Chops vs Drum Journal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chops
Master all 40 PAS rudiments with structured courses, dynamic exercises, and a smart metronome. Apply your skills on the kit with beautiful notation and full playback controls. Designed for drummers of all levels to practice with purpose and enhance their foundation.
- Master all 40 PAS rudiments
- Apply skills on the drum kit
- Dynamic exercises and workouts
- Structured courses for all levels
- Beautiful and readable notation
- Smart metronome with tempo adjustment
- Full playback controls
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A rudiment trainer built for drummers: workouts, exercises, courses, and progress tracking. MASTER ALL 40 PAS RUDIMENTS From the basics to advanced patterns, learn every rudiment and enhance your drumming foundation. KIT VARIATIONS Break out from your practise pad and apply your new skills on the kit. EXERCISES AND WORKOUTS Keep your practice sessions dynamic and engaging with a variety of exercises and workouts. COURSES Whether you're a beginner or an advanced drummer, follow structured courses designed for all skill levels. PRACTICE WITH PURPOSE Maximize your practice time with guided courses that keep you progressing and motivated. BEAUTIFUL NOTATION Beautiful and easy to read notation. SMART METRONOME Built-in smart metronome adjusts tempo and time signature for you, letting you focus on playing. FULL PLAYBACK CONTROLS Hear how each exercise should sound with full playback controls. Adjust the metronome and tempo. Download Chops today and unleash your full drumming potential! Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula
Drum Journal
This app provides real-time feedback on your drumming practice using your device's microphone. It allows you to slow down or loop sections of YouTube drum videos and automatically tracks your practice sessions to help you monitor progress.
- Microphone-based sticking feedback
- YouTube video playback with speed control
- Section looping for practice
- Automatic practice session tracking
- Community-shared exercises
- Progress monitoring and streaks
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Your exercises, your lessons, your rudiments: one list, ready to go. Drum Journal remembers where you left off, keeps the tempo, and gets out of your way. Press start, practice. YOUR ROUTINE, READY TO GO Open the app. The routine you built is queued, timed, and ready to run. Warm-up, rudiments, the YouTube lesson you're working on, laid out the way you want them. No deciding what to play tonight. REAL FEEDBACK ON YOUR TIMING The built-in sticking coach uses your device's microphone to hear you play on a practice pad. Real feedback on your timing, dynamics, and consistency, built into your routine, not a separate tool. PLAY TO A GROOVE, NOT JUST A CLICK Pick a mood and a backing track plays behind the metronome, automatically matched to your tempo. Rudiment practice stops feeling clinical and starts sounding like a room. LEARN ANY SONG AT YOUR OWN SPEED Drop any YouTube drum lesson into your routine. Slow it down, loop the hard bar, mark the section that's killing you. Drum Journal sits on your music stand and stays out of your way. SEE HOW YOU'RE GETTING BETTER Every session logs automatically. Streaks, time on each rudiment, whether your timing is tightening week over week. Show up daily and watch the data confirm what your hands already feel. EXERCISES FROM OTHER DRUMMERS Browse exercises shared by other drummers. Pick what fits your level, drop it into your routine. FREE TO PRACTICE. PRO TO SEE IF IT'S WORKING. Everything you need to build and run your routine is free: exercises, the sticking coach, YouTube practice, streaks, session logs, and background music in the Drift mood. Drum Journal Pro unlocks advanced analytics — see whether your timing is actually tightening, whether one hand plays inconsistent flams, whether your routine is moving the needle. Pro also unlocks the full background-music mood pack, per-exercise history, community sharing, and data export. The practice is simple. Showing up is hard. Drum Journal makes showing up the easy part. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS Drum Journal Pro is available as a monthly, annual, or lifetime subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel subscriptions in your Apple ID account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial, if offered, is forfeited upon purchasing a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://drumjournal.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://drumjournal.com/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Drum Journal at 5.0 against Chops's 4.7. Drum Journal also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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. Chops sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Drum Journal sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Drum Journal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 15 and 8 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Chops ships an update every 3 weeks, Drum Journal weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chops | Drum Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (15 ratings) | 5.0 (8 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 105 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Digital Staves | Porath Consulting |
Customer experience
Chops
Drum Journal
In-app purchases
Chops
- Chops Subscription (Monthly)7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Education Subscription (Yearly)$12.991 Year
- Chops Subscription (Yearly)7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Lifetime$69.99
Drum Journal
- Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- Pro Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Pro Annual$34.991 Year
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- Pro Yearly7 Days trial$34.991 Year
- Pro Lifetime$69.99









