Jamulator vs Hive
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Jamulator
Create musical arrangements quickly using intuitive grids and over 100 instruments. Collaborate with friends on jam sessions and share your creations with the community. Features a sampler for recording and manipulating audio.
- Player-piano-like grid interface
- Over 100 instrument voices
- Real-time collaborative jamming
- Audio sampler with pitch manipulation
- Publish and share creations
- Quantization for musical results
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Using player-piano-like grids, finger paint drums, then choose from over 100 other instruments to create musical arrangements in just minutes. You can zoom in to arrange your notes with precision, or just swipe and see what sounds come out. Quantization makes most of your casual swipes sound interesting and musical. Once you have something you like, you can forward it to friends so they can add parts to the jam session. When you think it's finished, you can publish it for all app users to listen to. There is also a sampler that lets you record audio, and then play notes of different pitch using the same player-piano-like grid. You can make your voice sound like a chipmunk, or like Darth Vader. A very high quality musical instrument using general MIDI 2 standard voices. New in 2.1.0: Live realtime jamming. There is still a little lag, but because of the metronome it feels like you are actually jamming. You are certainly interacting musically in close to realtime.
Hive
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Hive is a honeycomb loop mixer. Pick a hive, tap a hex, and the loop locks to the beat. Every loop in a pack lives in the same key and tempo, so whatever you light up plays together. No timeline. No tracks. No menus. Just a wall of glowing hexes and a heartbeat that keeps the jam honest. Tap mid-cycle and the loop waits for the next downbeat, then drops in on time. Seven hives, seven moods. Tape Haze and Break Slice are free, forever. Pocket Groove, Stingray, Warehouse Pulse, Neon Current, and Crate Digger unlock with Hive Pro. Light up a mix you love and share it as a hive code. Anyone with Hive opens the same loops, on the same downbeat. Hive Pro is $4.99/month or $39.99/year. It unlocks every hive, all future packs, unlimited downloads, and mix recording. Cancel anytime in Settings. Works on iPhone and iPad, portrait or landscape. Pinch to zoom the bigger hives.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Jamulator at 11.0 against Hive's 18.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Jamulator sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Hive sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Jamulator ships an update weekly, Hive every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Jamulator | Hive |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (5 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 159 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Eric Ford | ENAMIC (PTY) LTD |
In-app purchases
Jamulator
- Remove Ads$0.99
Hive
- Hive Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- Hive Pro Yearly$39.991 Year









