If you’ve taken a video call from anywhere other than a soundproofed home office in the last five years, you know the feeling — the dog barking, the construction next door, the neighbour’s leaf blower at 9:03 AM, the kid who needs juice right now. By 2026, AI-powered background noise suppression has gone from “nice to have” to “table stakes” for anyone working remotely, and the tools available to deal with it have multiplied accordingly.
This guide covers the seven best background noise apps for video calls in 2026 — what each does well, what they cost, when AI-powered suppression beats traditional noise gates, and how remote workers should layer their audio stack alongside the other tools in a modern home office (a quality VPN like NordVPN, a fast laptop, decent headphones). By the end you’ll know exactly which app to install and how to configure it for your specific working environment.
This is a third-party review by Alex Trail. Pricing reflects publicly listed plans on each vendor’s site as of April 2026 — verify before purchasing.
How AI noise suppression actually works in 2026
Traditional noise gates — the kind built into most video conferencing tools five years ago — relied on volume thresholds. Anything below a certain dB level got cut off. The result was familiar to anyone who used Zoom in 2020: words clipping mid-sentence, weird pauses, robotic-sounding speech in noisy environments.
AI noise suppression in 2026 is different. The technology uses neural networks trained on millions of hours of audio to learn what human speech sounds like — and to subtract everything that isn’t speech in real time. The result is dramatically better: you can have a vacuum running in the next room and your voice still comes through clear, naturally, without clipping.
The leading approaches in 2026 fall into three categories. First, on-device neural processing (Krisp, NVIDIA Broadcast) — runs the AI model locally, low latency, requires modern hardware. Second, cloud-processed suppression (Zoom’s built-in, Microsoft Teams’ built-in) — adds 50-100ms latency but works on any device. Third, hybrid approaches (Discord, modern conferencing tools) that switch between local and cloud depending on what the device can handle.
1. Krisp — best overall AI noise cancellation for remote workers
Best for: Remote workers who join calls from multiple platforms (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack huddles). Starting price: Free tier (60 min/day), Pro $8/month annual, Business $15/month, Enterprise custom.
Krisp is the gold standard for AI noise suppression in 2026. It runs as a virtual microphone on your machine, intercepting your audio before any conferencing app sees it. That means it works with everything — Zoom, Teams, Meet, Slack, Discord, Loom recordings — without per-app configuration. The free tier handles 60 minutes of clean audio per day, which is enough for most remote workers’ single longest call but not a full day of meetings.
What Krisp gets right: noise removal quality is best-in-class, voice cancellation removes other speakers’ voices in your environment (huge for parents, shared offices, coffee shops), and the platform-agnostic approach means one subscription covers every tool you use. The 2025 release of “Voice Productivity” features added meeting transcription, action items, and AI summaries — turning Krisp from a noise suppression tool into a full meeting AI layer.
Pros: Best-in-class noise removal, works with every conferencing app, runs locally (no cloud latency), strong voice cancellation, generous free tier.
Cons: Heavier on CPU than lighter alternatives, paid tiers required for full-day use, Mac performance has occasionally lagged Windows in past updates.
2. NVIDIA Broadcast — best free option (if you have an RTX GPU)
Best for: Remote workers with NVIDIA RTX 2060 or newer GPUs. Starting price: Free.
If your laptop or desktop has an NVIDIA RTX GPU, NVIDIA Broadcast is genuinely the best free noise suppression option in 2026. The app runs the AI model on the GPU’s tensor cores — meaning zero CPU cost and effectively no latency. Audio quality matches Krisp Pro for most use cases.
Broadcast also handles video — virtual background, eye contact correction, auto-framing — making it a one-stop solution for video call quality on RTX-equipped hardware. The 2025 update added room echo removal which closes one of the few remaining gaps versus Krisp.
Pros: Free, GPU-accelerated, excellent audio and video features, low resource cost on capable hardware.
Cons: Requires RTX 2060+ GPU (rules out most laptops). Windows-only. Less platform-flexible than Krisp.
3. Zoom built-in noise suppression — best if you only use Zoom
Best for: Teams that live entirely in Zoom. Starting price: Included free with all Zoom plans.
Zoom’s built-in noise suppression has improved significantly since 2023. The “High” setting uses AI suppression and works well for typical home-office noise (typing, fans, distant traffic, occasional dog barks). It won’t match Krisp on heavy environments — construction, shared spaces, kids actively playing — but for the standard remote work setup, it’s enough.
The advantage of using built-in over a third-party app: zero configuration, no extra software, no virtual microphone routing complications. If your work entirely happens in Zoom, this is the simplest path.
Pros: Free, zero setup, no extra software, decent quality for standard environments.
