The short answer
It comes down to whether you want to sing music you already own or a ready-made catalog. If you own the music, Beltr turns those songs into karaoke on your computer for $19.99 once, with lyrics on your TV and phones as remotes. If you’d rather stream a big licensed catalog and never prepare a song, KaraFun and Singa are the strong subscriptions. If you want free and don’t mind building songs by hand, UltraStar Deluxe is the open-source pick. This guide is published by Beltr, so it says plainly where each of the others is the better choice.
What matters for home karaoke
- Cost
- One-time, monthly or free, and what that adds up to over a year. Subscription karaoke runs roughly $80–120 a year.
- Your songs or a catalog
- Can you sing the music you already own, or only what a service has licensed?
- Party features
- Lyrics on the TV, phone remotes and scoring: what makes a living room work.
- Offline and platforms
- Does it need the internet, and does it run on the computer you have?
Four ways to run karaoke at home
Beltr, for the music you already own
$19.99 once. Beltr is a desktop app that turns songs you own into karaoke tracks with on-device AI vocal separation, then runs the night: the lyrics light up word by word on the TV, guests’ phones become remotes and mics, and live pitch scoring keeps a leaderboard for each singer. It plays the CDG, MP3+G and .kar files you already have, and it can export MP3+G for a karaoke machine. Nothing is uploaded, and separation works offline. What AI karaoke is explains how the separation works.
What to know: there’s no built-in catalog, so you bring the songs. Separation quality varies by song, and each new song takes a minute or two to prepare. On a Mac it needs Apple Silicon; Intel Macs aren’t supported.
KaraFun, for a big ready-made catalog
$9.99 a month for KaraFun Premium. KaraFun is a large, professionally produced karaoke catalog that you stream through web, desktop, mobile and TV apps. It’s the easy choice if you want polished, ready-to-sing tracks with no setup and don’t need your own files, and it runs on nearly every device.
What to know: it’s an ongoing monthly cost, you can only sing what’s in the catalog, and the current Windows app no longer plays your own CDG, MP3 or MP4 files, which the older KaraFun Player did (checked October 2026). Beltr vs KaraFun compares the two in detail, and switching from KaraFun covers bringing a disc collection across.
Singa, for phones and smart TVs
$9.99 a month. Singa is a streaming karaoke catalog with polished mobile and smart-TV apps and a social, sing-and-share feel. A free tier lets you sample a few songs a day before you subscribe.
What to know: full access is a monthly subscription, and it plays its own catalog only, not your library. Beltr vs Singa goes into the differences.
UltraStar Deluxe, the free option
Free and open source, for Windows, macOS and Linux. UltraStar Deluxe scores your pitch against a note track, it works offline, and it’s fun at a party once your songs are set up.
What to know: each song needs a pre-made note and lyrics file, from a community pack or made by hand, and it doesn’t separate the vocals from your own recordings.
Side by side
| Beltr | KaraFun | Singa | UltraStar Deluxe | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 once | $9.99 a month | $9.99 a month | Free |
| Your own songs | Yes | No, catalog only | No, catalog only | Yes, with note files |
| Ready-made catalog | No, uses your library | Yes, large | Yes | Community packs |
| AI vocal removal | Yes, on your computer | Pre-made tracks only | Pre-made tracks only | No |
| TV lyrics and phone remotes | Yes | TV apps | TV apps | Desktop only |
| Works offline | Yes | With Premium sync | Limited | Yes |
| Platforms | Mac (Apple Silicon), Windows, Linux | Web, desktop, mobile, TV | Web, mobile, TV | Windows, Mac, Linux |
Details for the other three come from each product’s public pricing and product pages as of July 2026.
Which one to pick
- You own the music and want the whole night on your TV: Beltr. The first 5 songs are free with no card, so try it on your own library first.
- You want a big catalog tonight without preparing anything: KaraFun.
- Your group mostly sings from phones and a smart TV: Singa.
- You want free and don’t mind tinkering: UltraStar Deluxe.