Visibox
vs FreeShow
How Visibox and FreeShow compare for worship: who runs it, lyrics vs visuals, backing tracks, platforms, support, and price.
FreeShow is the free, open-source presentation app a lot of churches reach for first, and with good reason. It puts lyrics, scripture, and slides on screen, handles CCLI attribution, pulls from Planning Center, runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and ships a new version every month or two. Visibox is a different kind of tool. It is built for the musician who wants to fire video, cameras, and audio-reactive visuals from the stage, alongside the band’s backing tracks, without a second volunteer at a computer.
That makes this less a fight than a division of labor. FreeShow for the words. Visibox for the band. Here is where each one fits, and when you need only one.
| Visibox | FreeShow | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Live-visuals app for the musician on stage | Free, open-source church presentation software |
| Best for | Worship bands, musicians, events | Churches that need lyrics, scripture, and slides at no cost |
| Who runs it | The musician from the stage, or front of house from a phone or tablet | A volunteer in the booth |
| Lyrics and scripture | Performer-facing chord and lyric sheets for the band (Beta). No scripture, CCLI, or audience slides | Yes, with CCLI attribution and Planning Center import |
| Video clips | Built around them: songs full of clips, cameras, and visualizers, fired on cue | Backgrounds and media items inside a show |
| Audio-reactive | ISF shaders and MilkDrop presets, built in | A few audio visualizer styles |
| Backing tracks | Multichannel backing tracks with stem merging, click outputs, and Setlists for each service | Audio player and mixer; no stem player |
| Effects | Stackable effects with a live editor | Animated background effects |
| MIDI / footswitch / Stream Deck | Native MIDI with easy mapping and an Elgato Stream Deck plugin | MIDI in and out; Stream Deck through Bitfocus Companion |
| Network video (NDI) | NDI out and NDI camera input (Beta); SDI out (Beta) | NDI in and out, Blackmagic output |
| AI assistant / API | Native MCP server, HTTP + WebSocket API, CLI, OSC | REST and WebSocket API, OSC |
| Platforms | macOS 13+ and Windows 10+ | Windows, macOS, and Linux |
| Support | The Spaceage team on Pro; community support on the Free Plan | Email and GitHub; one lead developer |
| Price | Free Plan; Pro $18.99/mo (Subscribe-to-Own), $83.88/yr, or $299 once | Free, donation-supported |
- Visibox
- Live-visuals app for the musician on stage
- FreeShow
- Free, open-source church presentation software
- Visibox
- Worship bands, musicians, events
- FreeShow
- Churches that need lyrics, scripture, and slides at no cost
- Visibox
- The musician from the stage, or front of house from a phone or tablet
- FreeShow
- A volunteer in the booth
- Visibox
- Performer-facing chord and lyric sheets for the band (Beta). No scripture, CCLI, or audience slides
- FreeShow
- Yes, with CCLI attribution and Planning Center import
- Visibox
- Built around them: songs full of clips, cameras, and visualizers, fired on cue
- FreeShow
- Backgrounds and media items inside a show
- Visibox
- ISF shaders and MilkDrop presets, built in
- FreeShow
- A few audio visualizer styles
- Visibox
- Multichannel backing tracks with stem merging, click outputs, and Setlists for each service
- FreeShow
- Audio player and mixer; no stem player
- Visibox
- Stackable effects with a live editor
- FreeShow
- Animated background effects
- Visibox
- Native MIDI with easy mapping and an Elgato Stream Deck plugin
- FreeShow
- MIDI in and out; Stream Deck through Bitfocus Companion
- Visibox
- NDI out and NDI camera input (Beta); SDI out (Beta)
- FreeShow
- NDI in and out, Blackmagic output
- Visibox
- Native MCP server, HTTP + WebSocket API, CLI, OSC
- FreeShow
- REST and WebSocket API, OSC
- Visibox
- macOS 13+ and Windows 10+
- FreeShow
- Windows, macOS, and Linux
- Visibox
- The Spaceage team on Pro; community support on the Free Plan
- FreeShow
- Email and GitHub; one lead developer
- Visibox
- Free Plan; Pro $18.99/mo (Subscribe-to-Own), $83.88/yr, or $299 once
- FreeShow
- Free, donation-supported
Checked against freeshow.app and the project’s GitHub releases in October 2026. FreeShow is free with no tiers or seat limits and is funded by donations; support comes through email and GitHub, and most of the work is done by one lead developer. Every Visibox plan activates two computers, and every new activation starts with a 14-day Pro trial, no credit card required. A Visibox subscription always runs the latest version, and the $299 perpetual license includes two years of updates.
