Boris FX Plugins: VEGAS Pro, Sapphire, Continuum and Mocha, Sorted by Job

Boris FX plugins are the Sapphire, Continuum and Mocha Pro video effects and tracking tools that run inside VEGAS Pro, Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, DaVinci Resolve and other OFX hosts. Since Boris FX announced on March 30, 2026 that it had bought VEGAS Pro, Sound Forge and ACID Pro, the first decision for a VEGAS editor is the VEGAS edition, because Plus already bundles Mocha Vegas and Ultimate adds Continuum and Mocha Pro. A separate plug-in license pays off mainly for Sapphire, which no edition includes, or when the same effects must open in a second editing host.

The bundle changes the arithmetic. VEGAS Pro Ultimate costs $199.95 a year and includes Continuum and Mocha Pro, while Continuum for OFX and Mocha Pro for OFX cost $325 a year each on their own. The catch is that the bundled copies are licensed for VEGAS only, so I would buy a standalone license only when Resolve, After Effects or Premiere Pro has to open the same effects. This page sorts the family by job, points to the guide that answers each question, and ends with a short decision list. Prices are the US list prices on the Boris FX store on October 20, 2026.

The Boris FX family by job

Boris FX started in 1995 and grew mostly through mergers: Imagineer Systems brought Mocha in 2014, GenArts brought Sapphire and Particle Illusion in 2016, and SilhouetteFX brought Silhouette in 2019, as the Boris FX company history on Wikipedia records. That is why one maker now sells several tools that overlap at the edges. Sorted by the job they do:

Video effects load into VEGAS as OFX plug-ins and audio effects as VST plug-ins, which is why the two halves of the family install and fail differently. What a VST plugin is and how a host loads it covers the audio side in plain terms.

VEGAS Pro 2026 editions: decide here first

Every edition includes the Continuum Title Pack for titles and motion graphics, and VEGAS Pro accepts third-party plug-ins in all three. The higher editions add Boris FX tools in two steps, according to the VEGAS Pro plans and pricing page:

VEGAS Pro and Plus are also sold as perpetual licenses at $219.95 and $299.95 on the Boris FX store page for VEGAS Pro, and the store now lists an Ultimate perpetual license at $499.95, although the launch announcement described Ultimate as a subscription plan. Four conditions matter before paying:

• VEGAS Pro 2026 lists Microsoft Windows 11 in its VEGAS Pro system requirements, so there is no Mac route for any of these bundles.
• The bundled Continuum works only in VEGAS, a Boris FX moderator explained in the Boris FX forum thread on VEGAS Pro 2026 and Continuum; a separate Continuum OFX license is what opens in other OFX hosts.
• One license runs on up to two computers, and the free 15-day trial includes every feature.
• MAGIX customers who own any earlier VEGAS Pro or Sound Forge version can upgrade at one set price until Friday, December 5, 2026, per the Boris FX announcement of the VEGAS Pro, Sound Forge and ACID Pro acquisition.

In ten published same-machine comparisons, VEGAS Pro 2026 rendered a median 21.4% faster than 23; the VEGAS Pro 23 review sets out those numbers and who should upgrade. For the full edition-by-edition list, where OFX and VST3 files go and fixes for plug-ins that do not appear, go to VEGAS Pro plugins by edition, with install steps. If the real question is which program to open for an audio job, Sound Forge vs VEGAS Pro separates the audio editor from the video timeline, and the VEGAS Pro and Sound Forge round-trip workflow shows how audio moves between them.