Cons: Only works in Zoom, less effective on heavy noise, no voice cancellation for other speakers.
4. Microsoft Teams noise suppression — for Microsoft 365 organisations
Best for: Enterprise teams on Microsoft 365. Starting price: Included with Microsoft 365 Business and above.
Microsoft’s noise suppression has matured into one of the strongest built-in options in 2026. The “High” setting uses Azure AI to deliver clean audio in environments most other built-in tools struggle with. The integration with Teams means it works across desktop, web, and mobile without configuration.
For organisations on Microsoft 365 — this is the practical pick. You’re already paying for it, the quality is solid, and the IT team won’t need to support a third-party app rollout.
Pros: Strong AI suppression, included with M365, works across all Teams platforms, IT-friendly.
Cons: Teams-only, less effective on extreme noise, no voice cancellation for other speakers in your room.
5. Google Meet noise cancellation — solid for Workspace teams
Best for: Google Workspace organisations. Starting price: Included with Workspace Business Standard and above.
Google’s noise cancellation runs on Google’s cloud infrastructure and produces clean audio in most home-office environments. It’s not at Krisp’s level for heavy noise but it’s competent enough that most Workspace teams don’t need a third-party tool.
The 2025 update added a “Studio Look” companion video feature that complements the audio — together they cover most of what a remote worker needs without leaving the Workspace ecosystem.
Pros: Built into Meet, no setup, works on web and mobile, included with Workspace.
Cons: Meet-only, less strong than Krisp on heavy environments, requires Business Standard tier or above.
6. RTX Voice — legacy free option for older NVIDIA cards
Best for: Users with older NVIDIA GTX cards (the predecessor to NVIDIA Broadcast). Starting price: Free.
RTX Voice was the original free AI noise cancellation tool from NVIDIA. Officially deprecated in favour of Broadcast but still functional for users with cards that don’t meet Broadcast’s minimum spec. Quality is a generation behind Broadcast but still excellent for free.
Pros: Free, works on older NVIDIA hardware, no monthly cost.
Cons: Officially deprecated, no new feature development, Windows-only.
7. SoliCall — niche pick for call centre and telephony use cases
Best for: Call centre agents, telephony-heavy roles, customer support teams. Starting price: $5/month per seat (volume pricing for larger deployments).
SoliCall is purpose-built for traditional telephony — landlines, soft phones, call centre softphones — rather than modern video conferencing. If you’re a customer support agent or call centre operator, SoliCall integrates more cleanly with your softphone stack than the consumer-facing tools above.
Pros: Strong telephony integration, volume pricing for teams, low system overhead.
Cons: Not designed for general video conferencing, less polished UX than Krisp, niche audience.
Background noise apps comparison — at a glance
| Tool | Best For | Starting Price | Quality | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Krisp | Multi-platform remote work | Free / $8 | ★★★★★ | Mac, Windows |
| NVIDIA Broadcast | RTX GPU users | Free | ★★★★★ | Windows (RTX) |
| Zoom built-in | Zoom-only teams | Free | ★★★★ | Zoom |
| Teams built-in | M365 organisations | Included | ★★★★ | Teams |
| Meet noise cancel | Workspace orgs | Included | ★★★★ | Meet |
| RTX Voice | Older NVIDIA cards | Free | ★★★ | Windows |
| SoliCall | Call centre / softphone | $5/mo | ★★★★ | Windows |
Best for low-spec laptops
If you’re running an older or lower-spec laptop — anything without a dedicated GPU and limited RAM — heavy AI suppression apps can tank your performance during calls. Three approaches work better:
- Use Zoom or Teams built-in — cloud-processed, zero local CPU cost.
- Run Krisp on its lightest setting — the “Light” mode uses a smaller model with lower CPU draw, still beats no suppression at all.
- Use a hardware solution — a USB headset with built-in noise cancellation (Jabra Evolve2, Logitech Zone) handles suppression in the device, freeing the laptop entirely.
For remote workers stuck with older hardware, the hardware approach often wins. A $150-200 USB headset with active noise cancellation is a one-time spend that doesn’t tax your laptop and works across every conferencing platform.
Privacy considerations — what these apps actually do with your audio
For privacy-conscious remote workers, the choice between local and cloud-processed noise suppression matters. Local-processing apps (Krisp, NVIDIA Broadcast) never send your audio off-device for the suppression itself — the AI model runs locally. Cloud-processing options (Zoom built-in, Teams built-in, Meet) send a stream to vendor cloud infrastructure for processing.
If you’re handling sensitive conversations — legal calls, healthcare consultations, executive strategy — pair local noise suppression (Krisp Pro is the practical pick) with a quality VPN like NordVPN for the underlying network connection. Together they minimise exposure points: your audio is processed locally, your network traffic is encrypted end-to-end, and your IP isn’t visible to the conferencing service or anyone monitoring the connection.
