FAQ

Go to pluginhubapp.com/license and enter the email address you bought PluginHub with. We'll email you a one-time sign-in link. Your license page shows your key (click Show, then Copy), every computer using your license, and when each one was last used. If you mistyped your email at checkout, use "Sign in with your order number" on the same page.

Yes! The lowest priced tier covers two activations. Higher tiers allow for 5, or 10 activations.

Sign in at pluginhubapp.com/license and click Free next to the old computer. Its slot opens up right away, and nothing is removed from that computer. If you still have the old computer, you can also open PluginHub on it and click Deactivate. A computer that's still in use can be freed from the page once every 30 days; otherwise, deactivate it on that computer.

Yes, our license system allows for deactivation and reauthorization on a new machine. Select License in the PluginHub menu bar to manage your activation. If you run into any issues, email support@pluginhubapp.com.

Yes. Personal license owners can add an extra computer, taking the license from 2 to 3 computers. It's the same license key, with nothing to reinstall. You'll find it on your license page at pluginhubapp.com/license.

Yes, any time, and you only pay the difference between your tier and the new one. Your license key stays the same, and PluginHub picks up the change on its own. If you've added an extra computer, what you paid for it counts toward the upgrade. If you bought PluginHub with an education discount, it applies to upgrades too. Upgrades are on your license page at pluginhubapp.com/license.

Yes. Students and teachers working in audio are eligible for a 30% discount on PluginHub. Send us proof of enrollment (such as a student or faculty ID card) at support@pluginhubapp.com and we'll respond with a discount code you can use at checkout.

Yes. Email support@pluginhubapp.com within 14 days of your purchase for a full refund, no reason needed. A refund ends the license. Full details are in the Refund Policy.

No. PluginHub tells you which plugins have updates and links you to each vendor's official download page, or their installer hub. You download and run each installer yourself, so you stay in full control of what lands on your machine.

PluginHub tracks live updates for 3,710 plugins across 292 vendors. Each vendor publishes version information differently. Some have clean download pages with a single canonical version number. Some bake the version into installer filenames. Some run an old "version history" page that lists releases the actual installer no longer ships. Some bump a "kernel" or "platform" version on their downloads page that never makes it into the plugin file on disk. Some have legacy products that share a name with a current product but live on a separate version sequence. Pro Tools (AAX) wrappers in particular are notorious for carrying a stale internal version number even after the underlying plugin is current.

When any of those vendor-side details shifts, a "phantom update" can surface in PluginHub: the app flags an update that doesn't actually exist, or shows you behind a version you've already installed.

When we hear about one, we fix it fast. Most fixes go out the same day, and most don't require an app update because they're pushed to PluginHub's servers and reach you the next time you press Refresh. The fixes we can't push that way ship in the next app release.

Real talk: we'll never get this to zero. The plugin world is too sprawling, and vendors change how they publish version information without telling anyone. What we can promise is that when you flag a phantom update, we treat it as a real bug and move on it quickly. If you spot one, please tell us via email or the Send feedback link in the menu bar. A screenshot of the dashboard plus the plugin name is enough, you don't need to write a long report. Most of the phantom-update fixes shipped this month came from user reports exactly like that.

PluginHub checks for updates by reading each vendor's public version source: a manifest, a downloads page, or a changelog. Two buckets hold plugins we couldn't confirm:

Manual check: Vendors that require a manual check. Either their site doesn't publish version data PluginHub can read, or they deliver updates through their own installer app. We're working to move vendors from this tab into active checker status. This can be a temporary issue (a page that didn't respond this refresh, retries automatically next time) or an ongoing limitation. As we find better sources, or as vendors make their versions available to us directly, these move back into the Updates / Up-to-date tabs.

Unchecked: A vendor we don't yet cover at all. Usually smaller developers, boutique makers, sample libraries, or anyone without a public version page. We add new checkers in almost every release. If there's a vendor you'd like prioritized, email us at support@pluginhubapp.com and we'll add it to the queue!

Nope! Simply press refresh and PluginHub will rescan your installed plugin folders.

Yes, with one quick step from you. Universal Audio's installer, UA Connect, puts every UAD plugin on your drive whether you own it or not, and PluginHub never reads your license information, so it can't tell them apart on its own. Click the amber line on your Universal Audio card and choose Mark what I own. The window has a column for each kind of UAD plugin and tells you which your Mac has. For UADx native plugins: sign in to your UA account in your browser, open your full product list, copy it and paste it into PluginHub. For UAD-2 and Apollo plugins there is no sign-in: in the UAD Control Panel choose System Info, click Save Detailed System Profile, then click Open UAD System Profile in PluginHub and choose that file. It lists every UAD-2 plugin with its license state, so demos and expired demos are sorted out as well. Either way PluginHub marks the plugins you own, lists anything it couldn't match, and offers to hide, move to (Unused) or uninstall the rest in one go. The app never reads your UA account or your licenses; you paste the list or open the file yourself.

Hiding is the choice that lasts: hidden plugins stay hidden through UA updates. Plugins you move or uninstall come back each time UA Connect updates, and PluginHub then offers to move or uninstall them again.

Partial support today, with full support on the roadmap.