Sapphire or Continuum for effects

Sapphire is a focused effects and transitions package with more than 270 effects and more than 3,000 presets, per the Sapphire product page. Continuum spreads wider: the Boris FX acquisition announcement describes over 300 effects and thousands of presets, from image restoration and beauty retouching to broadcast transitions, and the Continuum product page shows Title Studio and Particle Illusion inside the same package. In a VEGAS setup the two differ in ways that decide the order of purchase:

• Sapphire is never bundled. The Adobe/OFX license costs $545 a year or $1,865 perpetual and covers After Effects, Premiere Pro and OFX hosts such as VEGAS and Resolve. The Sapphire supported hosts table lists VEGAS Pro 22, 21 and 20 on Windows 10/11, and for VEGAS Pro 22 its NVIDIA support needs drivers that run CUDA 12.0 or above on Ampere-series or newer cards. It does not yet name VEGAS Pro 23 or 2026, so the free Sapphire trial on your own VEGAS version comes before the purchase.
• Continuum is already in Ultimate. A standalone Continuum OFX license costs $325 a year or $1,095 perpetual, and the Continuum 2026.5.3 for OFX release notes list VEGAS Pro 22, 23 and 2026 as supported. Buy it separately only for a second host.

Two guides go deeper. Sapphire plugins for VEGAS Pro covers the license choice, price, setup and the usual fixes. Sapphire vs Continuum: which suite to buy first settles the order of purchase when both are on the list.

Mocha for tracking, roto and object removal

Mocha reaches VEGAS editors in three forms. Mocha Vegas, included with Plus and Ultimate, tracks surfaces and objects, builds masks and roto shapes, stabilizes footage and applies tracked effects. Mocha AE is bundled inside Adobe After Effects. Mocha Pro, included with Ultimate or sold on its own, adds what Boris FX's Mocha AE vs Mocha Pro comparison calls tools beyond the lite versions: the Lens, Insert and Remove modules, camera stabilization, and stereoscopic and 360/VR support. Mocha VEGAS vs Mocha Pro sorts the usual VEGAS tracking jobs into the ones Plus handles and the ones that need Ultimate.

On its own, Mocha Pro for OFX costs $325 a year or $765 perpetual; the multi-host plug-in is $435 a year, and the standalone application plus multi-host plug-ins is $655 a year. The Mocha Pro supported hosts list names VEGAS Pro 22 and 21 on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, and the Mocha Pro product page offers a free 14-day trial through the Boris FX Hub. Every license, renewal and VEGAS option is laid out in the Mocha Pro price guide.

Silhouette, SynthEyes, Particle Illusion, Optics and Title Studio

These five rarely decide a VEGAS purchase, but they explain what the Suite contains and what a bundle name means:

• Silhouette handles rotoscoping, paint and node-based compositing, with 400+ VFX nodes that include Sapphire, Mocha Pro and Particle Illusion. It runs standalone on macOS, Windows and Linux, or as a plugin in After Effects, Premiere Pro, Nuke, Fusion, Resolve and Flame, according to the Silhouette product page. VEGAS is not on that host list, and as a plugin Silhouette loses its Sapphire and Particle Illusion nodes.
• SynthEyes is a standalone 3D camera and object tracker that exports to Blender, Houdini, Lightwave, Nuke and After Effects; the SynthEyes product page offers a free 14-day trial through the Boris FX Hub.
• Particle Illusion Pro generates particle effects as a standalone application and as a plugin in Continuum, and it comes with VEGAS Pro Plus. Its trial, per the Particle Illusion Pro page, never expires but cannot import background layers.
• Optics is a photo plugin with over 187 filters for Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One, Affinity Photo and Apple Photos, or a standalone app, as the Optics product page lists. It arrives with VEGAS Pro Ultimate, but its host list is photo software, not video editors.
• Title Studio is the 3D vector titling tool inside Continuum. The Continuum 2026.5.3 OFX notes record that its standalone version now launches in the VEGAS Pro and Pro Plus bundles. The separate Title Studio page still describes Continuum 2021 purchase options, so treat it as part of Continuum rather than a separate purchase.

Boris FX Suite: when one subscription beats several

The Suite costs $1,495 a year or $219 a month and gives access to every plugin and standalone application Boris FX makes, on any supported host: Continuum, CrumplePop, Mocha Pro, Music Studio, Optics, Samplitude, Sapphire, Sequoia, Silhouette and SynthEyes, plus Particle Illusion Pro, per the Boris FX Suite page. VEGAS Pro, Sound Forge and ACID Pro are not in that list.