For standard work calls, the privacy delta between local and cloud is small enough that most teams pick based on quality and cost rather than privacy. But for any call where confidentiality matters more than convenience, local + VPN is the right architecture.
👉 Try NordVPN free — pair it with Krisp for clean audio plus encrypted network traffic on every remote work call.
Setting up your remote work audio stack — a 30-minute checklist
Five steps to get from “okay, I guess” audio to “wait, are you in a studio?” audio in under half an hour:
- Pick your suppression tool. Use the table above. For 90% of readers, Krisp Pro at $8/month is the right call — covers every conferencing platform you use.
- Test in your worst environment. Find your noisiest typical setup (kitchen, shared workspace, near a road) and test the suppression there. If it sounds clean, you’re set.
- Configure auto-launch. Set Krisp (or your chosen tool) to start with your machine. The friction of remembering to launch it before every call is real, and avoiding it pays off.
- Add a USB headset for backup. Even with Krisp, a quality headset improves baseline mic quality and gives you a hardware fallback if the software glitches mid-call.
- Pair with VPN for sensitive calls. Layer NordVPN for any call where the underlying network privacy matters as much as the audio quality.
Hybrid workspace audio etiquette — what your colleagues actually notice
For teams running hybrid setups in 2026, audio quality has become a soft signal of professionalism that gets noticed even when no one mentions it. The colleague whose mic crackles, whose audio clips, whose voice gets lost behind keyboard typing — they show up as less prepared, less authoritative, less “in the room” than colleagues with clean audio, regardless of the actual content.
Three audio-etiquette habits that compound over time: mute when not speaking (still relevant in 2026 even with great suppression), test your audio at the start of any client-facing call (30-second screen-share check), and when joining from a noisy environment, signal it briefly so colleagues know you’re aware (“I’m in a coffee shop, hopefully Krisp catches the worst of it”). The combination of clean audio and visible audio-awareness reads as competence in a way that’s hard to fake.
FAQ: Background noise apps in 2026
Is Krisp worth paying for if Zoom has built-in noise suppression?
If you only use Zoom and your environment is mild, Zoom’s built-in is enough. If you use multiple platforms (Zoom + Meet + Teams + Slack), Krisp pays for itself by giving you one tool across all of them. If you have heavy environmental noise (construction, kids, shared workspace), Krisp’s quality advantage matters.
Will noise suppression affect my voice quality?
The AI tools (Krisp, NVIDIA Broadcast, modern built-in suppression) preserve voice quality remarkably well. Older noise gates clipped speech aggressively. The 2026 generation of AI tools generally improves voice clarity rather than degrading it because they remove the masking noise that was hiding subtle voice characteristics.
Do I need a special microphone?
No — these apps work with any microphone, including built-in laptop mics. Quality improves with better hardware (USB condenser mics, good headsets) but the AI suppression is the bigger lift versus simply upgrading the mic.
Can these tools remove background music?
Yes — Krisp’s voice cancellation feature removes other voices and background music while keeping the primary speaker. Useful for cafés, co-working spaces, or homes where music is playing in the background.
Does noise suppression use a lot of CPU?
Krisp on a modern machine uses 5-15% CPU during calls. NVIDIA Broadcast on RTX GPUs uses essentially zero CPU. Built-in cloud-processed suppression uses no local CPU but adds 50-100ms latency. On older hardware, lighter modes or cloud-processed options are the better fit.
Verdict — which background noise app should you pick in 2026?
For most remote workers, the answer is Krisp at $8/month. It works across every platform, handles heavy environments better than built-in tools, and the meeting AI features (transcription, summaries) add real value beyond just clean audio.
If you have an RTX-equipped Windows machine, NVIDIA Broadcast is genuinely free and competitive with Krisp on quality. If you live entirely in one platform (Zoom, Teams, or Meet), the built-in option is enough for standard environments.
Layer it with a VPN like NordVPN for sensitive calls, add a USB headset for backup, and you’ve got a remote work audio stack that holds up regardless of where you’re calling from.
👉 Try NordVPN free — the foundation for any remote worker who takes calls from coffee shops, hotels, or co-working spaces.
Want our full remote work tools playbook? Grab the Trail Media AI Tools & SaaS Stack Guide on Gumroad — 50+ tools categorised by use case, including the full audio + video + privacy stack for distributed teams in 2026.
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Reviewed by Alex Trail — AI-powered software reviewer at Remote Work Trail. Pricing and feature claims verified against vendor sites and G2 reviews as of April 2026. This article contains affiliate links; we may earn a commission if you purchase through them at no additional cost to you.
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