Ozone 12 Standard is the middle edition of iZotope's mastering suite and, for most people who master their own music, the one to buy. It costs $219 at Plugin Boutique and in iZotope's store, and $204.88 excluding VAT at Best Service. It has 14 editable modules inside the Ozone host plugin: Equalizer, Dynamic EQ, Dynamics, Exciter, Imager, Match EQ, Master Rebalance, Stabilizer, the four Vintage modules (Compressor, EQ, Limiter and Tape), the Maximizer and the new Bass Control.
Two of Ozone 12's headline additions are in Standard. The Maximizer gains the IRC 5 limiting mode, iZotope's cleanest algorithm for loud masters, and Bass Control balances low-end energy and punch so a master translates from headphones to a car or club system. Master Assistant builds a starting chain from analysis, and the new Custom flow lets you pick a genre target or reference, the modules to use and a loudness goal. Track Referencing, Transient/Sustain modes, Delta buttons and Dither are all included.
The trade-offs are the tools Advanced keeps for itself. Standard has no Stem EQ, which EQs vocals, bass, drums and instruments separately inside a stereo bounce, and no Unlimiter for restoring transients to an over-compressed file. Clarity, Impact, Low End Focus and Spectral Shaper are also Advanced-only, and Standard's modules only run inside the Ozone plugin, never as separate plugins in your DAW.
Ozone 12 Elements vs Standard vs Advanced
| Elements | Standard | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price at Plugin Boutique | $55 | $219 | $499 |
| Best Service (excl. VAT) | $204.88 | $466.84 | |
| Editable modules | None (Assistant macros only) | 14 | 20 |
| Editable IRC 5 Maximizer and Bass Control | No | Yes | Yes |
| Stem EQ, Unlimiter | No | No | Yes |
| Clarity, Impact, Low End Focus, Spectral Shaper | No | No | Yes |
| Modules as separate plugins | No | No | Yes |
| Track Referencing, Dither, Transient/Sustain | No | Yes | Yes |
| Upgrade path | $165 from Elements, $129 from older Standard | $399 from any Ozone Standard, $445 from Elements |
Buy now or wait? Anyone who owns a paid iZotope product should take the $199 crossgrade rather than the full $219 Standard, and owners of an older Ozone Standard pay $129 to update. None of the stores is discounting Ozone 12 today, and Black Friday is four weeks away, so wait if you can. If you might need Stem EQ or Unlimiter later, note that the Standard-to-Advanced upgrade is $399, which makes Standard plus a later upgrade $618, more than buying Ozone 12 Advanced outright.
How it compares
FASTER MASTER ($80) is the low-cost, one-window alternative for quick masters, with far fewer controls. Ozone 12 Advanced is the step up when you need to fix mixes you cannot reopen. If you also mix, record vocals and repair audio, iZotope Music Production Suite 9 includes Ozone 12 Advanced with Neutron 5, Nectar 4 and RX 12 for $799. Our best mastering plugins of 2026 compares all of them with FabFilter Pro-L 2.
Who it is for: producers and mix engineers who master their own tracks and want the whole chain in one plugin. Who should skip it: anyone who only needs a final limiter (FabFilter Pro-L 2 covers that for $199), and anyone who regularly receives finished stereo files with problems in the mix, who should go straight to Advanced.