Side by side

Cathar vs PD Cleaner

Both stand on ai audio restoration software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Cathar

Free plan LinuxMac

Cathar combines a broad set of restoration and enhancement tools with inspectable DSP and pipeline integration. It is free, with optional machine-learning denoising and terminal features.

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PD Cleaner offers recording-era options, adjustable cleaning and both DAW-insert and standalone workflows at no cost. Note that batch processing requires the standalone app and the first run may show an unknown-publisher warning.

Visit PD Cleaner

The facts

	Cathar	PD Cleaner
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Yes
Runs on	Linux, Mac	Windows
Lowest paid plan	Not published	Free or on request
Plans published	None	1
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	github.com	visemannen.github.io
On ai audio restoration software	#5 of 22	#1 of 22

Cathar: what it does well

Reads common audio files and tracks inside MP4 or MKV.
Includes denoise, de-hum, de-click and spectral repair.
Provides LUFS and peak normalization.
Can run in-process or as a pipeline command.
Optional GRU denoiser and terminal spectrogram viewer.

What to know first

Linux playback requires ALSA headers.
The project describes its 0.8.x series as before 1.0.

PD Cleaner: what it does well

Reduces clicks, crackle, hiss and hum.
Provides recording voicings for cylinders and 78s.
Standalone mode supports folder batch processing.
Exports can be 24-bit.
Runs offline, according to the maker.

What to know first

Folder batch processing is standalone-only.
Windows build is unsigned and may show a publisher warning.
AAC requires a free optional add-on.

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