Comparison

Drumline vs Play Drums!

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

Head to head
About

Drumline

This app provides a comprehensive marching percussion experience, allowing users to write and play drum notation, design drill charts, and practice conducting. It features realistic sounds from top brands and tools like a metronome and drumhead tuner.

Highlights
  • Write and play drum notation
  • Design and visualize drill charts
  • Conducting program with tempo control
  • Realistic percussion instrument sounds
  • Metronome with subdivisions
  • Drumhead tuner
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Snare drum, Tenors, Basses, Cymbals, Xylophone, Marimba, Vibraphone, Write Notation, Charts, Drum Major, Metronomes, Drumhead Tuner, and Challenges!!! In your pocket for the cost of a drum key. This app isn't for people who like drums or are drum-curious. This app is for those who can't stop drumming on anything and everything around them to the point where they are considered "disruptive" to their family, friends, and neighbors. Honored by Apple as "New & Noteworthy" in the Music apps category. This isn't some free tap app with canned sound effects and busted graphics. We're bringing the world's best drumming hardware to your fingertips. We've partnered with Dynasty USA Drums, Pro-Mark Drumsticks, Evans Drumheads, and Sabian Cymbals to deliver an optimized marching experience directly to your iPhone and iPad. And now you can write it, play it, and march it. Are you kidding?! WRITE NOTATION That thing you've been tapping on every available surface? Write it down. Build snare, tenor, bass, and cymbal parts with accents, diddles, flams, sticking, dynamics, and tuplets. Go from mf to f with a crescendo. Hit play and hear your battery bring it back. Save and share editable .perc scores, or export PDF and PNG sheet music. CHARTS A whole drill book, right here. Place performers, build sets, choose the counts, add your music, and watch the transitions in 3D. Check the drill from overhead, orbit, judges, or a performer's view. Basketball courts, WGI floors, custom spaces, and .drillbook sharing. Yes, we're moving feet now too. DRUM MAJOR Somebody's got to keep this thing together. Build a conducting program with different tempos, meters, dynamics, and count-ins. Set a countdown so you can put your device down, then play to the hands. That tempo change isn't going to practice itself. If you're reading this you're late. 1000s of drummers before you downloaded this app: • Battery samples professionally recorded by DCI DVD sound engineer Jamie Vanadia at NoiseFloor Ltd. in Chicago. • Front ensemble samples courtesy of the University of Iowa Musical Instrument Samples (MIS) project. You guys rock! • In Snare: toggle between dynamics and standard modes. • In Basses and Tenors: switch between Pro-Mark nylon and soft mallets. • In Cymbals: crashes, chokes, taps, sizzles, sizzle chokes, hi-hats, and zings. • Full and split keyboard layouts for xylophone, marimba, and vibes. Foot pedal on vibes, too. • Color themes to match your drumline. THE HARDWARE Snare: Dynasty MS-XD14 Marching Snare Drum. Tenors: Dynasty MT-680234, five- and six-drum configurations. Basses: Dynasty MB-18 through MB-26, 18", 20", 22", 24", 26". Cymbals: Sabian Synergy HHX, 18" and 20". METRONOMES 30–300 BPM in wood block, metal, or duts. Quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and triplet subdivisions. Offbeats and all that sweetness you need. Save your presets for the next rep. DRUMHEAD TUNER Do the impossible: tune your tenors or basses. Hit-and-hold pitch detection, Low/Standard/High tuning targets, and smart harmonic correction. No piano tuner nonsense, just drums. CHALLENGES Test your phrasing memory on snare, tenors, or basses. Put your BPM senses to the test in Line Leader. Grab your practice pad and find out how many single strokes you can play in 30 seconds in Speed Test. Drumline captains, this will put your titles to the test! It's a whole drumline in your pocket for less than a drum key. Get all this when you buy now! Like no tricks. Buy once. No subscription. No in-app purchases. Learn more: https://drumlineapp.com Join the line: https://facebook.com/drumlineapp Or X: https://twitter.com/drumlineapp Yo! Don't use real drumsticks on your device... you'll crack your screen and your friends will point and laugh at you! Let's try not to make this the bad, 1985. :)

About

Play Drums!

