Comparison

Hive vs Simple NAM Chain

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

Head to head
About

Hive

Features
Read full description

Hive is a honeycomb loop mixer. Pick a hive, tap a hex, and the loop locks to the beat. Every loop in a pack lives in the same key and tempo, so whatever you light up plays together. No timeline. No tracks. No menus. Just a wall of glowing hexes and a heartbeat that keeps the jam honest. Tap mid-cycle and the loop waits for the next downbeat, then drops in on time. Seven hives, seven moods. Tape Haze and Break Slice are free, forever. Pocket Groove, Stingray, Warehouse Pulse, Neon Current, and Crate Digger unlock with Hive Pro. Light up a mix you love and share it as a hive code. Anyone with Hive opens the same loops, on the same downbeat. Hive Pro is $4.99/month or $39.99/year. It unlocks every hive, all future packs, unlimited downloads, and mix recording. Cancel anytime in Settings. Works on iPhone and iPad, portrait or landscape. Pinch to zoom the bigger hives.

About

Simple NAM Chain

Transform your mobile device into a powerful guitar rig. Load amp captures and cabinet impulse responses to create custom guitar chains. Offers a built-in tuner and advanced gain staging for optimal sound.

Highlights
  • Load .nam amp captures
  • Add cabinet impulse responses
  • Stack up to six effect blocks
  • Reorder and bypass blocks
  • Built-in tuner
  • Automatic gain staging
  • Live CPU readout
Features
Read full description

Turn your iPhone or iPad into a guitar rig. Simple NAM Chain plays amp captures in the Neural Amp Modeler format, including A1 and A2. Load a capture, add a cabinet impulse response, and play. It runs on its own, or as an Audio Unit inside GarageBand, AUM and other hosts. BUILD A CHAIN Stack up to six blocks in series — a drive pedal into an amp head into a cab, or whatever order you want. Drag to reorder, bypass any block, remove the ones you don't need. Tag each one Full Rig, Amp Head, Pedal, Outboard or IR so the chain reads at a glance. EVERY BLOCK IS A FULL RIG Each block has its own input level, noise gate, amp capture, cabinet IR, three-band EQ and output level. The gate, the EQ and the IR each switch off independently. LOAD WHOLE MODEL PACKS Captures usually arrive as a folder holding the same amp at a range of settings. Point the app at the folder and step through every capture with the arrows, without going back to a file browser between takes. Keep your packs anywhere on the device, or drop them into the Full Rig, Amp Head, Pedal, Outboard and IR folders the app creates for you in Files. GAIN STAGING HANDLED Captures that carry calibration data are gain-staged automatically as you reorder the chain, so stacking blocks doesn't wreck your levels. Set your interface's input level in dBu once, and pick Raw, Normalized or Calibrated output. ALSO INCLUDED • Built-in tuner • Slim control, to trade a little accuracy for lower CPU on captures that support it • Live CPU readout • Recovers cleanly from phone calls, route changes and unplugged interfaces WHAT YOU NEED An audio interface to plug your guitar into gives the best results — the built-in microphone works, but isn't meant for playing. You'll need captures in .nam format (A1 and A2 are both supported), and impulse responses as .wav files if you want cabinets; thousands are free at tone3000.com. Headphones or monitors, so the mic doesn't feed back. FREE FOR THREE DAYS Everything is unlocked for three days. After that the app stops processing audio until you unlock it, which is a single payment of $4.99. Not a subscription, no accounts, no ads, and nothing is collected about you.

Screenshots

Hive4 screens
Simple NAM Chain4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Simple NAM Chain at daily against Hive's every 2 weeks. Simple NAM Chain also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). 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. Hive sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Simple NAM Chain sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hive ships an update every 2 weeks, Simple NAM Chain daily. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Hive versus Simple NAM Chain: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHiveSimple NAM Chain
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksDaily — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetization—Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size45 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperENAMIC (PTY) LTDaziz bou harb

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Hive

Subscriptions2
  • Hive Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Hive Pro Yearly$39.991 Year
2 purchases

Simple NAM Chain

One-time2
  • 3-day TrialFree
  • Full Unlock$4.99

Questions

Is Hive free?
Hive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Simple NAM Chain free?
Simple NAM Chain is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Hive or Simple NAM Chain have ads?
Neither Hive nor Simple NAM Chain shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hive or Simple NAM Chain?
Hive ships an update every 2 weeks, and Simple NAM Chain daily. Most recently, Hive was updated on September 28, 2026 and Simple NAM Chain on October 2, 2026.

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