iShala vs TaalMala
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iShala
This app provides accompaniment for Indian classical music practice, offering customizable tanpuras, tablas, and other instruments. It includes a vast library of rhythmic cycles and ragas, with advanced features like pitch correction and recording capabilities in its Pro edition.
- Customizable tanpuras and tablas
- Vast library of ragas and rhythmic cycles
- Pitch correction for vocal accuracy
- Manual instrument playing via MIDI keyboard
- Session recording and loop creation
- Cloud access to user-created content
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iShala is an Indian music mobile app that provides flawless accompaniment for classical music practice, be it vocal, instrumental or rhythmic. It comes in 2 Editions: Standard and Pro (previously known as Premium). It features: • 6 Tanpuras (10 on Pro Edition) • 2 Tablas (3 on Pro Edition) • a Swarmandal • a Vibraphone (Pro Edition only) • a Harmonium • 3 Manjeeras (6 on Pro Edition) all fully customisable in practice sessions that can then be loaded on demand. It effectively replaces a tabla machine, a lehra player and an electronic tanpura. It is therefore an ideal tool for anyone practicing Indian classical music, or just wishing to jam along virtual Indian musicians on any other musical style. iShala includes over 60 rhythmic cycles, melodies in more than 110 ragas and 7 different tempos. You can also create your own ragas and fine-tune each of their notes at micro-tones (or shrutis) level. Possible combinations are thus nothing short of endless! iShala initially comes in Standard Edition, but you can upgrade it to Pro Edition through an In-App purchase option. These are one-time payments; whatever the edition you choose, you can use the app forever. Standard Edition has all the features you need for your riyaaz, and more. But Pro Edition adds some really exciting functionality like: • pitch correction: iShala detects the note you are currently singing, along with a coloured meter highlighting whether you are right on pitch or not. This is a precious tool to improve your accuracy. • additional instruments: 4 tanpuras, a low pitch tabla, a vibraphone and 3 manjeeras • manual playing of all instruments: tabla, harmonium, tanpura, swarmandal, vibraphone and manjeera • NEW: plug a MIDI keyboard (USB/Bluetooth) and play any of these instruments through it! • record your own loops • record your practice session: adjust mic/music level, then press REC, sing, press STOP and the audio recording file will be generated for you to listen and share • pull items from the Cloud: download rhythmic and/or melodic cycles posted from SwarShala users directly on your device For more detailed info on features per edition, check the following topic: https://www.swarclassical.com/guides/ishala/topic.php?product=is&id=18 ---- Some sweet words from our users: "Best tanpura app. Concert like. Fully satisfied. I think incomparable with others. Price also reasonable compared to others. Anyone can perform even on stage with this app." "Amazing tool for your daily solo practice. Thanks for this help for music students. Love it, God bless" "This app is best investment for Indian classical musicians. I own this app for almost 4 years and I would say it's value for money. It is best app for riyaz with amazing tabla and tanpura." "After using this app for more than 1 year I am writing genuine review about this app. Wonderful service from the team. Even when I had queries and when I was in need of assistance, they replied through Email and helped me within 10 minutes. App is wonderful which I am using for my music practice, it's helping me a lot. If u are a true music learner, I would recommend this. Thanks a lot to the team members and developers of this IShala app." "Excellent app. Best for riyaz. Fine sounds. Perfectly tuned instruments." "Just one word... Perfect !!" "Excellent App. Wonderful to do Riyaz with this App. Best on the market. Well worth the price. Well done to the developers." FOLLOW US! • facebook: https://www.facebook.com/swarclassical • instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swarclassical • youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SwarClassical
TaalMala
This app provides realistic accompaniment for Indian classical musicians, featuring high-quality sampled instruments like Tabla and Tanpura. It offers extensive pre-composed compositions and allows users to create their own Taals, Lehras, and SwarMandal patterns. Ideal for daily practice or live performances.
