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These are five ways to make a podcast on a Mac. They cover different jobs: recording and editing, cleaning up the audio, and finishing an episode to a loudness standard. All five run on a Mac, and all five work offline.
How these were picked
This October 2026 snapshot uses each maker’s own documentation and pricing page. It is a feature and pricing comparison, not a listening test. Prices and plans can change, so check the linked product pages before you buy.
The criteria that matter for a podcast: is there a usable free tier, how does noise removal work, can it handle several files at once, and does it run offline on the Mac?
Which one to choose
Start with Gleam Audio when you have recorded speech with background noise and want it cleaned and leveled in one pass, offline. The free personal tier covers 20 files a week; a license covers unlimited paid work. It is a cleanup and finishing tool, not an editor, so pair it with one of the editing apps below.
Use GarageBand when you want a free way to record and edit a show on a Mac. It comes with Apple, so there is nothing to install from elsewhere. The Noise Gate handles quiet passages, but for real noise removal you need another tool.
Use Audacity when you want a free editor with a proper noise-reduction effect. It needs a short noise-only sample to learn a profile, and macros let you repeat the same steps over a folder of episodes.
Use Logic Pro when you want one app for the whole studio: recording, editing, mixing and mastering. The Denoiser plug-in covers steady noise, and the Mastering Assistant sets loudness and tone. It costs the most of the five.
Use REAPER when you want a full workstation at a low one-time price. ReaFIR subtracts a captured noise profile, and the Batch File Converter handles many files. The 60-day evaluation is fully functional, so you can try the whole workflow before paying.
For the cleanup step in more detail, see the best offline noise removal apps, and for browser-based options, the voice noise removal apps list. If you are deciding between two cleanup tools, read Gleam Audio vs Auphonic. For the loudness target itself, what LUFS means explains the numbers, and the pre-publish checks cover what to run before you export. The full recording setup lives in the podcast recording checklist.