With a year’s UAD Spark subscription plummeting to just $79, this plugin deal is the best way to improve your mixes over the next 12 months

A selection of Universal Audio Spark plugins on a multi-coloured background

(Image credit: Universal Audio)

With a year’s subscription to UAD Spark down to just $79, I think I just found the best value Black Friday plugin deal of the year so far. That’s not hyperbole either, I’ve done the maths. At just $6.58 a month for access to over 60 top-quality plugins and counting, this could be just the thing to help take your mixes to the next level in 2026.

There’s a lot of negativity around plugin subscriptions, but I’ve been a very happy UAD Spark user for about two years now. I love the fact that I have so many plugins available, even if I’m not using all of them, all the time. I don’t always need a multi-band enhancer, but it’s there if I do. Similarly, I’m not always in the mood for a Lexicon reverb on a vocal, but if I do need it, it’s right there and ready to be used.

As I’m a subscriber, I was genuinely curious what the total value of the UAD Spark subscription is, so I did the maths. All of the 60+ plugins available in the subscription give you a grand total of $6,729 at full price. To put that into perspective, you’d have to subscribe for nearly 45 years at the full price of $149.99 in order to fully pay for all the plugins you’re accessing.

If you’re lucky enough to have a music career that lasts that long, then no doubt you’ll have made your investment back and then some. It just goes to show that plugin subscriptions aren’t as bad a value as you might think when browsing user comments on forums. For those of us who don’t have thousands in savings to spend on software, it also allows you to spread the cost on quality tools for mixing, or you can just use it as a testing ground to find the plugins you’ll use on a regular basis.

Another thing I love about UAD Spark is the consistent updates, which means there’s always something new I can add to my locker. This year I got Ocean Way Studios Deluxe, Showtime 64 Tube Amp, Woodrow 55 Instrument Amplifier, A-Type Multiband Enhancer, and the Anthem Analog Synthesizer. That’s an extra $745 worth of plugins, which isn’t bad at all considering the price of my subscription didn’t change at all.

This awesome deal is only available until November 30, so if you want to bag the saving you'll need to grab it sooner rather than later.