Bongos! vs Drum Solo Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bongos!
Experience the thrill of playing bongos and congas on your mobile device. This app offers high-quality sounds, realistic drumming experiences, and the ability to play along with your own music. Share and export your creations to sound like a pro.
- High-quality 16-bit stereo sounds
- Realistic 3D visual effects
- Play along to your music
- Metronome with 43 sounds
- 67 Pocket Beats and Loops
- Share and export recordings
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Now anyone can play the bongos anytime, anywhere with Bongos! Featuring high quality sounds and graphics, Bongos! Free is the ultimate drumming app for the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. You can play the Bongos, a Bongo Jam, and Bongos and Conga together. Play alone, to the metronome with 43 different sounds, or to our unique Pocket Beats and Loops. You can even play along to your favorite music on your iPod! With features including 3D visual effects, low latency, slide-and-play, pitch control, ability to share and export your recordings (optional in-app purchase), drum rolls and more, you'll sound like a pro from the moment you start playing. Bongos! is the grooviest drum app ever! FEATURES: • 3 different screens to choose from, all professionally recorded in high quality 16-bit stereo: Bongos, Bongo Jam, and Bongos and Conga. • 3 Unique Playing Zones on each drum create a realistic sounding drum • Share your recordings through email, Facebook, and Twitter • Export your recordings to your computer (optional in-app purchase) • Visual 3D effect when drums are hit maximizes the drumming experience • Metronome with 43 sounds to choose from and variable speed switch (BPM) • 67 Pocket Beats and Loops to play along to • PlayAlong Beats: 16 new loops with basic bass drum, hi-hat or snare beats, to play along for added rhythmic expression! • Slide your finger between the drums • Shake your device to play sounds to your favorite music • Play drum heads simultaneously • Play along with your favorite music by easily accessing your iPod music right from within Bongos! Free • Volume controls for both the drum sounds and music • Pitch control allows for unlimited drum sounds • Rolls on drums with variable speed adjustment (BPM) • Using headphones will allow you to fully enjoy the high quality sounds of Bongos! Free PRIVACY POLICY: http://codyrotwein.com/privacy.html
Drum Solo Studio
This app offers a realistic drumming experience with a multitouch acoustic drum kit simulator. It allows users to play along to their own songs, learn various drumming styles, and record their performances with studio-quality sound.
- AI-powered song lessons
- Multitouch acoustic drum kit simulator
- MIDI support
- Session recording and export
- Real-time effects
- Multiple audio kits
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Drum Solo Studio from Batalsoft unleashes an exceptional drumming experience, empowering you to have fun and become a skilled drummer. With the app's multitouch acoustic drum kit simulator, you can play drums on your iPhone or iPad with your fingers. The app is free and offers studio-quality sound banks with fast and precise response. Take your drumming skills to the next level! NEW: play any song on your drums. Pick a song from your phone and our AI removes the original drums and turns the drum part into a lesson. Play it with a guide on the drum kit, on a highway or as sheet music, slow it down and choose which pieces you play. It includes many incredible features such as MIDI support, recording your sessions, and exporting your compositions to different formats. With these powerful tools, you can create your own unique drumming experience. Play music loud with headset for a superior experience. Drum Solo Studio is designed for everyone who loves drums: beginners, percussionists, professional musicians, drummers... The main advanced features are: • Your songs, as lessons: AI removes the drums from the song you choose and writes the drum part for you. Your first 2 songs are free; with the subscription, 30 songs every month. • 6 complete audio kits: Standard, Heavy Metal, Modern Rock, Jazz, Pop and Synthesizer. • Drum lessons of all styles, from beginner to professional: learn them step by step, then play them in time to earn points and stars. Rock, blues, disco, dubstep, jazz, reggaeton, heavy metal, pop... • Play and record over the songs on your phone (MP3 tab), or jam over pre-recorded backing tracks of different styles. • Record your sessions and later play on top of your own loops, like a real drum machine. • Real-time effects: equalization, reverb, compression, delay and chorus, to fine-tune your live drumming sound and create your desired ambience. • MIDI: connect your electronic drum kit by USB or Bluetooth, assign each pad to the drum you want with "Learn", and send what you play to your computer as MIDI output. • Import the drums track from your favourite MIDI songs from your storage. • Export your loops to MP3, OGG, MIDI and PCM WAV, or share them as a video. Drum Solo Studio also includes these additional features to enhance your drumming experience: • Adjust individually the volume of each instrument and the background music, giving you complete control over the sound of your drumming. • Use the built-in metronome, up to 400 bpm, to stay in time. • Playback speed control for learning, and seekbar to find the preferred moment in the song. • Latency calibration, so the lessons follow your timing with any headphones or speaker. • Realistic HQ sampled stereo sounds, including double kick bass, two toms, floor, snare, hi-hat (two positions with the pedal), 2 crash, splash, ride and cowbell. • Awesome animations for each instrument. • Left-handed mode, and the button bar on the side you prefer. • Low latency for the beats. • 13 touch sensitive multitouch pads. Up to 200 fingers simultaneously. • Very fast loading time. Drum Solo Studio is free, but you can acquire a license to unlock some items and remove ads. Converting more songs needs a monthly or yearly subscription. Terms of Use: https://batalsoft.com/song-service-terms.htm
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Drum Solo Studio at every 11 days against Bongos!'s every 3 months. Bongos!'s advantage is review sentiment (72% vs 63%) and ratings volume (60 vs 12). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Bongos! sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Drum Solo Studio sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Bongos! holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bongos! has 60 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Bongos!'s written reviews are positive against 63% of Drum Solo Studio's.
Bongos! ships an update every 3 months, Drum Solo Studio every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bongos! | Drum Solo Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (60 ratings) — better | 4.2 (12 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 72.2% of reviews — better | 62.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 60 — better | 12 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 514 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Drum Starz | Batalsoft |
Customer experience
Bongos!
Drum Solo Studio
In-app purchases
Bongos!
- Bongos! Upgrade$0.99
- Exporting$0.99
Drum Solo Studio
- Monthly, Premium price$3.991 Month
- Monthly$4.991 Month
- Annual, Premium price$24.991 Year
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- Annual$29.991 Year
- VIP Member$7.99









