Comparison

Onset vs Drum Lab

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

Head to head
About

Onset

Features
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Onset — the stage prompter for singers. On stage your hands are on the mic. You can't hold sheets, and between one line and the next there's no time to scroll with a finger. Onset does one thing, and does it well: your lyrics scroll on their own, in time with the song, while you sing hands-free. How it works: you bring the lyrics — type them, paste them, or import them from a PDF you already have. Then calibrate once by tapping the lines to the beat, and from then on the prompter runs itself. No more marks on paper, no more "where was I". WHAT YOU GET • Setlists for every night: build them, reorder them on the fly. • Chords above the words, with a few semitones of transpose when you change key. • Lead and backing-vocal lines kept separate, so you always know your part. • Backing tracks to follow while you read. • Song timings looked up online and attached to your own lyrics: the grid of minutes and seconds comes back, never the words. • PDF charts, if you already have them. ON IPHONE AND IPAD • Apple Music: start the song from your own library and Onset follows it. • iCloud sync: songs and setlists follow you from iPhone to iPad, no account to create. Made for singers, songwriters and anyone who plays live — not to fill the screen with features you'll never touch. Onset is small, finished and cared-for: open it and you're ready, no endless tutorials. Screen stays on, no notifications while you play, true black on OLED. Your songs stay on your phone. Onset is brand new and grows with the musicians who use it. If you try it and something's missing, write me: support@onsetlyrics.app. Onset Pro is available as an auto-renewable monthly subscription, or as a one-time purchase (Founder). Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period, and can be managed in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy: https://onsetlyrics.app/privacy

About

Drum Lab

Practice with professionally recorded drum loops, not a drum machine. Explore various genres and rhythms, with features to isolate sections for focused practice. Download loops for offline use and build custom playlists.

Highlights
  • Real drum performances, not drum machine sounds
  • Organized by feel and genre
  • Practice Mode for isolating sections
  • Built-in metronome
  • Offline loop downloads
  • Playlist creation
Features
Read full description

Practice with real drums, not a drum machine. Drum Lab is a library of original, professionally recorded drum loops. Built for musicians who want to practice, play along, and get better, not just listen. Every loop is a real performance, seamlessly looped, organized by feel so you can find exactly the groove you need. Browse jazz, funk, R&B and hip hop, rock and pop, world rhythms grouped by region (Brazilian, Latin, African and more), and odd meters grouped by time signature. Tap a loop and it locks in at its tempo instantly - no setup, no syncing, just drums. **Built for practice, not just playback** - Slow a groove down or speed it up, from 0.5× to 1.5×, without changing its pitch - Tap the BPM to type an exact tempo - Loop just the bars you're working on, snapped to the bar lines - Practice Mode gradually raises the tempo as you play - +5 BPM every 4 bars by default, and you set the step and how often - Built-in metronome locked to each loop's grid, in quarter, eighth or sixteenth notes, or on beat 1 only - Optional two-bar count-in before the loop starts - Download loops for offline practice anywhere - no connection needed - Save favorites and build your own practice playlists - Light and dark mode **Producer Mode: make it sound like a record** - Tape, Punch, Echo and Reverb in a rack of classic studio gear - Start from a ready-made tape, or dial in your own sound and save it - Echo locks to the loop's tempo, and Blend sets how much of the effects you hear - Bounce (Pro): export exactly what you hear as a WAV that loops seamlessly in any DAW **Try it free** Pick 3 loops to keep, free forever, full length, with tempo control and Practice Mode. Every other loop plays a 10-second preview, so you can hear the whole library first. Unlock Drum Lab Pro with a one-time payment for every loop, every practice feature, Bounce, and the original WAV files to export, royalty-free, into your own music - no subscription, ever. Whether you're working on your time, your feel, or just want something real to play along to, Drum Lab gives you drums that sound like a drummer, because they are one.

Screenshots

Onset3 screens
Drum Lab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Drum Lab at weekly against Onset's fortnightly. Onset's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Onset sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Drum Lab sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Onset ships an update fortnightly, Drum Lab weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Onset versus Drum Lab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOnsetDrum Lab
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (15 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—15 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.5
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB23 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperAndrea LibuttiALON BENJAMINI

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Onset

Subscriptions1
  • Monthly$0.991 Month
One-time1
  • Founder Lifetime$12.99
1 purchases

Drum Lab

One-time1
  • Drum Lab Pro$9.99

Questions

Is Onset free?
Onset is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Drum Lab free?
Drum Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Onset or Drum Lab have ads?
Neither Onset nor Drum Lab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Onset or Drum Lab?
Onset ships an update fortnightly, and Drum Lab weekly. Most recently, Onset was updated on October 9, 2026 and Drum Lab on October 27, 2026.

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