- High-quality sampled instruments
- 360+ pre-composed Taals
- 246+ pre-composed Lehras
- 620+ pre-composed SwarMandal patterns
- Compose custom Taals and Lehras
- Sequencer for arranging patterns
- Adjustable tempo and pitch
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TaalMala provides personalized accompaniment of Tabla, Pakhawaj, Manjeera, Tanpura, SwarMandal and Lehra/Nagma on Santoor and Harmonium. Use TaalMala for your daily riyaaz or live concerts. With high-quality Tabla, Pakhawaj, Manjeera, Tanpura, SwarMandal, Santoor and Harmonium sounds sampled from real instruments, more than 360+ pre-composed Taals and Sequences, and more than 246+ pre-composed Lehra/Nagma compositions, and 650+ SwarMandal patterns in 65+ Ragas, TaalMala provides a complete practising solution for any Indian musician. With TaalMala Composer, you can compose your own Taals, Lehras/Nagmas, SwarMandal patterns by simply typing the notation of the Taal/Lehra on special built-in Taal/Lehra keyboard. With TaalMala Sequencer, you can arrange sequences of fixed or randomized or tempo-based Taal and Lehra/Nagma patterns. TaalMala features: - High-quality studio-recorded Tabla, Pakhawaj, Tanpura, SwarMandal, Santoor, Harmonium and Manjeera (Zanj) sounds - Two sets of Tabla/Dagga sounds and ability to choose and mix-match between the two sound sets - 360+ pre-composed Taals and Taal sequences, including most popular Taals and their variations - 246+ pre-composed Lehra/Nagma compositions and sequences in multitude of ragas and Taals - 620+ pre-composed SwarMandal patterns in 62+ Ragas - New Taals, Lehras/Nagmas and compositions added frequently as updates - Compose your own Taals and Lehras/Nagmas by simply entering the notation - Powerful sequencer to compose fixed, tempo-based and randomized sequences from the Taals and Lehras library - Taal/Lehra/SwarMandal pad; play any Taal/Lehra/SwarMandal pattern on-demand in live accompaniment - Automatic Manjeera/Zanj accompaniment, synchronized with the Tabla/Pakhawaj Taals - Adjustable tempo from 10 bpm to 1000 bpm - Pitch control (+/- 0.5 octave), with independent fine-tuning of all instruments for precise matching with your scale - Pitch detector for detecting your pitch and precise matching, built within the app - Independent volume control for Tabla/Pitch, Dagga/Bass, Manjeera and Lehra/Nagma - Choice of chromatic or just/harmonic tuning for all instruments, with fine-tuning capability. - Up to 2 simultaneous Tanpuras - High-quality Tanpura sounds (male and female tones) with all popular Tanpura patterns included - Adjustable Tanpura tempo and strumming speed of 4 Tanpura strings independently - Option to slightly vary the Tanpura plucking delays randomly for better realism - Tap on the screen twice to set exact Taal tempo, as required This version of the application has following limitations: Playback restricted to 5 minutes every hour. To unlock full functionality and remove the limitation above, click "Buy" option on the main screen. Once you purchase a subscription to the app, the 5-minute per hour limitation will be removed. Please contact us at service@taalmala.com if you have any questions. Licensing terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Our privacy policy: https://www.taalmala.com/privacy.shtml
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: TaalMala at Free against iShala's $12.99. iShala's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.3) and chart position (#68 vs unranked). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
TaalMala is free to download; iShala costs $12.99 up front. iShala sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and TaalMala sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
iShala holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 162 and 177 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 42% of iShala's written reviews are positive against 33% of TaalMala's.
iShala ships an update every 3 months, TaalMala every 2 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | iShala | TaalMala |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $12.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.6 (162 ratings) — better | 4.3 (177 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 42.4% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 162 | 177 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #68 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 111 MB | 73 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Swar Systems | Abhijit Patait |
Customer experience
iShala
TaalMala
In-app purchases
iShala
- iShala 5 Pro Edition$9.99
TaalMala
- Premium Edition - Monthly$3.991 Month
- Premium Edition - Yearly$29.991 Year






