar 4 CPU-hungry with several modules, and Sound On Sound saw around 100 ms of Velvet latency in Cubase. - **Both RX 12 reviews point to Standard: 2 of 2.** MusicTech flagged the large premium for Advanced; Sound On Sound called Elements a very small subset of relatively basic tools. - **Dialogue Isolate was the top pick in 2 of 15 dialogue scenarios.** It won 0 of 4 in [Production Expert's 2024 blind listening test](https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/results-dialogue-restoration-listening-test-noise-reduction), 0 of 4 in [Production Expert's 2025 shootout](https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/dialogue-noise-reduction-shootout-2025-the-results), 1 of 4 in [ProVideo Coalition's RX 11 shootout](https://www.provideocoalition.com/izotope-rx-11-shootout/) and 1 of 3 in its RX 12 shootout. Only the last one used RX 12, and all four used spoken dialogue, not singing. MusicTech's 7/10 lines up with the edition advice in the [RX 12 review on this site](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-rx-12-review/): Standard is the value edition. Dates matter too. The VocalSynth 2 and Neoverb reviews cover launch versions from 2018 and 2020 to 2021, while iZotope now lists VocalSynth 2.7.0 and Neoverb 1.4.0\. Trash at 3.2/5 is the only tool here not worth buying on its own. ## Buy or subscribe: Plus vs Pro for vocal work For vocals, Pro is the plan that matches this guide, and Plus has one gap. Here is what [iZotope's subscriptions page](https://www.izotope.com/pages/subscriptions) listed on October 21, 2026: | Included | iZotope Plus | iZotope Pro | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | | Price | $15 a month or $150 a year | $25 a month or $250 a year | | Nectar 4 | Standard | Advanced | | RX 12 | Elements | Standard | | Velvet and Neoverb | No | Yes | | VocalSynth 2, Vocal Doubler, Trash, Aurora, Melodyne 5 essential | Yes | Yes | | VEA | Not listed | Not listed | The gap in Plus is RX 12 Elements, which has none of the vocal repair modules. Pro pairs Nectar 4 Advanced with RX 12 Standard and adds Velvet and Neoverb. Here is the arithmetic at October 21 list prices. Buying Pro's two core vocal tools outright, Nectar 4 Advanced ($299) and RX 12 Standard ($399), costs $698\. Add Velvet ($49) and Neoverb ($99) and it is $846\. Pro costs $250 a year, so $698 equals about 2.8 years of Pro and $846 about 3.4 years. My core pair, Nectar 4 Standard and RX 12 Standard, costs $598 to buy. Prices and plan contents change, so redo the sums on the day you buy. Three terms decide the rest. Both plans start with a 7-day free trial, which is also a free way to try Nectar. If you cancel, the included tools go read-only after the expiration date, and iZotope recommends bouncing your tracks to audio first. The plans are serviced through Native Instruments and need a Native Access check-in once a month. Upgrade paths from older Nectar and RX versions are in the [iZotope price and upgrade guide](https://soundforgepro.com/izotope-price-upgrade-guide/), and sale prices, when iZotope runs them, are tracked on the [deals page](https://soundforgepro.com/deals/). ## My verdict If you record your own vocals, buy RX 12 Standard and Nectar 4 Standard, $598 together at October 21 prices. RX fixes what the microphone caught; Nectar builds the sound. If you also want Velvet and Neoverb, the Pro plan covers all four, with Nectar upgraded to Advanced, and on list prices alone, three years of Pro ($750) still costs less than buying all four ($846). On a tight budget, Velvet ($49) is the best value here: sibilance, tone and clicks in one plug-in. Buy VocalSynth 2 only for effect work, take the free Vocal Doubler regardless, and skip Trash unless a plan already includes it. ## FAQ ### Is Neutron 5 good for vocals? Neutron 5 appears in [iZotope's vocal processing collection](https://www.izotope.com/collections/vocal-processing), but iZotope describes it as a suite of 10 mixing tools, not a vocal-specific plug-in. For a vocal chain, Nectar 4 is the more direct buy. ### Can I use Ozone for vocals? Ozone 12 Advanced is a 20-tool mastering suite, and [iZotope's catalogue](https://www.izotope.com/collections/all) does not place Ozone in its vocal collection. Use it on the finished mix, not as a vocal chain. ### Is there a free version of Nectar? No. [iZotope's free plug-ins page](https://www.izotope.com/pages/free-audio-plug-ins) lists Vocal Doubler, Vinyl, Ozone Imager, Trash Lite and Ozone EQ, and no Nectar. The 7-day subscription trial is a free way to try Nectar 4. ### Do iZotope vocal plugins work on a Mac? Yes. iZotope lists macOS Sonoma 14.7, Sequoia 15.7 and Tahoe 26.6 for Nectar 4, on Intel and Apple silicon, as AU. VocalSynth 2, Velvet, Neoverb and Vocal Doubler all come as AU, and RX 12 adds AU ARA on Mac. Vocal Doubler 1.4.0 needs at least macOS Ventura.