Comparison

SD vs IBM Aspera

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

Head to head
About

SD

Control your Sound Devices 8-Series mixer-recorder remotely from your iPad or iPhone. Manage transport, edit metadata, take notes, monitor outputs, and adjust channel settings like faders, trims, and pan. View large-scale meters and timecode on all screens.

Highlights
  • Remote transport controls
  • Metadata editing
  • Take notes
  • Monitor outputs
  • Adjust faders, trims, and pan
  • Channel arming, disarming, solo, and mute
  • Large-scale channel meters
  • Timecode display
Features
Read full description

Control your Sound Devices 8-Series mixer-recorder from your iPad or iPhone with SD-Remote. Quickly access transport controls, edit metadata, write Take Notes, monitor outputs, and adjust faders, trims, and pan controls. Arm, disarm, solo, and mute channels with ease. Large-scale meters are available for all channels, and the current timecode is displayed on every screen.

About

IBM Aspera

Facilitates rapid file transfers to and from your IBM Aspera server. Link your server account to upload, download, and share files seamlessly from your mobile device, mirroring web browser capabilities.

Highlights
  • Fast FASP file transfers
  • Link server account
  • Upload, download, and share files
  • Mobile and web browser parity
  • Supports multiple IBM Aspera server types
Read full description

Welcome to our consolidated mobile app for IBM Aspera. Enjoy streamlined functionality for fast FASP file transfers to and from your IBM Aspera server by linking to your server account in the mobile app. Our consolidated app matches the look and feel of IBM Aspera on Cloud and Faspex 5. This app is FASP native on iOS, so you can transfer files to and from your mobile device with the amazing speeds of IBM Aspera. Main Features: • Simply link your IBM Aspera server account on the app to upload, download, and share files from anywhere. • The capabilities of your mobile app will be similar as in your web browser for IBM Aspera on Cloud and Faspex 5. • You can link to your accounts on IBM Aspera High Speed Transfer Server, Faspex 4 or 5, and/or IBM Aspera on Cloud. This replaces the following: • IBM Aspera Uploader (mobile app) • IBM Aspera Drive (mobile app) • IBM Aspera on Cloud (mobile app) • IBM Aspera Faspex (mobile app) Thank you for choosing IBM Aspera!

Screenshots

SD4 screens
IBM Aspera4 screens

Verdict

The call

SD and IBM Aspera both sit at 3.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 33% of IBM Aspera's written reviews are positive against 22% of SD's. SD's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.7 for SD against 3.7 for IBM Aspera. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 9 and 22 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 22% of SD's written reviews are positive against 33% of IBM Aspera's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SD ships an update every 2 months, IBM Aspera every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 1, 2026 and August 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
SD versus IBM Aspera: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSDIBM Aspera
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (9 ratings)3.7 (22 ratings) — better
Positive reviews22.2% of reviews33.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings922 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB53 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperSound Devices, LLCIBM

Customer experience

SD

All ratings9 ratings
Positive55.6%
Neutral22.2%
Negative22.2%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive22.2%
Neutral22.2%
Negative55.6%

IBM Aspera

All ratings22 ratings
Positive68.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative31.8%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

In-app purchases

None

SD

No in-app purchases

None

IBM Aspera

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SD free?
SD is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is IBM Aspera free?
IBM Aspera is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SD or IBM Aspera?
IBM Aspera is rated higher. SD averages 3.7 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while IBM Aspera averages 3.7 from 22 ratings.
Do SD or IBM Aspera have ads?
Neither SD nor IBM Aspera shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SD or IBM Aspera?
SD ships an update every 2 months, and IBM Aspera every 6 weeks. Most recently, SD was updated on September 1, 2026 and IBM Aspera on August 27, 2026.

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