Soneam vs Filepass, for working engineers
Filepass built its name on one sharp idea: the client pays, then the download unlocks. If unpaid invoices are your biggest pain, that's a real feature. Here's an honest look at what each tool does for the rest of the job, with facts verified July 2026.
Both products exist because sending mixes over WeTransfer and chasing feedback over email is a mess. Filepass attacks the money side of that mess; Soneam attacks the quality and accountability side. Which one fits depends on which part hurts you more.
At a glance
| Soneam | Filepass | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes: 10 GB, 5 projects, every feature | No (14-day trial) |
| Lossless review playback | Yes (FLAC, no login) | Yes (WAV streaming) |
| Payment-gated download | Not yet (on the roadmap) | Yes, the signature feature (top plan) |
| Streaming loudness preview in review | Yes | No |
| LUFS / true-peak metering | Yes | No |
| Formal approval record | Yes, printable | Approval via payment, not a record |
| Checksum on delivery (SHA-256) | Yes | No |
| Comment carry-over across versions | Yes | No (comments become a to-do list) |
| Upload caps | None (600 MB per file) | 10 GB/month on the lower plan |
| Headline pricing | Free / $9 / $19 / $39 | $19-$39/mo billed yearly ($24-$49 monthly) |
Facts checked July 2026 against both products' public pages. If something is stale, tell us and we'll fix it.
Where Filepass wins, honestly
- Collecting payment. Stream-only until the balance is paid, then the download unlocks. If clients ghost you at invoice time, this is the feature you're buying, and it works.
- Comments as a checklist. Feedback converts into a checkable to-do list, which suits a revision-heavy mixing workflow.
- A decade of trust in its niche. Filepass has real editorial endorsements and a loyal audience among business-minded home-studio mixers.
Where Soneam pulls ahead
- You can start at $0. Filepass has no free plan. Soneam's free tier is a full product: every feature, 10 GB, 5 projects, no card. For an engineer testing whether clients will even use a review link, that difference is everything.
- Quality is visible in the review. Clients hear the master losslessly with a streaming loudness preview: how Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube will actually play it, true-peak ceilings included. Filepass streams the audio; Soneam explains it.
- The paper trail. A recorded approval of the exact version (who, when, which file) plus a SHA-256 checksum on delivery. When a dispute surfaces months later, "paid and downloaded" is weaker evidence than "approved this specific master, delivered these exact bytes".
- Versions are first-class. Open feedback carries into the next version automatically, and clients can A/B versions level-matched, so nobody approves the louder one by accident.
Which should you pick?
- Pick Filepass if unpaid invoices are your number-one problem and you're happy paying $39/mo (billed yearly) for the paywall that fixes it.
- Pick Soneam if you want the review, approval, and delivery itself to be airtight: loudness-true, on the record, verified. Payments are coming to Soneam; the workflow is already here.
- Undecided? Soneam is free to try indefinitely; Filepass gives you 14 days. Run the same project through both.
Frequently asked questions
Is Soneam a good Filepass alternative?
If what you love about Filepass is charging the client before the download unlocks, know that Soneam doesn't do payments today (it's on the roadmap). What Soneam adds instead: a real free tier (Filepass has none), a streaming loudness preview inside the review, a formal approval record of the exact version, comment carry-over across versions, and SHA-256 checksum verification on delivery. For many engineers the deciding factor is simply price: Soneam starts free and its $9 plan has no upload caps.
What does Filepass do better than Soneam?
Getting paid. Filepass's signature move is the paywall: the client streams the mix, and paying their remaining balance unlocks the download. It's a genuinely effective lever for engineers who chase invoices, and it's the main reason to pay for the Pro plan. Filepass also turns comments into a to-do checklist, which is a nice touch.
How do Soneam and Filepass prices compare?
Filepass has no free tier: plans run $19 to $39 a month billed yearly ($24 to $49 monthly), with the paywall reserved for the top plan and a monthly upload cap on the lower one. Soneam is free for 5 projects and 10 GB with every feature, then $9 for 50 GB and $19 for 200 GB, unlimited projects, no upload caps, and clients never pay or register on either plan.
Try the whole handoff, free
Lossless review with a streaming loudness preview, feedback on the waveform, a recorded approval, and checksum-verified protected delivery. Free plan, no card, clients never register.