Comparison

Bongos vs Cajon!

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

Head to head
About

Bongos

Experience realistic bongo drumming with professionally recorded sounds that change based on where you strike the drums. This app offers high-quality samples, additional percussion, and low latency for an immersive musical experience on your iPhone or iPad.

Highlights
  • 18 high-quality bongo samples
  • Cowbell and sticks percussion
  • Professionally recorded & mastered sounds
  • No latency for precise playing
  • Multitasking support for playing along with music
  • Universal app for iPhone and iPad
Features
Read full description

The ultimate Bongos for your iPhone and iPad 18 with professionally recorded and mastered sounds: Depending where you hit the bongos sounds varies! It doesn’t matter if you are a professional musician, want to become a bongocero or just want to drum for fun - you should get this app! Features: ⇒ 18 high quality bongo samples ⇒ More percussion: Cowbell and sticks ⇒ Professionally recorded & mastered sounds ⇒ No latency for fast and exact playing! ⇒ Optimized for iPhone / iPad speakers, headphones and external speakers ⇒ Supports multitasking: Play along with your own music ⇒ HD Retina Graphics for iPhone, iPod touch and the new iPad ⇒ 2 Apps in 1: Universal App for iPhone AND iPad To play along with your own music, start the music on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad and start the app. Important: If you can't hear anything on your device, please make sure, you turned up the ringtone volume and enabled application sounds in the iPhone settings menu. --------- Make sure to leave a comment with ideas and wishes for future versions in your review!

About

Cajon!

Experience authentic drumming with a variety of percussion instruments. This app offers realistic touch sensitivity, pitch changes, and multi-track recording. Customize your cajon's color and sound with adjustable effects, and play along to built-in beats and metronome.

Highlights
  • 6 high-fidelity cajons
  • 5 additional percussion instruments
  • Realistic touch sensitivity and pitch response
  • Multi-track recording and export
  • Customizable cajon colors
  • Play-along beats and metronome
Features
Read full description

The cajon is thought to have originated in Peru, where African slaves used old packing crates to replace their native drums. Cajon! Free features 6 different professionally recorded high fidelity cajons to play. You can also add 5 different percussion instruments that can be played along with the cajon including congas, bongos, timbales and more. Realistic features of Cajon! Free combine to give you an authentic drumming experience. The pitch changes slightly depending on where you hit the cajon. Also, the volume responds to your touch; the harder you tap, the louder it sounds. Playing rolls is as easy as swirling your finger, simply adjusting the roll speed by how fast or slow you swirl.   A unique addition to Cajon! Free is the ability to choose any color you desire for the cajon. Other great features include adjustments for pitch, reverb, delay, and touch sensitivity, multi-track recording, ability to share and export your recordings (optional in-app purchase), and so much more! There are also 16 PlayAlong Beats, 15 unique Drum Beats and 11 Music Beats to play along to, as well as 11 different metronome sounds. Utilizing decades of real drum experience and the latest technology, Cajon! Free is the perfect app for cajon players of all ages and experience! FEATURES:
 - 5 professionally recorded 44.1 khz high fidelity cajons, with more to come - 5 different percussion instruments to choose from including congas, bongos, timbales, cowbell/woodblock, and snare/cymbal - Slider control for different cajon color choices - The harder you hit the drums, the louder they sound! - Drum Pitch Sensitivity - the pitch changes depending on where you strike the cajon, just like a real cajon - Reverb and Delay Controls - slider adjustments allows limitless drum sounds - Pitch Control - lower or raise the pitch of the drums - Realistic visual effects - Retina Display for both iPad and iPhone for incredibly crisp graphics - 15 Drum Beats and 11 Music Beats to play along to, with more to come! - PlayAlong Beats: 16 new loops with basic bass drum, hi-hat or snare beats, to play along for added rhythmic expression! - Realistic Rolls - simply swirl your finger around to create slower or faster rolls - Double Beat drum feature with slider adjustment - 11 Metronome Sounds and 4 Time Signatures to choose from, with BPM adjustment - Multi-track recording - easily add or delete tracks, save and loop recordings - Share your recordings through email, Facebook, and Twitter - Export your recordings to your computer (optional in-app purchase) - Lefty Mode - reverse the entire drum layout - Play along to the music on your iPod - Adjust volume for metronome and beat sounds PRIVACY POLICY: http://codyrotwein.com/privacy.html

Screenshots

Bongos2 screens
Cajon!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Cajon! at 4.3 against Bongos's 3.3. Cajon! also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). Bongos's advantage is review sentiment (64% vs 25%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Bongos sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Cajon! sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Cajon! holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 18 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 64% of Bongos's written reviews are positive against 25% of Cajon!'s, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bongos ships an update every 2 months, Cajon! monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Bongos versus Cajon!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBongosCajon!
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (24 ratings)4.3 (18 ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.1% of reviews — better25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings24 — better18
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB52 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperSkunk Brothers GmbHDrum Starz

Customer experience

Bongos

All ratings24 ratings
Positive54.2%
Neutral8.3%
Negative37.5%
Written reviews276 reviews
Positive64.1%
Neutral13.8%
Negative22.1%

Cajon!

All ratings18 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral5.6%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative62.5%

Bugs and requests

Bongos

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Sound not working on some devices
  • Rotation issues on certain phones
  • Ads covering up playing area

Requested features

4 requests
  • Record and playback feature
  • More instrument options
  • Ability to tune/adjust bongos
  • Integration with music apps

Cajon!

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Bongos

One-time1
  • Bongos Ad-Free$1.99
2 purchases

Cajon!

One-time2
  • Exporting$0.99
  • Remove Ads$0.99

Questions

Is Bongos free?
Bongos is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cajon! free?
Cajon! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Bongos or Cajon!?
Cajon! is rated higher. Bongos averages 3.3 out of 5 from 24 ratings, while Cajon! averages 4.3 from 18 ratings.
Do Bongos or Cajon! have ads?
Both Bongos and Cajon! show ads.
Which is updated more often, Bongos or Cajon!?
Bongos ships an update every 2 months, and Cajon! monthly. Most recently, Bongos was updated on September 29, 2026 and Cajon! on September 25, 2026.

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