PluginHub recognizes installed Spitfire Audio libraries (BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hans Zimmer Strings, Albion, Originals, LABS, and the rest of the plugin-based lineup) and groups them on your dashboard under the Spitfire Audio vendor card. What it doesn't do yet is automatically flag when a Spitfire library has an update available — they sit in Manual check status for now.

That's also true for most other sample-library vendors. Libraries from vendors we haven't covered yet are filtered out of your Unchecked tab so they don't add noise.

If you're a composer, orchestrator, or scoring artist and there's a specific library vendor you'd love to see next, email support@pluginhubapp.com.

Nope. PluginHub will never load your iLok licenses, read license keys off your system, or prompt you for license information for individual plugins. All licensing stays between you, your DAW and the vendors.

If you want it, the optional License Key Vault gives you one place to keep the license keys vendors send you. You enter them yourself, they're encrypted by your own operating system (the macOS Keychain behind Touch ID or your password on a Mac, Windows Credential Manager on a PC), and they never leave your machine. They're never included in shared lists, exports or debug logs.

PluginHub is a standalone desktop app for Mac and Windows. One license covers both platforms, using the device count you already own.

Mac

• Operating system: macOS 12 Monterey or later. Fully tested on macOS 12, 13, 14, 15, and 26.
• Processor: Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4) or Intel. One universal installer runs natively on both architectures, so there is nothing to choose at download time.
• Disk space: ~50 MB for the app and its cached plugin catalog.
• Plugin formats scanned: AAX, AU, VST3, VST2, and CLAP, wherever your DAW installs them (/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/, ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/, /Library/Application Support/Avid/).
• Permissions: PluginHub only needs macOS "App Management" permission if you want auto-updates. Denying it is safe; the app continues to work, you just download new versions manually.

Windows

• Operating system: Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit.
• Installer: a signed setup .exe that installs per user, so there is no administrator prompt to install or to take in-app updates.
• Plugin formats scanned: VST3, VST2, CLAP, and AAX from their standard Windows locations (Common Files\VST3, VstPlugins, Common Files\CLAP, Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins). AU is a Mac-only format.
• Permissions: Windows asks for administrator approval (UAC) only when PluginHub moves or uninstalls plugins that live under Program Files.
• License Key Vault: keys are stored in Windows Credential Manager, encrypted for your user account, and never leave your PC.

Both platforms

• Internet: required, for checking vendor update pages during a refresh and in-app updates.
• DAW: Works alongside any DAW. PluginHub never loads inside your DAW or modifies plugin files.

Yes. PluginHub for Windows runs on Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) and your existing license covers it: the same key activates your Mac and your PC, using the device count you already own. Full details are under system requirements below.

More about the Windows version: PluginHub for Windows.

It is a false positive. Since PluginHub 1.1.2 for Windows came out on November 8, a few antivirus programs have started flagging it: Microsoft Defender (as Trojan:Script/Wacatac.H!ml), Kaspersky (as HEUR:Trojan.Python.Agent.gen) and McAfee, which blocks the download. These are automatic judgments an antivirus makes about a new file, not matches with a known virus.

What I checked:

• The installer on this site is signed by Halcyon Digital LLC through Microsoft's Trusted Signing service, and it is byte for byte the file I built.
• I went through every file in the app and traced each one to PluginHub's own source code or the official package it comes from.
• On VirusTotal, the scanners from Microsoft, McAfee, Norton, Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, ESET and Malwarebytes all report the installer as clean (checked November 11).

What I've done: I reported PluginHub as a false positive to Microsoft, Kaspersky and McAfee. Once each one clears it, its warning goes away on its own, and I'll update this answer.

If Windows Security blocked PluginHub, you can wait for Microsoft, or get it running now:

1. Open Windows Security, then Virus & threat protection, then Manage settings.
2. Under Exclusions, click Add or remove exclusions, then Add an exclusion, then Folder.
3. Paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PluginHub into the address bar, press Enter, and click Select Folder.
4. Download the installer again from pluginhubapp.com/windows and run it.

With Kaspersky or McAfee, restore PluginHub from that program's quarantine and add the same folder as an exception.

Still stuck? Email support@pluginhubapp.com with the name of your antivirus and a screenshot of the message.

Updates push straight to the app. PluginHub will notify you when there's a new version available. We recommend updating whenever there's a new version, as the app is always getting smarter and acquiring new vendors and products, as well as fixing issues with current products.

Download the latest version from pluginhubapp.com/download and install it over the top. Your settings and License Key Vault are kept.

2.0.10 and 2.0.11 quit the moment they find a newer version, whether you click Check for Updates or the daily check runs, so they can't update themselves. Every version from 2.0.12 on updates normally. PluginHub for Windows isn't affected.

Very likely no issue at all. PluginHub runs in the background: from the menu bar on a Mac, and from the system tray on Windows.

On Windows: PluginHub lives in the system tray, next to the clock. Closing the dashboard window doesn't quit it; it keeps checking in the background and shows a notification when updates are waiting. Windows 11 tucks new tray icons behind the ^ overflow arrow, so if you don't see it, click the arrow, or drag the icon out to keep it visible. Hover it for the update count, click it to open the dashboard.

If you restart your machine and don't see a PluginHub window, it isn't gone. It's in your menu bar or system tray waiting for you.

Yes please! Email us at support@pluginhubapp.com and we'd be glad to get you in the system. Ideally we would love to create a simple JSON code pipeline to access future product and version numbers quickly and easily.