Comparison

Gridplay vs SmashCut Visual Synth

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

Head to head
About

Gridplay

Create dynamic, multi-clip music videos with an innovative grid interface. Combine and divide cells, adjust individual clips, and add music to produce unique visual content for social media.

Highlights
  • Multi-clip grid interface
  • Combine and divide cells
  • Independent clip sound control
  • Timeline editing
  • Clip rotation and scaling
  • Save to camera roll
  • Share to social media
Features
Read full description

Make quality quick-cut style music videos straight from your phone with Gridplay. Giving even the most experienced filmmakers a new experience, the innovative grid screen allows users to combine and divide cells at will in order to create dynamic videos. Add a song, trim clips, and adjust and scale each cell for extra flair. Turn your inspirational moments into the movie of your life with Gridplay. Features: 1. Takes up to 16 4x4 videoclips (These can be recorded or uploaded.) 2. Swipe to combine or divide the cells 3. Create and edit a timeline with multiple frames 4. Optimized for low-resolution (640p) on Instagram 5. Records up to 15 seconds. (5 minutes with extension) 6. Self-timer 7. Each clip has an independent sound control 8. Ability to save video to camera roll 9. Frame thickness and color settings 10. Automatically saves rough draft 11. Rotate, adjust, scale, and mirror each clip 12. Share to Vine Instructions: 1. Pick a cell and choose the camera mode. (Full screen vs. split screen, and back camera vs. front camera) 2. Swipe to combine cells, and swipe again to divide. 3. Press the "Film" button. 4. Set the timer up to 15 seconds. (If you have unlocked the extension, you can set the timer up to 5 minutes.) 5. When you finish with one frame, it will go to the next automatically. You need to set the timer for each frame. 6. If you don't like what you have recorded, tap to delete. If you don't want to fill up the other cells? No problem, just go to the next step. 7. Adjust the volume and position of each clip. 8. Trim the clips and add background music. 9. Save and share on Vine, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr, and email.

About

SmashCut Visual Synth

Control video playback and transformations using MIDI messages, similar to how musicians control audio samplers. Set cue points, trigger playback, and manipulate video in real-time for presentations, live streaming, or creative video art.

Highlights
  • Load and cue video from camera roll
  • Control playback with MIDI notes
  • Transform video with MIDI CC messages
  • Built-in MIDI controller for second device
  • Wi-Fi based device connection
  • Universal app for iOS and Mac
Features
Read full description

Musicians have used audio samplers for decades, triggering drum sounds, pianos, and hundreds of other instruments using MIDI keyboards and sequencers. SmashCut brings the same sort of functionality to video content. Load in any video from your camera roll, easily set cue points in the video, and you're ready to play with video in a new way. The app responds to MIDI note messages to seek to cue points, and start or stop playback. With MIDI CC messages, you can scale, rotate, and transform the video in a live and interactive way. And if you don't have a MIDI keyboard, you can still use all of the features of the app -- there's a built-in MIDI controller that you can use on a second iOS device. What can you do with SmashCut? If you're making a presentation using video, you can trigger play and stop using the remote, and move to different cue points easily. If you stream video or podcast, you can use SmashCut to cue to a video clip with no hassle or headache. The iPad version of the app runs on a Silicon Mac, and works well with streaming software such as OBS. If you have a band, and are putting on a show, you can sequence video to keep in time with the music. SmashCut is a great way to put together a music video, or to just cut, splice, and glitch video for fun. Instead of trimming video clips in a conventional editor, you can play with video like you would a musical instrument. There's full support of MIDI, and also an easy Wi-Fi based connection system; if you have two devices on the same Wi-Fi network, they'll connect in seconds. You can use the iOS built in screen recorder to capture video and audio from the app. The app is universal, running on iPad, iPhone, and Silicon Macs. There's a watermark on-screen that can be removed with an in-app purchase.

Screenshots

Gridplay4 screens
SmashCut Visual Synth3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: SmashCut Visual Synth at 100% against Gridplay's 36%. SmashCut Visual Synth also leads on price (Free vs $1.99) and rating (4.9 vs 2.4). Gridplay's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 40 months) and ratings volume (77 vs 14). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

SmashCut Visual Synth is free to download; Gridplay costs $1.99 up front. Gridplay sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and SmashCut Visual Synth sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SmashCut Visual Synth holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Gridplay has 77 ratings behind it against 14, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Gridplay's written reviews are positive against 100% of SmashCut Visual Synth's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Gridplay ships an update monthly, SmashCut Visual Synth every 40 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Gridplay versus SmashCut Visual Synth: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGridplaySmashCut Visual Synth
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating2.4 (77 ratings)4.9 (14 ratings) — better
Positive reviews35.9% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings77 — better14
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 40 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS11.3 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPeta VisionSecret Base Design

Customer experience

Gridplay

All ratings77 ratings
Positive31.2%
Neutral6.5%
Negative62.3%
Written reviews131 reviews
Positive35.9%
Neutral11.5%
Negative52.7%

SmashCut Visual Synth

All ratings14 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Gridplay

One-time1
  • Expend video length to 5minute$0.99
1 purchases

SmashCut Visual Synth

One-time1
  • Watermark RemovalFree

Questions

Is Gridplay free?
Gridplay costs $1.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is SmashCut Visual Synth free?
SmashCut Visual Synth is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Gridplay or SmashCut Visual Synth?
SmashCut Visual Synth is rated higher. Gridplay averages 2.4 out of 5 from 77 ratings, while SmashCut Visual Synth averages 4.9 from 14 ratings.
Do Gridplay or SmashCut Visual Synth have ads?
Neither Gridplay nor SmashCut Visual Synth shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Gridplay or SmashCut Visual Synth?
Gridplay ships an update monthly, and SmashCut Visual Synth every 40 months. Most recently, Gridplay was updated on September 29, 2026 and SmashCut Visual Synth on September 18, 2026.

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