Beatz Buddy vs Crate for Plex
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Beatz Buddy
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Metronome designed for ease of use. Features: - Vibrate to set BPM - Large bpm indicator with animation - Settings for Tempo, Vibration and Appearance
Crate for Plex
A native, unofficial music player for your Plex Media Server, designed for iPhone and Apple Watch. Enjoy your owned music library with features like offline listening, crossfade, and queue management without subscriptions or ads.
- Plex music library browsing
- Offline listening
- Apple Watch app
- Crossfade playback
- Queue management
- Smart caching
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Your Plex music library, finally given the iOS music player it deserves. Crate is a native, unofficial music player for your Plex Media Server, built for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay. Pay once. No subscription. No ads. No tracking. Just your music, played beautifully. ON IPHONE - Browse your entire library — albums, artists, playlists - Now Playing reimagined with crossfade, queue, lyrics, and hearts - Stations built from your own library — Hits, Heart Beats, On Repeat, and more - Discover view to rediscover albums you'd forgotten you loved - Download albums for offline listening - Smart caching keeps recently-played tracks ready offline - Pick up where you left off — Crate restores your last session on launch - Light and dark modes that actually look like iOS IN THE CAR - Full CarPlay app — Home, Library, Discover, Stations, and Search - Top Picks and recent albums the moment you connect - Hands-free with Siri: "Hey Siri, play House in Crate" - Ask Siri for a playlist, an artist, or a station, or say "I like this song" to heart it ON IPAD - A layout built for the big screen, in both orientations - Lyrics alongside the artwork, the way they should be ON APPLE WATCH - A real watchOS app — browse, download, and play from your wrist - Doubles as a remote when your iPhone is the one playing - Download albums directly to your watch - Phone-optional playback with AirPods THE FUNDAMENTALS, DONE RIGHT - Gapless playback with crossfade between tracks - Volume matching, so quiet albums and loud ones sit at the same level - Lossless FLAC playback on iPhone (Apple Watch auto-transcodes for compatibility) - Stream quality control, with Data Saver and Low Data Mode respected automatically - Shuffle with no repeats - Hearts to track what you love - Queue management you can actually use WHAT'S NOT INSIDE - No subscription - No ads - No tracking - No login wall to a service that isn't yours Crate connects directly to your own Plex Media Server. Your music. Your server. Your player. REQUIREMENTS Crate requires a Plex Media Server with a music library and a free Plex account. Plex Pass is not required. Crate is an unofficial third-party application and is not made by, endorsed by, or affiliated with Plex Inc.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Beatz Buddy at Free against Crate for Plex's $3.99. Beatz Buddy also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). Crate for Plex's advantage is chart position (#190 vs unranked). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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
Beatz Buddy is free to download; Crate for Plex costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Beatz Buddy ships an update every 3 weeks, Crate for Plex every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Beatz Buddy | Crate for Plex |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | — | 4.7 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #190 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 — better | 26.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 28 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sam Edwards-Marsh | Darren Ebbing |
In-app purchases
Beatz Buddy
No in-app purchases
Crate for Plex
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Beatz Buddy free?
Is Crate for Plex free?
Do Beatz Buddy or Crate for Plex have ads?
Which is updated more often, Beatz Buddy or Crate for Plex?
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