Comparison

Tones vs Gridsong

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

Head to head
About

Tones

Create music easily with simple tap controls. This app offers a range of high-quality sounds and tempo adjustments, making it accessible for all ages and musical experience levels. Shake your device to clear the sound pads.

Highlights
  • Tap to create music
  • High-quality sound selection
  • Adjustable tempo
  • Add columns for longer tunes
  • Shake to clear sound pads
Features
Read full description

Tones makes music creation easy for everyone. It really couldn't be any simpler. Even if you can't play a musical instrument, you'll be making cool sounding tunes in no time. You don't need any musical experience at all! Tones is so simple that people of all ages, from young children to adults, can begin effortlessly tapping across sound pads and begin creating fun and interesting sounds that will impress your friends and keep you happily entertained for hours. Features: - Simply tap to activate or deactivate sound pads and start creating music straight away. - Choose from a carefully selected range of high quality sounds. - Adjust the speed of your tune in the tempo menu. - Add extra columns to add length to your music. - Shake your device to quickly and easily clear the display of active sound pads.

About

Gridsong

Features
Read full description

Gridsong turns a glowing grid into an instrument anyone can play. Tap a square and it plays a note. Tap a few more and you have a melody, because the whole grid is locked to a musical scale and nothing you tap can sound wrong. Drag across the grid to paint a run of notes, press play, and it loops. No lessons. No theory. No wrong notes. Just tap and listen. FREE TO PLAY • Tap or drag to place notes on the grid, at any grid size • Locked to a pentatonic scale, so every note fits • Ten built-in instruments: Bell, Pluck, Glass, Voice, Bass and more • Add drums, set the tempo, swing and key • Loop, duplicate and layer patterns into a full song • Start from a template or a blank grid • Record your loops as audio and share them • Save patterns to your library, synced across iPhone and Mac with iCloud • Works fully offline. No account. No ads. ONE PAYMENT FOR PRO. NO SUBSCRIPTION. Gridsong Pro is a single purchase, yours forever, on iPhone and Mac: • A deeper library of instruments, from Harp and Music Box to Choir and Dream • Your own sounds: import any audio or record one, trim it, and play it across the grid • Every template • Share your pattern as a vertical video, sized for TikTok, Reels, or a message • MIDI out: the grid appears as an instrument in Logic, GarageBand and AUM Bought Gridsong when it was a paid app? Pro is already yours, nothing to buy. Whether you are making a quick relaxing loop or building something bigger, Gridsong is the fastest way to go from an empty grid to music.

Screenshots

Tones4 screens
Gridsong4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tones at none against Gridsong's 1. Tones also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Gridsong's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 12 months). On price 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

Both are free to download. Gridsong sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Tones asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tones ships an update every 12 months, Gridsong every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Tones versus Gridsong: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTonesGridsong
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.5 (4 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings4 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 12 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size81 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBen WalkerLEON NELIO FIGUEIRA

In-app purchases

None

Tones

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Gridsong

One-time1
  • Gridsong Pro$3.99

Questions

Is Tones free?
Tones is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Gridsong free?
Gridsong is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Tones or Gridsong have ads?
Tones shows ads; Gridsong does not.
Which is updated more often, Tones or Gridsong?
Tones ships an update every 12 months, and Gridsong every 3 weeks. Most recently, Tones was updated on October 23, 2026 and Gridsong on October 31, 2026.

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