Pour vs Ozone Imager
Dedicated $20 Imager vs Bundled Module

When to Choose Pour

• You want multiband stereo imaging without buying into a full mastering suite — three independent bands cover the standard mastering and bus-imaging use cases
• You want a real goniometer and correlation meter built into the plugin so you can see your stereo image and mono-compatibility in real time
• You're a producer or songwriter who needs an imager on a synth bus, a guitar bus, or a stereo master — but doesn't want $249 of mastering tools you'll never touch
• You want one-time licensing without iLok or an iZotope account
• You want to bundle Pour with Carbonator (saturation), De-Sipper (de-essing), Tonic (vocal comp), and On Tap (sidechain ducking) in the Complete Bundle for $75 — five plugins for less than 1/3 the price of Ozone alone
• You want a focused workflow — open the plugin, see the goniometer, dial three bands, done — without wading through Ozone's full module list

When Ozone Imager 2 (Free) Is Enough

• You only need single-band widening and don't care about controlling lows, mids, and highs separately
• You're casually messing around with stereo width on individual sources and aren't doing serious mastering
• You're already an iZotope customer and want the Imager 2 standalone as a quick sketchpad
• You don't mind that the free standalone is intentionally limited as a marketing on-ramp to the paid suite
• $0 outweighs feature breadth for your current workflow

When to Choose Ozone 11 Imager (Paid Module)

• You're already inside the Ozone mastering ecosystem and want everything in one shell
• You need four bands instead of three for very granular master-bus imaging
• You want the stereoize-from-mono algorithm to give a mono source artificial stereo width
• You routinely master albums and the time saved across the full Ozone workflow earns the $249+ price
• You've already paid for Ozone (or a subscription that includes it) and the imager is part of what you've bought

The Real Differentiator: Suite vs Standalone

iZotope's pricing model is built around the suite. Ozone Imager 2 (free) is a marketing on-ramp — single-band, intentionally limited, designed to make you want the paid Imager module inside Ozone. The full Ozone 11 starts at $249 for Standard and goes up from there for Advanced.

That model is great if you actually master inside Ozone. EQ, dynamics, exciter, low-end shaping, limiting, dithering — all in one shell with consistent metering. But if you only need an imager, you're paying $249 for one module you'll use and seven you won't.

Pour exists for that case. It's a focused $20 multiband imager with a real goniometer, mono-maker, and correlation meter — all the features that matter for the imaging job — without the suite tax. It's not trying to replace Ozone; it's trying to be the plugin you reach for when imaging is the only job at hand.

The Bottom Line

If you already own Ozone or you actually want the full mastering suite, the Imager module inside it is excellent and you don't need anything else. The $249+ buys real value when you use the whole shell.

But if you only need an imager — on a synth bus, a guitar pad, a vocal effect, or a stereo master — Pour gives you the focused workflow and the real metering at 1/12th the price. The free Ozone Imager 2 is intentionally limited; Pour is intentionally focused. That's a meaningful difference for $20.

Try the demo first. The full plugin is free to download with a periodic mute, and you'll know within a single session whether the three-band workflow and goniometer click for you.