Comparison

ostinata vs RiffAlly Loop

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

Head to head
About

ostinata

Features
Read full description

ostinata lets you map the actual paths you take through music. ever gone from radiohead to aphex twin because kid a changed how you think about electronic music? from miles davis to j dilla because someone sampled a love supreme? ostinata turns those invisible threads into visual, shareable directed graphs. β€” how it works β€” create a journey by adding nodes β€” artists, albums, genres, emotions, or concepts. connect them with directed edges that show which discovery led to which. add reasoning text to explain the connection. the result is a map of your taste that others can explore, fork, and build on. β€” search & discover β€” search for artists and albums via musicbrainz, the open music encyclopedia. album nodes display cover art. long-press any node to open its musicbrainz page for deeper exploration. β€” fork & remix β€” see a journey that resonates? fork it. you get a copy of the entire graph β€” all nodes, edges, and reasoning β€” that you can extend, rearrange, or take in a completely different direction. β€” bounties β€” post discovery challenges for the community. set a topic like "find the link: kraftwerk to detroit techno," define seed nodes as starting points, and offer resonance as a reward. other users form guilds of five to tackle the challenge together. β€” your data, your cloud β€” everything syncs privately via icloud. we store nothing on our servers. your journeys, your data, your control. β€” design β€” black canvas. white lines. ibm plex mono. all lowercase. album art in grayscale. ostinata is built for people who care about how things look as much as how they sound. ostinata β€” discovery through human curation.

About

RiffAlly Loop

Read full description

Your playing. On repeat. Turn your own playing into a backing loop you can play along with. RiffAlly Loop brings a pedal-inspired recording workflow to your iPhoneβ€”no foot pedal required. PLAY FIRST. KEEP THE BARS YOU WANT. Choose Record & Select, set or tap your tempo, and pick a time signature. Listen to one bar of count-in, then start playing. Finish your phrase and tap Stop & select during the following bar. Loop initially selects bar 1 through the last complete bar, leaving out the unfinished final bar. If the selection is right, tap Use & Play once to start looping. Want a different section? Adjust the start and end on the pedal's waveform, preview if you like, then Use & Play. Change selection lets you revisit the original take. Made a mistake? New loop leaves an unaccepted take in one tap. When editing an accepted loop, Back to loop keeps your previous selection. OR LET LOOP STOP FOR YOU. In Fixed bars, choose 1–64 bars before you start. Loop counts you in, records the chosen length, and starts playback automatically. Quick choices include 4, 8 and 12 bars for familiar practice lengths. MAKE THE PEDAL YOURS. β€’ Set 40–240 BPM or tap your tempo. β€’ Choose 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 6/8, 9/8 or 12/8, separately from loop length. β€’ Follow audible clicks and a prominent beat-and-bar counter. β€’ Pick from ten recording-click sounds, with a distinct count-in cue. β€’ Pause, then restart from the beginning of your loop. β€’ Adjust loop volume and personalize the pedal finish and display. β€’ Find practical instructions and troubleshooting in Help. RECORD ON IPHONE. PLAY ALONG. Count-in and recording use the built-in iPhone microphone and speaker. Recording clicks may become part of your loop. Completed loops can play through the iPhone or a selected compatible Bluetooth media speaker. Bluetooth is not used for live guidance or microphone input. Isolated headphone clicks, wired-headphone playback and AirPlay are not supported. Loop uses your chosen tempo and time signature to place bar boundaries; it does not analyze notes or correct your timing. Silence and sustained notes within the selected bars are preserved. Tap the main beats: quarter notes in /4 meters, dotted-quarter notes in compound /8 meters. Keep Loop in the foreground while practicing. Record & Select has no preset bar cap, but storage and interruptions limit recording. It retains the current finalized original and selection on your iPhone, including an undismissed draftβ€”not a multi-loop library. Fixed bars loops are session-only. Clearing or replacing a take removes its retained copy. There is no export, overdubbing or background recording. RiffAlly does not upload your recordings. No RiffAlly account is required. Optional one-time tips support development and unlock no features.

Screenshots

ostinata3 screens
RiffAlly Loop4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ostinata at none against RiffAlly Loop's 3. On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. RiffAlly Loop sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. ostinata asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
ostinata versus RiffAlly Loop: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterostinataRiffAlly Loop
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo β€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad β€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size2 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJoachim GroegerFernando Lanner Cardoso

In-app purchases

None

ostinata

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

RiffAlly Loop

One-time3
  • Small tip$1.99
  • Supporter tip$4.99
  • Generous tip$9.99

Questions

Is ostinata free?
ostinata is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is RiffAlly Loop free?
RiffAlly Loop is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do ostinata or RiffAlly Loop have ads?
Neither ostinata nor RiffAlly Loop shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ostinata or RiffAlly Loop?
ostinata ships an update every 9 days, and RiffAlly Loop every 9 days. Most recently, ostinata was updated on October 18, 2026 and RiffAlly Loop on October 7, 2026.

Other comparisons