DrumShed vs Play Better
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DrumShed
Create, practice, and share drum beats and fills with a guided wizard and AI co-pilot. Features a free, full-featured metronome and structured practice drills. Track progress and connect with a community of drummers.
- Beat and fill creation wizard
- AI practice co-pilot (beta)
- Full-featured metronome (free)
- Structured metronome drills
- Community sharing and browsing
- Progress tracking and achievements
- Guided practice paths
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BEAT, FILL & EXERCISE BUILDERS Create beats, fills, and exercises with a guided wizard designed by drummers — every step is built around real musical reasoning, so the patterns you build actually make sense on the kit. Fresh new ideas and drills in seconds. Or start from scratch in the full pattern editor, or describe what you want and let AI draft it (beta). Staff notation and grid views. Share your creations with the community. SONGS Songs. Upload a song — a rehearsal take, a demo, the track you're learning — and play along three ways: the band without the drums, the drums alone, or the full mix. Slow it to half speed at the same pitch, ride a click that follows the take bar by bar, and loop a bar range inside a session. ~100 built in play alongs spanning 20 genres included! METRONOME — FREE A fully featured metronome, free forever. Any time signature, any subdivision, polyrhythms, advanced accent patterns — no paywall. Most apps charge for this. DrumShed gives it away. METRONOME DRILLS A metronome that does more than click. Configure time signatures, subdivisions, accent patterns, and polyrhythms. Run structured drills with automatic tempo progression, count-ins, and voice cues — hands-free. AI PRACTICE CO-PILOT (BETA) Tell the AI what you want to work on and it drafts a custom practice session — drills, tempos, and warm-up structure tailored to your level. Every plan is yours to review and adjust before you play, and every AI-drafted beat opens in the full editor. It drafts, you decide what's good. COMMUNITY Browse and play beats and fills shared by other drummers. Share your own creations. Get inspired by what others are practicing. SHARE & EXPORT Record any beat or fill as a video with grid or notation view — app audio captured directly, no screen recording needed. Export notation as high-res images with sticking labels. Share a link that opens your pattern directly in DrumShed so anyone can hear it, clone it, and practice it. Built for teachers sharing exercises and creators posting to TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. PROGRESS TRACKING See your practice history, streaks, and achievements. Track drill counts and practice time across weeks, months, and all time. PATHS Guided practice paths that take the guesswork out of what to work on next. Each day builds on the last — real drills, real tempos, matched to your level. Start with the Getting Started paths and practice with direction. New paths are added regularly. Works with any drum kit — acoustic or electronic. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Play along without the drums. Upload a song and DrumShed separates the drums from the rest, finds the tempo and the downbeats, and gives you the band without the drums to play along to — or the drums alone to learn the part by ear. Slow it down without changing pitch. Nudge the click until it sits right. Drop a bar range into a session and loop it.
Play Better
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Play Better brings score reading, annotation, practice, and recording review into one music practice workspace. Organize PDF and photo scores in folders, or scan multiple pages of printed music. Write with Apple Pencil or touch, and choose horizontal page turns or continuous vertical scrolling. Key features • Import PDF and photo scores, scan multiple pages, and organize nested folders • Select multiple scores and move them between folders • Apple Pencil and touch annotation with pen sizes, colors, a partial eraser, and undo • Horizontal and vertical reading, last-page restoration, and page favorites • Expanded two-page or two-score layouts and recent-score tabs • Metronome practice and practice history • Metronome with meter accents and 1–8 subdivisions • Chromatic tuner with adjustable reference pitch and transposing-instrument display • Use the tuner while recording, seek through recordings, and share practice takes • Share an original score or an annotated PDF • iCloud sync between iPhone and iPad signed in to the same Apple Account Play Better requires no account registration. A small banner ad appears on the library screen only; there are no ads in the score reader. Scores and practice materials are stored on your device. When you use iCloud sync, they are synchronized through your own iCloud storage.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Play Better at none against DrumShed's 4. DrumShed's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (daily vs weekly). On price, 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
Both are free to download. DrumShed sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Play Better asks for nothing beyond the download.
DrumShed ships an update daily, Play Better weekly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | DrumShed | Play Better |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (10 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 10 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Daily — better | Weekly |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 70 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | DrumShed LLC | Jeongmin Lee |
In-app purchases
DrumShed
- All Access$5.991 Month
- All Access Annual7 Days trial$47.991 Year
- AI Credit Top-Up$9.99
- Founding Member Lifetime$179.99
Play Better
No in-app purchases









