Spleeter vs Ultimate Vocal Remover
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
Python library and command-line tool that splits music into vocals, drums, bass and other tracks.
Open source · MIT
Desktop app that splits songs into vocals and instrumentals using deep neural networks.
The short answer
Choose Spleeter if you need…
- Musicians or producers who want quick vocal or accompaniment separation from a song
- Developers adding stem separation to an audio pipeline in Python
- Researchers who want a baseline model or want to train their own separation models from isolated sources
- Users comfortable installing Python packages and using a terminal
Choose Ultimate Vocal Remover if you need…
- Musicians who want karaoke or practice backing tracks from existing songs
- Hobbyists who want to isolate vocals or instruments without using the command line
- Windows, macOS, or Linux users who prefer a point-and-click program
Side-by-side
| Spleeter | Ultimate Vocal Remover | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Library | App |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 28.5k | 26.9k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Beginner |
| How you get it | Install with a package manager | Download the app |
| Main language | Python | Python |
| Last code update | 8 days ago | 30 days ago |
What each one is
Spleeter
Spleeter is an open-source Python library from Deezer that separates a song into separate stems, such as vocals and accompaniment, using pretrained TensorFlow models. You can run it from the command line or call it from your own Python code. People use it to make karaoke tracks, isolate parts of a recording, or build audio tools on top of it.
Ultimate Vocal Remover
Ultimate Vocal Remover is a graphical app that uses trained source separation models to take a song and remove the vocals, leaving an instrumental track, or split out the vocals on their own. People use it to make karaoke tracks, practice with backing music, or isolate parts of a recording. The README says the core developers trained the bundled models, except the Demucs v3 and v4 4-stem models.
Best for
Spleeter
- Musicians or producers who want quick vocal or accompaniment separation from a song
- Developers adding stem separation to an audio pipeline in Python
- Researchers who want a baseline model or want to train their own separation models from isolated sources
- Users comfortable installing Python packages and using a terminal
Ultimate Vocal Remover
- Musicians who want karaoke or practice backing tracks from existing songs
- Hobbyists who want to isolate vocals or instruments without using the command line
- Windows, macOS, or Linux users who prefer a point-and-click program
Strengths
Spleeter
- Ships several pretrained models for 2, 4 and 5 stem separation, so no training is needed to start
- Usable both as a command-line tool and as a Python library, and available through pip or Docker
- MIT-licensed code with a long track record and a peer-reviewed software paper cited in the README
Ultimate Vocal Remover
- Ships as ready-to-run installers that bundle Python and PyTorch, according to the README
- Offers a graphical interface instead of requiring command-line work for normal use
- Released under the MIT license and has a large community of users on GitHub
Not ideal for
Spleeter
- People who want a point-and-click app with no setup, since the README centers on pip, Docker and the command line
- Anyone needing commercial-grade results with support, since the README points to a separate paid Spleeter Pro product for that
- Users on Apple M1 chips without the README's suggested workaround, since the README notes known TensorFlow compatibility issues there
Ultimate Vocal Remover
- People who need a hosted web service with no install, since the README centers on downloadable installers and manual setups
- Users on very old or budget hardware, because the README says functionality on older or budget Macs and Windows 7 or lower is not guaranteed
- Developers who want a programmatic library, since the README describes a GUI application rather than an API
Trade-offs
Spleeter
- The README notes known issues: the spleeter shortcut command may fail on Windows, and Apple M1 chips may need a workaround
- Version 2.1.0 introduced breaking CLI changes and dropped the dedicated GPU package, so older tutorials may not match current usage
- The README says separated audio is only as legitimate as your rights to the source, and warns to get authorization for copyrighted material
Ultimate Vocal Remover
- Setup can be fiddly: the README asks for extra FFmpeg and Rubber Band downloads for some features, and warns against installing on a secondary Windows drive
- macOS users may need Terminal commands to get past security prompts, and the README suggests re-enabling that security setting afterward
- Some hardware support is described as not guaranteed, so results depend on your computer
Getting started
Spleeter
Install ffmpeg and libsndfile (the README says this is the way to do it on most platforms)
conda install -c conda-forge ffmpeg libsndfileInstall spleeter with pip
pip install spleeterUltimate Vocal Remover
Clone the repository (manual install route)
git clone https://github.com/Anjok07/ultimatevocalremoverguiFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Spleeter and Ultimate Vocal Remover?
Spleeter: Python library and command-line tool that splits music into vocals, drums, bass and other tracks. Ultimate Vocal Remover: Desktop app that splits songs into vocals and instrumentals using deep neural networks. Spleeter suits musicians or producers who want quick vocal or accompaniment separation from a song, while Ultimate Vocal Remover suits musicians who want karaoke or practice backing tracks from existing songs.
Are Spleeter and Ultimate Vocal Remover free?
Spleeter: Free and open source. Ultimate Vocal Remover: Free and open source.
Which is easier to set up, Spleeter or Ultimate Vocal Remover?
Ultimate Vocal Remover is easier to get started with (rated beginner); Spleeter is rated intermediate and usually needs more setup.
Is Spleeter or Ultimate Vocal Remover more popular?
Spleeter has more GitHub stars (28.5k) than Ultimate Vocal Remover (26.9k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Spleeter and Ultimate Vocal Remover?
Other options people compare them with include ONNX Runtime, Weights & Biases, pyannote, Koel.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.