Comparison

Drumline vs Drillbook Next Reader

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

Drillbook Next Reader

This app allows marching band members and instructors to visualize and follow marching show drills. It displays coordinates for each performer at every count, enabling users to understand their position and contribution to the overall show. Features include playback, zoom, and personalized set books for marchers.

Highlights
  • View coordinates for every set and count
  • Navigate show by counts and sets
  • Pinch and zoom functionality
  • Jump to any set or song
  • Play show with creator-entered tempos
  • Personalized set book for each marcher
  • Print set cards
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Marching band and drum corps drill at your fingertips. See how every count and every set fits into your marching show. Follow shows created on DrillbookNext.com or Drillbook Next: Directors. Drillbook Next Reader does not create shows, only follows them "Game Changer - This app is one of the most amazing tools I have used in my years of teaching marching band. So much you can do with it, no more carrying around paper charts trying to explain what a move should look like, students can watch, step-by-step, and see their coordinates the entire way. A total game changer for my band!" - SHS Drumline "Simply the best drillbook app on the App Store - As a band director, I've fallen victim to carrying around the "large binder of charts" that the profession demands. Not any more!! Upon seeing what this app can offer, it's well worth the price, both for students and directors. Seeing every dot on the field in motion and, at any time, having the ability to click on a member and see their dot book coordinate is a massive timesaver and makes rehearsals infinitely more efficient." - NBRFWooo! "Wonderful tool for drill - Beautiful, well polished, feature rich, prefect for quickly knowing what the drill should look like and the exact coordinates for any student." - Wooky "This is the best app for reading drill - I seriously can't say enough about how well this app works. Uploading a show is simple, it updates easily, it's excellent and the developer is very responsive to issues." - Roskoski Marchers Follow your dot as your marching show develops. See how you contribute to the big picture for every count. Know your show forwards and backwards. Use a set book for any marcher in the show. Instructors Pinpoint each marcher for every count. View marcher names and color coded drill. Help students get up to speed faster. Features: Coordinates for every set and count of your marching show. Move forward and backward by counts and sets. Pinch and zoom in and out. Jump to any set or song. Play the show with tempos entered by the show creator. Marcher View flips the field. Personalized set book for each marcher. Print set cards for each marcher through Set Book Mode. Custom notes for each marcher.

Screenshots

Drumline4 screens
Drillbook Next Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Drillbook Next Reader at every 3 weeks against Drumline's every 4 months. Drillbook Next Reader also leads on review sentiment (54% vs 40%) and price ($2.99 vs $4.99). Drumline's advantage is ratings volume (1.2K vs 29) and chart position (#57 vs #184). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Drumline costs $4.99 and Drillbook Next Reader $2.99 up front. 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 — 4.1 for Drumline against 4.1 for Drillbook Next Reader. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drumline has 1.2K ratings behind it against 29, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 40% of Drumline's written reviews are positive against 54% of Drillbook Next Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drumline ships an update every 4 months, Drillbook Next Reader every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Drumline versus Drillbook Next Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDrumlineDrillbook Next Reader
Price$4.99$2.99 — better
Rating4.1 (1.2K ratings)4.1 (29 ratings) — better
Positive reviews39.7% of reviews53.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.2K — better29
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank#57 — better#184
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.68.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size183 MB32 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperJohn OstlerScott Rundell

Customer experience

Drumline

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

Drillbook Next Reader

All ratings29 ratings
Positive75.9%
Neutral6.9%
Negative17.2%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive53.8%
Neutral7.7%
Negative38.5%

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.)

Drillbook Next Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Drumline

No in-app purchases

None

Drillbook Next Reader

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Drumline free?
Drumline costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Drillbook Next Reader free?
Drillbook Next Reader costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Drumline or Drillbook Next Reader?
Drillbook Next Reader is rated higher. Drumline averages 4.1 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Drillbook Next Reader averages 4.1 from 29 ratings.
Do Drumline or Drillbook Next Reader have ads?
Neither Drumline nor Drillbook Next Reader shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Drumline or Drillbook Next Reader?
Drumline ships an update every 4 months, and Drillbook Next Reader every 3 weeks. Most recently, Drumline was updated on November 1, 2026 and Drillbook Next Reader on November 1, 2026.
Which is more popular, Drumline or Drillbook Next Reader?
Drumline currently peaks at #57 in the App Store charts, and Drillbook Next Reader at #184. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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