• Across several hosts, the Suite wins early. Sapphire multi-host ($985 a year) plus Continuum multi-host ($765 a year) already comes to $1,750, more than the Suite.
• Inside VEGAS only, it does not. VEGAS Pro Ultimate ($199.95) plus a Sapphire Adobe/OFX license ($545) totals $744.95 a year and covers Sapphire, Continuum and Mocha Pro in VEGAS, once the Sapphire trial confirms your VEGAS version.
• Students can get a 12-month Suite license for a $5 fee through the Boris FX student license page. It is for self-learning only, does not permit commercial work and does not renew automatically.

Where audio fits: Sound Forge, ACID, CrumplePop and iZotope

Sound Forge and ACID Pro joined Boris FX's Pro Audio division, which also includes Sequoia, Samplitude, CrumplePop and Music Studio. iZotope is joining Boris FX as well, and the Boris FX welcome note for iZotope says all iZotope products, licenses and subscriptions remain fully active. For a video editor, one price stands out: VEGAS Pro Plus includes Sound Forge as a standalone application and costs $149.95 a year, the same annual price Boris FX listed for Sound Forge alone at launch. Sound Forge Plus was listed at $199.95 a year and ACID Pro at $69.95.

• Boris FX audio software is the companion hub for Sound Forge, CrumplePop, Audio Plugin Union and the Melodyne editions found in Boris FX audio bundles.
• The iZotope hub routes RX repair, Ozone mastering and the rest of the iZotope range.
• Sound Forge plugins by edition answers what each edition bundles and how VST3 and ARA plug-ins load.
• CrumplePop vs iZotope RX decides between one-knob cleanup and a full repair editor.
• Sound Forge price, plans and perpetual licenses compares every way to pay for Sound Forge.
• Sound Forge vs Sound Forge Plus lists what the higher edition adds.
• ACID Pro vs Sound Forge separates loop-based music making from audio editing.
• Sound Forge in Samplitude Suite covers setup when Sound Forge comes with Samplitude.
• Sound Forge owners and versions since 1992 explains how the program reached Boris FX.

Trials, sales and installs

• Trials: VEGAS Pro runs 15 days with every feature; Sapphire is watermarked with a red X and limited to HD; Mocha Pro and SynthEyes run 14 days; the Particle Illusion Pro trial never expires but cannot import background layers. The Sapphire, Mocha Pro and SynthEyes trials install through the Boris FX Hub.
• Sales: Boris FX hasn't announced a 2026 Black Friday discount yet, and each Boris FX Black Friday with a dated source (2016, then every year from 2020 to 2025) took 25% off single products. Boris FX Black Friday: past sales and when to buy has the full record, and the deals and prices hub keeps current list prices, upgrade paths and sale dates in one place.
• Free options: free plugins and trials across the Boris FX family collects the no-cost routes, from the Mocha and Sapphire trials to free iZotope plugins.
• Installs: how to install Sound Forge 2026 through Boris FX walks through the Hub, and Sound Forge installation failed covers Hub and setup errors.

How to choose

1. Edit only in VEGAS? Choose the edition first: Plus for tracking, dialogue cleanup and Sound Forge; Ultimate if you would otherwise buy Continuum or Mocha Pro.
2. Want Sapphire's looks? Add the Sapphire Adobe/OFX license, after running the trial on your exact VEGAS version.
3. Need the same effects in a second host? Buy the standalone OFX or multi-host license; bundled copies stay inside VEGAS.
4. Using two or more full products across hosts? Price the Suite, because two multi-host licenses already cost more.
5. Mostly audio? Compare Sound Forge alone with VEGAS Pro Plus at the same yearly price, then continue in the audio hub.

My default for a VEGAS editor who also fixes dialogue is VEGAS Pro Plus, since it pairs Mocha Vegas and CrumplePop with standalone Sound Forge for the yearly price of Sound Forge alone. For anyone who reaches for Continuum every week inside VEGAS, Ultimate costs less than a Continuum OFX license by itself, and Sapphire is the one add-on worth budgeting for next.

All guides in this hub