Comparison

Cortex Cloud vs Pedal Garden

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

Head to head
About

Cortex Cloud

Manage your Nano Cortex and access cloud-based content with an elegant interface. Browse and download presets, neural captures, and more. Control your device's profile and privacy settings.

Highlights
  • Control Nano Cortex
  • Access Cortex Cloud
  • Browse users and presets
  • Download content
  • Manage profile and privacy
  • Share content
Features
Read full description

Control your Nano Cortex and access Cortex Cloud through an intuitive and elegant interface. Browse users, Presets, Neural Captures, and more. Download items to have them display instantly on your device. You can also manage your profile and change the privacy settings for any files you have uploaded to Cortex Cloud. Benefits: Access deeper customization options for your Nano Cortex. Seamlessly download Presets, Neural Captures, and other items to your Quad Cortex or Nano Cortex. Manage your profile and the items you have uploaded to Cortex Cloud. Discover and follow users. Share Presets and Neural Captures with your friends. Cortex Cloud requires a free Neural DSP account and a registered Quad Cortex or Nano Cortex. Cortex Cloud is not required to use the Quad Cortex or Nano Cortex but provides deeper customization options for the Nano Cortex.

About

Pedal Garden

Features
Read full description

Welcome to Pedal Garden! Pedal Garden is a next-generation virtual pedalboard simulator that lets you scan your real-world gear using AI and build your ultimate dream setup in a digital space. 【AI-Powered Gear Scanning】 Simply snap a photo of your favorite effects pedals or full pedalboard. The built-in AI instantly recognizes, crops, and isolates each individual pedal, saving them directly into your personal digital "Shelf." Instead of just picking generic pre-made gear from a list, you can place your actual, battle-scarred pedals with your specific knob settings right onto your screen. "I want to buy a new pedal, but will it fit on my current board?" "I want to experiment and visualize the perfect signal chain." "I want to archive and manage my prized rigs as beautiful digital data." Pedal Garden turns your passion for gear and true sense of ownership into a perfect digital reality. 【Key Features】 ● AI Board Scanning: Take a photo of your real rig, and the AI automatically detects and logs each pedal into your digital inventory. ● Realistic Canvas: Arrange your custom-scanned pedals with seamless, intuitive drag-and-drop controls. ● Size Measurement: Automatically measures the outer dimensions of your arranged pedals and displays the exact pedalboard size you need. ● Flexible Routing: Visually organize your signal chain and design your dream audio system. ● Multi-Device Sync: Effortlessly scan and sketch your ideas on your iPhone, then dive deep and edit on the big screen of your iPad or Mac. --- 【Free Tier】 Experience the innovation of AI scanning and board building completely free of charge. ・Create up to 3 pedalboards ・Place and stock up to 20 total pedals 【Pedal Garden Pro (Subscription)】 Upgrade to the Pro tier to completely unlock all limitations and experience professional, limitless gear management. ・Completely unlimited pedalboard creation ・Completely unlimited pedal placement and stocking on your Shelf ・Full system backup and restoration features Bring the real board from your floor straight into Pedal Garden in its most beautiful digital form today! Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://gist.github.com/makanow/8a955055a54d57a37ee70af93e18ceaf

Screenshots

Cortex Cloud4 screens
Pedal Garden4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cortex Cloud at none against Pedal Garden's 1. Cortex Cloud also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Pedal Garden's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 6 weeks). On price, ads 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. Pedal Garden sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $7.99 per month. Cortex Cloud asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cortex Cloud ships an update every 6 weeks, Pedal Garden every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Cortex Cloud versus Pedal Garden: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCortex CloudPedal Garden
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.4 (73 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews28.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings73 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size100 MB20 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNeural DSPHiroaki Nagase

In-app purchases

None

Cortex Cloud

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Pedal Garden

Subscriptions1
  • Pedal Garden Unlocked$7.991 Month

Questions

Is Cortex Cloud free?
Cortex Cloud is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Pedal Garden free?
Pedal Garden is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Cortex Cloud or Pedal Garden have ads?
Neither Cortex Cloud nor Pedal Garden shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cortex Cloud or Pedal Garden?
Cortex Cloud ships an update every 6 weeks, and Pedal Garden every 5 days. Most recently, Cortex Cloud was updated on November 3, 2026 and Pedal Garden on October 31, 2026.

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