An audio interface costs from about $50 to more than $9,000. On October 31, 2026, Thomann had 306 in stock, and half cost less than $375. Most people buy USB interfaces, where the median is $271.
The price of an interface follows one thing more than any other: how many microphones it can record at the same time. Count yours first (What audio interface do I need?), then look at the band below.
Prices by inputs
| Mic inputs | Typical price | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50 to $150 | One voice or one guitar at a time |
| 2 | $150 to $300 | Singer-songwriters, podcasts for two, stereo recording |
| 4 | $300 to $600 | A small band, a few drum mics |
| 8 | $700 to $1,000 | A full drum kit or a band live in the room |
| 8+ and pro | $1,000 and up | Studios: better converters, DSP, more outputs |
One input: about $100
Arturia MiniFuse 1, $97
One combo input for a mic or a guitar, +48 V phantom power, 24-bit/192 kHz. Enough for vocals or a podcast for one. #3 of 205 USB audio interfaces.
Audient's iD4 MKII, now $144 after its October 31 cut, is the step up in build and preamps.
Two inputs: about $180
Arturia MiniFuse 2 OTG, $181
Two inputs and a second USB port for a phone or another computer, which makes it easy to stream. #1 of 205 USB audio interfaces.
Four inputs: about $500
Yamaha's URX44 at $524 adds a 4.3-inch touchscreen and built-in DSP; IK Multimedia's AXE I/O at $304 is built for guitarists.
Eight inputs: about $700
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 4th Gen, $714
Eight preamps with 69 dB of gain and 18 inputs in total, the usual answer for recording a full drum kit. #6 of 205 USB audio interfaces.
Over $1,000: what the money buys
| Connection | In stock | Median |
|---|---|---|
| USB | 238 | $271 |
| PCIe | 13 | $949 |
| Ethernet (Dante, AVB) | 16 | $1,451 |
| Thunderbolt | 27 | $2,904 |
| DSP systems | 11 | $3,685 |
Above $1,000 the extra money goes into better converters, lower latency drivers, built-in DSP for effects while you record, and many more outputs. RME (median $1,507) and Universal Audio (median $1,116) are the names here; RME's Fireface UFX III at $2,599 records up to 188 channels. For most home studios, the jump from a $200 interface to a $2,000 one is smaller than the jump from a bad room to a treated one.
So how much should you spend?
- Vocals, podcast, one guitar: $100 to $200.
- Singer plus guitar, or a stereo pair: $150 to $300.
- A band or drums: $500 to $1,000.
- A studio that records clients: from $1,000.
Where the numbers come from. Every audio interface Thomann had in stock on October 31, 2026, from its partner feed, sorted by Thomann's own categories. The price bands by inputs are typical ranges for interfaces with that many mic preamps, not exact medians. Prices are Thomann's US-dollar prices.
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Denis Kataev runs AudioFu. Every night the site records the prices of more than 38,000 instruments and studio tools at Thomann, and he writes about what those numbers show: what got cheaper, what just arrived, and which discounts are real.
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