Comparison

DrumKnee 3D Drums vs DrumToolz

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

DrumKnee 3D Drums

Experience realistic 3D drumming with foot-controlled bass. Record, share, and play along with drumless tracks. Customize your kit with professional sounds and stylish skins for an immersive music experience.

Highlights
  • Realistic 3D drum set
  • Foot-controlled bass drum
  • Record and share songs
  • Play along with drumless tracks
  • Customizable drum kits
  • Low latency response
  • Chokable cymbals
Features
Read full description

DrumKnee is the most realistic drums app. Now you can play the bass with your foot. Perfect for on-the-go drumming! It is like having a real drum set in the palm of your hands. Play drums, record, and share your songs with the DrumKnee 3D community. The new Splitteroo integration lets you remove drums from your favorite songs, create custom drum kits with the separated snare and kick sounds, and play along with the track for an immersive drumming experience! DrumKnee is very different from any other app out there: First of all, it is a well-polished real drum app in 3D (how cool is that?). In addition, you get to trigger the bass sound with your foot. That's right, just rest your phone/tablet on your knee and kick it!! Mix and match the sounds so you can build your own custom drum set!! Features: Professionally recorded sounds. Very low latency response. The best one out there. The delay between your tap on the screen and the sound is incredibly low. Most realistic drums app. You will feel just like playing a real drum. Cymbals are also chokable by holding your finger on them when played. Play along with select drumless songs. You can record your masterpiece and share it with friends. Many stylish skins for you to choose from. Jazz/Funk drum set DK Music is another feature available. This service is a separate monthly fee that allows you to download drumless tracks directly to the app to play along with. SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS - Subscribe for unlimited access to the full drumless (songs without drums) songs library for the duration of your subscription - Subscriptions are monthly, quarterly and yearly - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings - No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period - Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription - You can read our privacy policy at https://drumknee.wordpress.com/policy/ *Price is equal to the value that "Apple's App Store Matrix" determines is the equivalent of the subscription price in USD. https://drumknee.wordpress.com/termsofservice

About

DrumToolz

Compose and practice drum cadences and beats on your mobile device. This app allows manual input of exercises, generation of new ideas, and practice of rudiments. Share your creations and learn from a community of drummers.

Highlights
  • Compose drum cadences and beats
  • Manual exercise input
  • Generate new rhythmic ideas
  • Editable music score
  • Practice snare rudiments
  • Library of dynamic exercises
  • Social profile and sharing
Read full description

Compose cadences on the go! Choose from snares, tenors, bass drums, cymbals, and even drumset if you want. In a league of its own, DrumToolz also lets you manually input exercises for drum set, marching snare, tenors, and bass drums while generating new creative ideas using what you input, all shown on an editable music score. You can also upload your beats to your social profile, play what other users are playing, save rhythms, practice snare drum rudiments, and learn from a full library of dynamic exercises for both snare drum and drumset! It's perfect for all skill levels, from beginner to extremely advanced, drum wizards. Works great for sharing drum cadences with your drumline. Isolate individual snare, tenors, etc. parts. Practice the simplest to the most complex of beats and rhythms. If you can think of it, you can input it and practice it! Anything from beginner rock beats, to the most complex of jazz beats and fills. Lastly, top off the notes with ornaments: stickings, accents, flams, diddles, and cheese. Input up to 50 measures. When practicing drum set beats, choose from a ride cymbal, hihat, hihat foot, kick drum, snare drum, and three toms. Input everything from whole notes to thirtysecond notes and tuplets. Also, for tenors, choose from four tenors and a spock. Bass drums - five bass drums. Marching snare - a realistic marching snare and a ping sound. Generate new ideas (modifications) using beats that you input into the score. Choose from several modification methods: Add, Shuffle, Substitute, Permutate, Repeat, and Random. Modify individual parts of the beat (ex: kick drum only) or the entire beat if desired. Custom snare exercises. Choose the time sig, subdivisons, tuplets, stickings, accents, flams, diddles, cheese, drags. Save the beat in the score for later practice, keeping the modifications if desired. If the modifications are kept, this turns the beat into an endless, dynamic exercise! Each time you generate an exercise, it uses the modifications to give you an entirely new beat. String together saved rhythms and practice them as one exercise, perfect for practicing beats followed by a drum fill. Upload your beats to your profile. Find and follow other drummers in the social network. Learn from them as you see and practice what they have uploaded to their profile. Share your beats through PDF links and files. Also, share your entire score with a link that pre-populates the score into the app. Learn from a full library of dynamic drum set and snare drum exercises, essential and hybrid rudiments included. For highlighted rhythms, shuffle around groups of notes, stickings, accents, flams, diddles, and cheese.