Experience a futuristic rhythm game inspired by 80s electronic drum kits and EDM. Tap colorful hexagons in time with the music to score points and improve your rhythmic abilities. Choose from various difficulty levels, songs, and drum kits.

Highlights
  • Rhythm game with EDM music
  • Beginner and advanced difficulty levels
  • Multiple drum kits and songs
  • Professionally recorded stereo sounds
  • Hi-resolution graphics
  • Lefty mode for reversed layout
Features
Read full description

Play Drums! is an exciting and unique rhythm game based on the electronic drum kits of the 1980s. Combined with electronic dance music (EDM), this fast-paced and futuristic game is not only fun and challenging, but actually improves your rhythmic abilities! When you start a song, choosing from either beginner or advanced levels, colorful concentric hexagons converge onto the drum pad that should be tapped. If you hit it right on time, you score 50 points; almost in rhythm, 25 points. And if you miss, 10 points are deducted from your score. With 10 songs and 6 different drum kits to choose from, you'll be rockin' like a real drummer in no time! Play Drums! is the most fun way ever to learn to Play Drums! FEATURES: * 5 free EDM beginner songs and 5 free EDM advanced songs to choose from * 6 free amazing drum kits to choose from......play to songs, or play drums without music * Professionally recorded stereo sounds * Beautiful hi-resolution retina graphics * Game Center integration * Lefty mode: reverse the drum layout PRIVACY POLICY: http://codyrotwein.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Drumline4 screens
Play Drums!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Play Drums! at Free against Drumline's $4.99. Play Drums! also leads on review sentiment (50% vs 40%) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.6). Drumline's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). On update cadence 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

Play Drums! is free to download; Drumline costs $4.99 up front. Play Drums! sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Drumline asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Drumline holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drumline has 1.2K ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 40% of Drumline's written reviews are positive against 50% of Play Drums!'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Drumline versus Play Drums!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrumlinePlay Drums!
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.1 (1.2K ratings) — better3.7 (13 ratings)
Positive reviews39.7% of reviews50.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.2K — better13
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 4 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#44 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size183 MB84 MB
Age rating+49+
DeveloperJohn OstlerDrum Starz

Customer experience

Drumline

All ratings1,163 ratings
Positive75.7%
Neutral6.0%
Negative18.3%
Written reviews126 reviews
Positive39.7%
Neutral17.5%
Negative42.9%

Play Drums!

All ratings13 ratings
Positive61.5%
Neutral15.4%
Negative23.1%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral33.3%
Negative16.7%

Bugs and requests

Drumline

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Drums not registering hits correctly
  • Tenors and bass drums not playing proper pitches
  • Cymbals not functioning as expected
  • App crashing or not producing any sound

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add landscape mode for better playability
  • Allow customization of drum tuning and sound
  • Implement a metronome and ability to play along with music
  • Add more advanced drumming techniques (rolls, diddles, etc.)

Play Drums!

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Drumline

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Play Drums!

One-time5
  • Remove Ads$0.99
  • London House$0.99
  • Rocket$0.99
Show 2 more
  • Cephalopod$0.99
  • Blue Scorpion$0.99

Questions

Is Drumline free?
Drumline costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Play Drums! free?
Play Drums! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Drumline or Play Drums!?
Drumline is rated higher. Drumline averages 4.1 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Play Drums! averages 3.7 from 13 ratings.
Do Drumline or Play Drums! have ads?
Play Drums! shows ads; Drumline does not.
Which is updated more often, Drumline or Play Drums!?
Drumline ships an update every 4 months, and Play Drums! every 4 months. Most recently, Drumline was updated on November 1, 2026 and Play Drums! on November 1, 2026.

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