Comparison

Poly Metronome vs Drift

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

Head to head
About

Poly Metronome

Master rhythm with a precise metronome offering advanced features like subdivisions and polyrhythms. Create complex patterns, save setups, and train your timing with built-in tools. Visual, flash, and vibrate modes ensure you stay on beat in any environment.

Highlights
  • Subdivisions per beat
  • Polyrhythm creation
  • Programmable setlists
  • Coach Trainer with mute
  • Automator tempo progression
  • Visual, flash, and vibrate modes
Features
Read full description

Poly Metronome is a precise, modern practice tool for musicians who want more than just a click. Set any time signature, shape odd meters with accent groupings, layer polyrhythms, then save your setups as presets and setlists — or build up speed with practice sessions that track your progress. A clean interface scales from iPhone to iPad, with a live pulse ring that shows every voice and accent at a glance — and stays in sync with the sound on the speaker, headphones, AirPods or AirPlay. FREE FEATURES • Studio-grade timing engine, 1–800 BPM • Any time signature: 1–32 beats per bar, counted in quarter or eighth notes — 5/4, 7/8, 9/8, 12/8 and more • Accents and groupings such as 2+2+3 for odd meters • Two-voice polyrhythms such as 3:2 or 4:7 • Count-in before playback • Tap tempo and manual BPM entry • Vibration and LED flash on the beat (iPhone) • Foot pedal and Bluetooth keyboard control • Siri and Shortcuts: start, stop and set the tempo hands-free • Lock Screen, Dynamic Island and Control Center controls • AirPlay and Bluetooth speakers, with a latency notice • Searchable user guide with live examples • Ad-free, with dark, light or system theme PRO FEATURES — one-time purchase, Family Sharing supported • Up to 5 polyrhythm voices, each with its own sound, color, accents and pattern • 18 sound banks (10 metronome + 8 polyrhythm) • 16 built-in rhythm patterns and a custom pattern editor with real notation — even a different subdivision on every beat • Presets: create, edit and duplicate, with notes such as the key or capo shown on stage • Setlists: songs in order, each with its own tempo, notes and auto-advance on the downbeat — the app reopens on the same song if it closes mid-gig • Practice sessions: Coach mutes bars to test your inner time, Automator ramps the tempo by bars or seconds, and session goals keep you on track • Practice log: day streak, minutes per day and your top-tempo progress • Siri and Spotlight for your presets, practices and setlists • iCloud sync across all your devices Ideal for drummers, guitarists, pianists, singers, dancers and any musician serious about timing.

About

Drift

Features
Read full description

Most metronomes give you one tempo and hold it there. Music does not work that way, and neither does getting better at it. This one changes tempo while you play. RANDOM TEMPO Set a range — 70 to 140 BPM, say — and the tempo moves inside it. Every 30 seconds, every 8 bars, or at intervals it picks for itself. Cap how far it may jump for a gentle drift, or leave it uncapped and hold on. GAP TRAINER The click plays for a few bars, then goes silent while you keep the tempo yourself. When it comes back, you hear whether you drifted. The beat indicators go dark during the silence, so there is nothing to lean on. Tempo changes wait until the click returns, because a change you cannot hear would make the exercise meaningless. GLIDE Instead of jumping, the tempo can slide gradually into each new value over a few seconds. Good for practising a controlled accelerando. EVERYTHING ELSE Time signatures from 2/4 to 12/8, with the accent on beat one — or switch that accent off so every beat sounds identical Eighths, triplets and sixteenths Three click sounds, from a dry tick to a woodblock Tap tempo Shuffle straight to a new tempo, from the app or from your headphones Save your practice setups as presets Lock screen and headphone controls Keeps playing with the screen off, and can mix with a backing track BUILT AROUND THE TIMING Every click is scheduled ahead of time on the audio clock rather than fired by a timer. That is why the beat stays where it should be instead of slowly sliding, even at high tempos with sixteenths running.

Screenshots

Poly Metronome4 screens
Drift3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Drift at none against Poly Metronome's 1. Drift also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Poly Metronome's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price and device support 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. Poly Metronome sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Drift asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Poly Metronome versus Drift: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPoly MetronomeDrift
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (204 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews22.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings204 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days—
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperImre ViragMick Gelissen

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Poly Metronome

One-time1
  • Pro Version$4.99
None

Drift

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Poly Metronome free?
Poly Metronome is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Drift free?
Drift is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Poly Metronome or Drift have ads?
Drift shows ads; Poly Metronome does not.

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