Screenshots

DrumKnee 3D Drums4 screens
DrumToolz4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: DrumKnee 3D Drums at 4.8 against DrumToolz's 4.2. DrumKnee 3D Drums also leads on update cadence (weekly vs monthly) and review sentiment (81% vs 58%). DrumToolz's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 13) and ads (none vs shown). On price, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. DrumKnee 3D Drums sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. DrumToolz asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

DrumKnee 3D Drums holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: DrumKnee 3D Drums has 16K ratings behind it against 270, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of DrumKnee 3D Drums's written reviews are positive against 58% of DrumToolz's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

DrumKnee 3D Drums ships an update weekly, DrumToolz monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
DrumKnee 3D Drums versus DrumToolz: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrumKnee 3D DrumsDrumToolz
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (16K ratings) — better4.2 (270 ratings)
Positive reviews81.1% of reviews — better58.1% of reviews
Number of ratings16K — better270
Update frequencyWeekly — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better14.0
Further details — not scored
Size89 MB93 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMusic4Fun LLCJared Simon

Customer experience

DrumKnee 3D Drums

All ratings16,497 ratings
Positive94.5%
Neutral3.0%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews848 reviews
Positive81.1%
Neutral6.6%
Negative12.3%

DrumToolz

All ratings270 ratings
Positive78.1%
Neutral8.5%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews43 reviews
Positive58.1%
Neutral25.6%
Negative16.3%

User reviews

DrumKnee 3D Drums

From 16K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🥁 Realistic and satisfying drum sounds
  • 🎨 Variety of customizable drum kits and skins
  • 🦵 Innovative knee-triggered kick drum
  • 🎶 Ability to play along with songs
  • 🤩 Immersive 3D drum experience

Room to improve

  • 🔊 Cymbal sounds cut off too quickly
  • 🤖 Occasional input lag and responsiveness issues
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 📢 Frequent and intrusive ads in free version
  • 🔌 Battery drain concerns with knee-triggered kick

DrumToolz

From 270 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for writing music
  • 👍 Helpful for drumline
  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 👍 Good sounds
  • 👍 Good for practice

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Tutorial not helpful
  • 🐛 Hard to find features
  • 🐛 UI issues
  • 🐛 App crashes frequently
  • 🐛 Saves progress poorly

Bugs and requests

DrumKnee 3D Drums

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Drum kit customization not working as expected
  • Subscription issues and inability to restore purchases
  • Crashes and freezes when playing for extended periods

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to customize drum kit layout
  • More advanced drum techniques (e.g. double bass, ghost notes)
  • Integration with music production software like GarageBand
  • Additional drum kit and song library updates
  • Rechargeable and wireless DK Sense pedal

DrumToolz

Reported bugs

13 issues
  • App crashes and deletes progress
  • App won't open
  • Repeat function doesn't stop
  • Repeat save fails
  • Accents, diddles, flams added automatically
Show 8 more
  • Buzz roll cannot be removed
  • Font camouflages in dark mode
  • App crashes when opening after saving
  • App crashes when opening
  • App crashes when adding notes
  • App crashes after saving
  • App crashes when trying to reopen
  • App crashes a lot

Requested features

15 requests
  • Turn off metronome
  • Add rum shot for snare
  • Add rim shots for other drums
  • Add triplets, fivelets, sixlets
  • Add dynamics (forte, piano)
Show 10 more
  • Cymbals sizzle option
  • Add buzz roll for snares
  • Add diddle feature
  • More measures
  • Add bass drum notes
  • Add open hi-hat sound
  • Improve UI for tuplet measurement
  • Improve UI for measure change
  • Ability to hear multiple instruments simultaneously
  • Fix replace button for bass drums

In-app purchases

11 purchases

DrumKnee 3D Drums

Subscriptions3
  • 1 Month DrumKnee Premium3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • 3 Months DK Music$9.993 Months
  • 1 Year DrumKnee Premium$29.991 Year
One-time8
  • Pack 12 variants$2.99
  • Pack 42 variants$2.99
  • Jazz/Funk Pack$2.99
Show 5 more
  • Electro Pack$2.99
  • Pack 2$2.99
  • Rock Pack$3.99
  • Metal Pack$3.99
  • DrumKnee PRO$5.99
None

DrumToolz

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is DrumKnee 3D Drums free?
DrumKnee 3D Drums is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DrumToolz free?
DrumToolz is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, DrumKnee 3D Drums or DrumToolz?
DrumKnee 3D Drums is rated higher. DrumKnee 3D Drums averages 4.8 out of 5 from 16K ratings, while DrumToolz averages 4.2 from 270 ratings.
Do DrumKnee 3D Drums or DrumToolz have ads?
DrumKnee 3D Drums shows ads; DrumToolz does not.
Which is updated more often, DrumKnee 3D Drums or DrumToolz?
DrumKnee 3D Drums ships an update weekly, and DrumToolz monthly. Most recently, DrumKnee 3D Drums was updated on September 26, 2026 and DrumToolz on September 25, 2026.

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