Nero still gives four working programs away for nothing, and a free rival beats three of them - here is the one that is genuinely worth the install.
Nero has been selling burning software since 1995, and the name still carries weight with anyone who ever filled a spindle of blank CD-Rs.
What it sells today is a subscription suite, and what it gives away is a much smaller set of programs most people have never opened.
This page sorts the two apart, then hands each job to whichever tool actually does it best.
What Nero Gives Away for Nothing
Four programs are free and are not time-limited trials. Nero lists them on its own free software page, and each one installs and runs without a licence key.
A fifth, 1001 TVs, is free in one direction only. Mirroring your PC to a TV costs nothing; mirroring the other way is a paid feature.
| Free tool | What it does | Worth it? |
|---|---|---|
| Nero WaveEditor | Single-file audio editor with recording, noise reduction, effects and a spectrum view | Only if you want the simpler window - Audacity does more |
| Nero SoundTrax | Multi-track mixing on a timeline, for compilations and simple podcasts | Fine for a mixtape, outgrown quickly |
| Nero CoverDesigner | Disc labels, jewel case inlays and booklets from templates | Yes - almost nothing free does this properly |
| Nero Score | Benchmarks your CPU and GPU on real encoding workloads | Only if you are curious about your hardware |
| 1001 TVs | Screen mirroring between phone, PC and TV | Free from PC only - check before you rely on it |
Two of those five have their own download page here. CoverDesigner and Score do not, so you reach them through the hub.
The Catch With Nero Start
Nero Start is the launcher that installs and opens all of it, and the hub itself is genuine freeware rather than a trial. It also sits in front of the paid catalogue, so most of what fills the window is something to buy.
Expect a sign-in prompt. Nero pushes account creation inside the hub, and you may need to confirm an email address and set a password before a tool will open.
You can skip the hub if you only want one program. WaveEditor and SoundTrax both ship as standalone installers, and the pages linked in the table above go straight to them.
What Nero Charges For
Nero Burning ROM is the product the free tools are quietly advertising. It is shareware, it is still actively developed, and it still does things free burners do not - SecurDisc encryption being the obvious one.
The 2026 Platinum Suite bundles video editing, backup and media management with a set of AI features covering photo restoration, upscaling and subtitle translation. Those run on a credit allowance included with the licence rather than unlimited use, which is worth knowing before you read "included" as "as much as you like".
Nero Media Player sits oddly in the middle - free, competent at 4K, and almost nobody's first choice for playback.
Read the reviews before you buy anything.
Nero's Trustpilot page is dominated by billing complaints - duplicate charges, subscriptions that will not cancel, licences that will not activate. Scores move, so read the recent ones yourself rather than trusting a number printed on a page like this one.
None of that touches the free tools, which involve no payment at all.
How to Get the Free Tools
- Download Nero Start and run the installer, declining any optional offers on the way through.
- Open the hub and find the free tools section - free applications appear without a purchase prompt or a trial countdown next to them.
- Install only what you want. Each program downloads separately, so nothing arrives that you did not click.
- Launch from the hub or from the Start menu shortcuts. If a tool asks you to sign in, that is the account prompt, not a paywall.
Where a Free Alternative Wins
Audio editing. Audacity beats WaveEditor on effects, multi-track work, plugins and format support, and it is still actively released.
Add FFmpeg support to Audacity and it opens M4A, WMA and AC3 too. For a quick trim without re-encoding, mp3DirectCut is faster than either.
Video conversion. HandBrake is not a close contest - it converts and compresses better than Nero's video tools and keeps pace with new codecs like AV1.
If you want more control than HandBrake's presets allow, our StaxRip and HandBrake comparison covers where the extra complexity pays off.
Disc burning. ImgBurn is still the most downloaded burner on this site and still works on Windows 11, though its version has not moved since 2013 and the installer needs care to avoid bundled extras.
Our walkthrough on burning an ISO to DVD with ImgBurn covers the settings that matter and the errors people hit.
For something newer, AnyBurn and BurnAware are both maintained and both free.
CDBurnerXP and True Burner round out the shortlist.
The full Burning Tools category has the rest, including the lighter portable ones.
If you only need to open an ISO rather than write one, Windows mounts disc images by itself - our guide to mounting disc images covers the cases where it does not.
Where Nero Still Wins
Cover design, and it is not close. Nero CoverDesigner produces disc labels, jewel case inlays and booklets from templates, and there is no obvious free competitor doing the same job as well.
If you still burn discs and want the case to look like something, that one program justifies the hub on its own.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
The tell is simple: if you already know which single task you need done, the hub is overhead you do not need.
Someone who wants to trim one MP3 should open an audio editor and be finished before Nero Start has finished installing. Someone converting one file can use our online audio converter without installing anything at all.
The hub earns its place when you want several of these things, occasionally, and would rather not remember four different programs.
Quick questions
Is Nero free?
Partly. Four programs cost nothing - WaveEditor, SoundTrax, CoverDesigner and Score - and the rest of the catalogue, including Nero Burning ROM, is paid.
Do I need Nero Start to get the free tools?
Not for all of them. WaveEditor and SoundTrax have their own installers, but CoverDesigner and Score are reached through the hub.
Do the free tools expire or nag?
They are full versions rather than trials, so nothing stops working after a set number of days. The hub around them does advertise the paid products.
Do I have to create an account?
Expect to. Nero prompts for an email address and a password inside the hub, and some tools will not open until you have confirmed it.
Is Nero WaveEditor better than Audacity?
No, other than being simpler to look at. Audacity wins on effects, multi-track editing, plugins and formats, and it is free too.
Does any of it work on Windows 11?
Yes. Nero Start and the free tools run on Windows 10 and 11, and so do all the alternatives named on this page.
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