Comparison

Cajon! vs Real Drums!

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

Head to head
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

About

Real Drums!

Experience a realistic drumming environment with customizable drum kits and extensive sound options. Arrange components, edit layouts, and utilize features like auto-rolling and motion sensor integration for an immersive playing experience. Record your own beats or explore pre-recorded tracks.

Highlights
  • Customizable drum kit arrangement
  • Multiple drum kit sounds
  • Auto drum rolling
  • Motion sensor integration
  • Record and save beats
  • Pre-recorded beats library
  • 3-D sound positioning
Features
Read full description

Looking for a realistic drum playing application? Want to arrange drum components as you like? Want sliding and playing functions with great responsiveness? Meeting above needs all at the same time? Here is a perfect solution for your ideal drum. Real Drums will provide you with realistic drum playing environment at your fingertips. FEATURES: * 4 different drum kit sounds (rock, jazz, dance, electronic) * 10 basic drum components with 12 different sounds played simultaneously * 8 extra components (4 brushed, side-stick, 2 extra cymbals, and a cowbell) * Arrange drum components to make your fingers comfortable * Edit (Add / Remove / Resize) components * Auto drum rolling (4, 8, 12, 16, 32 beat) * Mixes high quality poly-phony sounds with no clipping at the end * 3-D Positioning sounds * A metronome with adjustable on/off, BPMs and beats * Open hihat features quick stop * Record and save your own beats * 40 pre-recorded beats (Rock, Hiphop, Jazz, Latin, Ballad, Dance, etc) * Slide and play * Activates motion sensor for playing bass drum and cymbals * Great responsiveness for double bass and fast beats * Animated visual effect * Velocity Control Turn on your favorate song and enjoy !!!

Screenshots

Cajon!4 screens
Real Drums!3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Real Drums! at none against Cajon!'s shown. Real Drums! also leads on review sentiment (54% vs 25%). Cajon!'s advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Cajon! sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Real Drums! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for Cajon! against 4.4 for Real Drums!. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 7 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 25% of Cajon!'s written reviews are positive against 54% of Real Drums!'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cajon! ships an update monthly, Real Drums! every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Cajon! versus Real Drums!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCajon!Real Drums!
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (18 ratings)4.4 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews25.0% of reviews53.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings18 — better7
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB35 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperDrum StarzMooseok Bahng

Customer experience

Cajon!

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

Real Drums!

All ratings7 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%
Written reviews28 reviews
Positive53.6%
Neutral3.6%
Negative42.9%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Cajon!

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

Real Drums!

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$1.99

Questions

Is Cajon! free?
Cajon! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Real Drums! free?
Real Drums! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Cajon! or Real Drums!?
Real Drums! is rated higher. Cajon! averages 4.3 out of 5 from 18 ratings, while Real Drums! averages 4.4 from 7 ratings.
Do Cajon! or Real Drums! have ads?
Cajon! shows ads; Real Drums! does not.
Which is updated more often, Cajon! or Real Drums!?
Cajon! ships an update monthly, and Real Drums! every 4 months. Most recently, Cajon! was updated on September 25, 2026 and Real Drums! on September 29, 2026.

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