Pick Visibox when
- A musician needs to fire the visuals. A keys player or drummer triggers clips hands-free from a MIDI pad, footswitch, or Stream Deck while they play.
- Your sound volunteer can run the visuals too. Visibox Remote turns a phone or tablet into a control surface, so whoever is at the sound desk can pick songs and fire clips without a second computer.
- Your band runs backing tracks. Visibox plays multichannel stems with a click on its own output, fires the matching visuals from the same song, and keeps each service's order in a Setlist.
- Some moments should land the same way every week. A Song Timeline (Beta) fires clips and sends MIDI on the song's own clock, in step with the backing track, so a keyboard patch change or a big reveal happens at the bar it should.
- You want visuals that react to the music. MilkDrop presets and ISF shaders drop straight onto the grid.
- You want effects you will use, with a live editor, on any clip or camera.
- You want the Spaceage team on the other end of a support email (Pro).
Pick FreeShow when
- Words on screen drive your service: lyrics, scripture, and slides for the congregation, with CCLI attribution and Planning Center import. Visibox does not do any of that.
- The budget is zero. FreeShow is free with no seat limit, and it is updated often.
- Your church computer runs Linux. FreeShow does; Visibox runs on macOS and Windows.
- Your tech team already knows it. For the booth, FreeShow is a good tool and we would not move you off it.
The real difference
FreeShow is built for the booth. Someone sits at the computer, advances the lyrics, and switches backgrounds, and it does that job well for free. Video in FreeShow is a background or a media item in the running order, placed by the operator.
Visibox is built for the platform. The keys player presses a pad and the clip lands on the downbeat. The drummer taps a footswitch and the camera comes up for the solo. A MilkDrop preset reacts to the band while the backing track, stems merged and click on its own output, keeps everyone together. When a moment has to hit the same bar every week, a Song Timeline (Beta) fires it on the song’s own clock. The visuals follow the music because the musicians are already in it. If your words are covered and your visuals are not, that is the gap Visibox fills.
Common questions
Is Visibox a FreeShow alternative?
Not for lyrics and scripture on screen for the congregation; Visibox does not do them. For the video side, when a musician needs to trigger clips, cameras, and audio-reactive visuals from the stage, Visibox is built for exactly that and FreeShow is not.
Can we use FreeShow and Visibox together?
Yes, and many teams should. FreeShow runs the words from the booth. Visibox runs the visuals on its own output, fired by a musician from a MIDI pad or Stream Deck. On one computer, give each app its own display, or run each on its own computer.
Does Visibox do lyrics?
Not for the audience. Visibox plays video, images, cameras, visualizers, and backing tracks, and Lyrics (Beta) gives the band chord and lyric sheets on a stage-facing screen. Keep FreeShow, or whatever you use today, for the congregation’s lyrics and scripture.
Does Visibox run on Linux?
No. Visibox runs on macOS 13+ and Windows 10+. FreeShow runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Is Visibox free?
There is a Free Plan, free forever, with five songs per project and five clips per song, keyboard and mouse triggering, stereo backing tracks, crossfades between clips, background clips, clip speed and direction, and applying Effects, Visualizer, and Overlay presets, plus a watermark on the output. Every new activation starts with a 14-day Pro trial of everything, no credit card. Pro is $18.99 a month (Subscribe-to-Own), $83.88 a year, or $299 once with two years of updates.
Try it this Sunday
The right clip on the right downbeat changes the room, and it does not need a VJ or a second volunteer. Visibox puts it under the feet of the people already on the platform. The fastest way to see it is to run your own set through it.
with no credit card. No commitment, no auto-charge.