Theatre sound cue software for Windows: free and paid options

What’s out there, what it costs and who it suits — checked on each program’s official website in September 2026.

Short answer For show sound on Windows there are solid free options: ZasCue, MultiPlay and Sound Show. If you need video too, MultiPlay has it for free; for sound, video and lighting in one program, look at the paid ones, SCS or Cue Player One. On a Mac, QLab. Whatever you pick, run a trial tech with two candidates first.

The show’s next week. You’ve got a Windows laptop, a folder of music and effects, and every search turns up a mix of old forum threads, list sites and product pages. Here’s what’s actually available today.

A word of warning, so you can read this with your eyes open: it’s written by the person who makes ZasCue, one of the programs below. I’ve tried to be fair. Details on the others come from their official websites, and where something else suits you better, I say so.

What any cue software has to do

An ordinary media player won’t do for a show: it leaves gaps, or moves on to the next track when you didn’t ask it to. This is the minimum to expect from cue software:

A list in script order. Each cue is a moment: preshow music, the rain coming in, everything fading to silence.
A GO button. One press, one cue — and it’s obvious what’s next, so you don’t lose your place in a dark booth.
Programmed fades and crossfades. Music comes in and out smoothly, the same every night.
A stop-everything key. One key that fades it all out, fast, when things go sideways.
It mustn’t let you down. No internet needed, the show saved with its audio, and a way back if the computer dies. You won’t learn that from a website (this one included): you have to test it.

Beyond that, the differences are around the edges: video, lighting, audio outputs, language and price.

Your options on Windows (September 2026)

ZasCue (free)

This is the one I make. Free, no account, no ads. It’s a portable .exe for Windows 10 and 11 — nothing to install, works offline — and it also runs in the browser, in English or Spanish. You get a cue list with GO on the spacebar, fades, groups, auto-continue and auto-follow chains, per-cue effects (EQ, filter, compressor, delay, reverb), MIDI, and images and titles on a second screen. It also opens QLab 4 workspaces (.qlab4). What it doesn’t do: video or lighting. It’s an audio program.

MultiPlay (free)

From da-Share, and a long-standing name in Windows theatre sound. Its website describes it as cue software for theatre or corporate use, free in both amateur and commercial settings. Alongside audio it has image, video, MIDI and OSC cues, plus its own forum. If you need video without paying, put it near the top of your list.

Show Cue Systems (SCS) (paid, with demo)

Sound, video and lighting for live performance in one program, Windows only (Windows 7 or later; 10 or 11 recommended). You pay once: US$62 to US$268 depending on the edition, including 12 months of updates. The demo lasts 30 days, with sessions of up to 60 minutes and up to 80 cues per show — enough to test it properly with your own production. The interface is translated into eight languages besides English.

Cue Player (paid, with trial)

From Baxel Data Systems. Premium (sound) is US$49, and Cue Player One — sound, video and DMX lighting in one program — is US$89 for a perpetual licence. Both have trials, and the original Cue Player is still available free, in a simpler form. Baxel sums it up as “one program, one computer, one operator”: the whole production from a single Windows PC.

Sound Show (free + Pro)

Runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. The free version goes up to 10 tabs of 40 sounds; Pro is a one-off payment (€45 in their store; their theatre page still says €35), lifts those limits and adds MIDI, Stream Deck and up to 8 audio outputs. The app comes in seven languages. Its own website calls it an advanced soundboard rather than a like-for-like replacement for fully scripted cue software: it shines when you need to react in the moment.

QLab (Mac only)

From Figure 53, and the go-to in a lot of theatres — but it only runs on macOS. You can use the basics free (audio, for instance, plays through two output channels), and audio, video and lighting licences, bought outright or rented by the day, unlock the pro features. It’s in English. If you’re moving to Windows with shows built in QLab 4, ZasCue can open your .qlab4 files; QLab 5 (.qlab5) isn’t supported yet.

At a glance

Software	Price	Platform	Languages	A good fit if…
ZasCue	Free	Windows 10/11 and browser (Chrome)	English, Spanish	You want audio plus images and titles for free, or you’re coming from QLab 4
MultiPlay	Free	Windows	Not stated (English website)	You need video as well as sound, for free
SCS	US$62–268, one-off · 30-day demo	Windows	English + 8 more	There’s a budget and you want sound, video and lighting in one program
Cue Player	Premium US$49 · One US$89 · trial	Windows	Not stated (English website)	You want low-cost paid software; One if you run video and lights too
Sound Show	Free with limits · Pro €45	Windows, Mac, Linux	7	You’d rather have a soundboard for reacting live
QLab	Basics free · paid licences	Mac only	English	You work on a Mac

Details checked on each program’s official website on 25 September 2026. Prices change, so check before you buy.

How to choose

A school play or concert. Any of the free options will do. If the school’s PCs won’t let you install anything, ZasCue runs as a single file or straight in the browser. There’s a step-by-step guide to sound for the school play.
A small company or community group. Try two free options with your own show and keep the one that makes most sense in a dark booth. If there’s video, MultiPlay.
A venue with a budget and a resident tech. For sound, video and lighting on one Windows machine, SCS or Cue Player One make sense — and you can try both before paying.
Coming from a Mac. Staying on Mac? QLab. Switching to Windows? ZasCue imports your QLab 4 shows with their cues, groups, fades and audio; anything it doesn’t have (video, lighting) comes in as comment cues in the right place.
Improv, cabaret or anything you run on the fly. A soundboard will suit you better than a list — that’s what Sound Show is built for. ZasCue has one too (View → Soundboard / Hits), but its strength is the cue list.

Before you commit: a trial tech

Pick two candidates, not six.
Prepare ten real sound files from your show, trimmed and roughly level (Audacity is free). Name them in running order: 01_preshow, 02_blackout, 03_storm.
Build those ten cues in each program, with a fade, a crossfade and a cue that follows on by itself. If one takes you half as long, that tells you something.
Test on the show computer and speakers, not headphones: what sounds right at home rarely sounds the same in the room.
Try to break it: hit GO twice in a row, hit the stop-everything key mid-fade, force-quit the program. See what you get back.
Leave it running for the length of the show, with Windows notifications, updates and sleep turned off.

In ZasCue, for example, it’s worth checking View → Show warnings before the house opens (it tells you if a cue has lost its audio) and turning on Tools → Lock editing. If the computer goes down, File → Recover last session… brings the show back.

Plan B, whatever you use: the show and its audio on a USB stick, the same program on a second computer, and every cue number pencilled into the script. If something fails, you know exactly where you were.

In short: no comparison table beats a tech rehearsal. If you want to try ZasCue in yours, it’s free and there’s nothing to install.

Download ZasCue — free Try it in your browser

Mac or Linux? Use the web version: it opens in Chrome, with nothing to install. And to see a real show run on ZasCue, here’s a theatre in Poland.

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QLab® is a registered trademark of Figure 53, LLC. ZasCue is not affiliated with or endorsed by Figure 53.