The right karaoke software for your PC depends on what you want to do with it. For a karaoke night with friends, KaraFun has apps for Windows and Mac: the lyrics go on a second screen or a projector, and guests queue songs from their own phones. To learn to sing, Yousician says it runs on iOS, Android, Mac and PC with no extra microphone. For karaoke files you already own, Karaoke5 Lite and Kanto Karaoke play MP3, MIDI, KAR and CDG, and both have free versions. Completely free, UltraStar Deluxe and Performous are free, open-source karaoke games. Smule and StarMaker, on the other hand, are built for phones. And the quickest route installs nothing: YouTube karaoke videos are free in a browser, and our Karaoke Maker works on a PC too.
Key takeaways
- Smule and StarMaker are phone apps: StarMaker's site only links to the App Store and Google Play, and Smule's site has no Windows version.
- KaraFun for Windows needs at least 64-bit Windows 10, 4 GB of RAM and DirectX 12.
- Karaoke5 Lite is Karaoke5's free standard edition; Kanto Karaoke's free version limits the playlist to 5 songs and recording to 1 minute.
- UltraStar Deluxe and Performous are free, but you add the songs yourself.
- A laptop microphone is enough, but listen to the music on headphones: from the speakers, the microphone picks it up and mixes it into your voice.
How we picked
We read each program's own website: what computers it runs on, what it does and what it needs. We didn't sing with all of them, so the table compares features, not sound. iPhone-app prices are the in-app purchases on the US App Store on 30 October 2026; if you subscribe on the website from your PC, the price there can be lower.
| Program | Best for | Runs on | Free | Paid (US) | Key change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KaraFun | Karaoke at home, on a TV or projector | Windows, Mac, web, phones, TV | Free download, mostly 30-second previews | Premium $9.99 a month on the website ($11.99 in the iPhone app) | Yes |
| Yousician | Learning to sing | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android | Free Premium+ trial | Premium+ $29.99 a month; yearly $159.99 or $179.99 | – |
| Karaoke5 | Your own collection and YouTube | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android | Karaoke5 Lite | Home and Pro are paid | Yes |
| Kanto Karaoke | Karaoke files you own (MP3, MIDI, KAR, CDG) | Windows, Mac, Android | Yes, limited | Paid editions on its site | Not listed |
| UltraStar Deluxe | A free karaoke game with scoring | Windows, Mac, Linux | Free, open source | Free | Not listed |
| Performous | Karaoke, band and dance games | Windows, Mac, Linux | Free, open source | Free | Not listed |
| YouTube | Quick and free | Browser | Free, with ads | Free | No |
| Tera Studio Karaoke Maker (ours) | Any song you have as a file | Browser: Windows, Mac, phone | 3 songs a day with a free account | Downloads with a plan | Yes |
- KaraFun: one click on Dual Display opens a second karaoke window that you drag onto an external screen or projector. Guests connect with their phones, browse the songs and add them to the queue. You change the key and tempo of any song and turn the lead and backing vocals on or off. Popular songs sync so you can sing without internet. It has 4.8 stars from 25,127 ratings on the US App Store.
- Yousician: its site says you need no microphone or extra gear; the app listens through your computer's microphone. Singing courses sit in the same app as guitar, piano, bass and ukulele. The US App Store shows two prices for the yearly plan, so check the plan before you pay.
- Karaoke5: karaoke software for Windows and Mac that also has iOS and Android apps. The standard edition, Karaoke5 Lite, is free; Home and Pro are paid. It searches both your own song collection and YouTube, and changes the key.
- Kanto Karaoke: a karaoke player for Windows and Mac that plays MP3, MIDI, KAR, KFN, MP3+CDG and karaoke videos, and records your voice over the music. The free version limits the playlist to 5 songs, recording and MIDI-to-MP3 conversion to 1 minute, and has no second screen. The Standard edition for home use is a 3-year licence for 1 computer.
- UltraStar Deluxe: a free SingStar-style karaoke game. In party mode up to 12 people sing and score points for pitch and rhythm; SingStar microphones work. You add the songs yourself: your own music files and songs the community shares. The latest version, 2026.10.0, came out on 17 October 2026.
- Performous: karaoke, a band game and dancing in one program. Its site says you sing into a laptop microphone and plug in SingStar microphones, Guitar Hero and Rock Band instruments and dance mats over USB. It offers free song packs, each under its own licence.
Your own songs on a PC
If the song you want to sing isn't in any catalog but you have the file, our Karaoke Maker takes the singer's voice out of it. You then move the key until it's comfortable and sing over the music into your microphone, in your PC's browser with nothing to install. We timed it: in October 2026, on real songs, a 3 minute 45 second track was ready 132 seconds after upload, and a 3 minute 20 second track 141 seconds after. So "about 2 minutes" is the real wait. A free account gets 3 songs a day, each up to 10 minutes; listening is free and downloads need a plan. If you only want the music, see the best vocal removers.
The key matters more than you'd think. Tera Studio data, read 29 October 2026: of 301 people who made a song in their own voice on Tera Studio in English, 247 (82.1%) chose a song where the original singer sits higher than their own voice, and for 101 (33.6%) the song had to come down a whole octave to fit. The original singer was typically 5.2 semitones above them. The sample is people who made a song on Tera Studio, not a random survey. If a chorus is too high, the Key Changer moves it down by up to 6 semitones without changing the tempo, and the free Vocal Range Test tells you how far.
Frequently asked questions
Is there free karaoke software for PC? Yes. UltraStar Deluxe and Performous are free and open source, and run on Windows, Mac and Linux. Karaoke5 Lite is the free edition of Karaoke5, and Kanto Karaoke has a free version with a 5-song playlist. In a browser, YouTube karaoke videos are free, and our Karaoke Maker is free with a free account, 3 songs a day.
Do I need a special microphone to sing karaoke on a PC? No. Yousician and Performous both say a laptop microphone works, and UltraStar Deluxe and Performous also take SingStar microphones. Use headphones for the music, so the microphone hears only you.
Can I get a score for karaoke on a PC? Yes. UltraStar Deluxe scores pitch and rhythm the way SingStar did, for up to 12 singers in party mode. KaraFun also has a Battle mode where you collect points.
Is the karaoke app on my phone better than PC software? For singing with people online, yes: Smule and StarMaker are built for phones. We compare them, along with KaraFun's TV apps, in best karaoke apps.
Can I hear a song in my own voice before I sing it? Yes. Tera Studio learns your voice from about a minute of singing (2 minutes sounds more like you) and sings the whole song in your voice, with the original's notes and delivery. See karaoke in your own voice.
Hear any song in your own voice. Your first 2 songs are free to make and hear.