# Cycles vs ostinata

The clearest difference is ads: ostinata at none against Cycles's shown. ostinata also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 3 months) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). Cycles's advantage is ratings volume (9 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, rating, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Cycles against 5.0 for ostinata. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Cycles has 9 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Cycles ships an update every 3 months, ostinata every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Cycles | ostinata |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [5.0 (9 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cycles-discover-playlists/id6446672039/reviews) | [5.0 (1 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ostinata/id6762445694/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **9** | 1 |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | **Every 9 days** |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | **Free** |
| Size | 33 MB | 2 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.1** | 17.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Cycles Studios Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1678688942) | [Joachim Groeger](https://appshunter.io/developer/1887008617) |

## What reviewers say

### Cycles

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cycles-discover-playlists/id6446672039)

Explore curated music playlists and share your own collections. Preview tracks and connect with other music lovers, regardless of your streaming service. Find new inspiration or share your favorite songs.

**Highlights:** Discover curated playlists, Share music collections, Preview tracks, Connect with music lovers, Cross-platform music sharing

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


### ostinata

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ostinata/id6762445694)

Visualize and share your music discovery journeys. Map connections between artists, albums, and genres, explaining your reasoning. Explore and remix others' musical paths or create discovery challenges for the community.

**Highlights:** Create visual music discovery paths, Connect artists, albums, and genres, Add reasoning to connections, Search music via MusicBrainz, Fork and remix existing journeys, Post community discovery challenges, Private iCloud data sync

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Cycles free?

Cycles is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is ostinata free?

ostinata is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Cycles or ostinata?

Cycles and ostinata are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 9 and 1 ratings respectively.

### Do Cycles or ostinata have ads?

Cycles shows ads; ostinata does not.

### Which is updated more often, Cycles or ostinata?

Cycles ships an update every 3 months, and ostinata every 9 days. Most recently, Cycles was updated on November 3, 2026 and ostinata on November 5, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*