Comparison

TaalMala vs Kathak Studio

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

Head to head
About

TaalMala

This app provides realistic accompaniment for Indian classical musicians, featuring high-quality sampled instruments like Tabla and Tanpura. It offers extensive pre-composed compositions and allows users to create their own Taals, Lehras, and SwarMandal patterns. Ideal for daily practice or live performances.

Highlights
  • High-quality sampled instruments
  • 360+ pre-composed Taals
  • 246+ pre-composed Lehras
  • 620+ pre-composed SwarMandal patterns
  • Compose custom Taals and Lehras
  • Sequencer for arranging patterns
  • Adjustable tempo and pitch
Features
Read full description

TaalMala provides personalized accompaniment of Tabla, Pakhawaj, Manjeera, Tanpura, SwarMandal and Lehra/Nagma on Santoor and Harmonium. Use TaalMala for your daily riyaaz or live concerts. With high-quality Tabla, Pakhawaj, Manjeera, Tanpura, SwarMandal, Santoor and Harmonium sounds sampled from real instruments, more than 360+ pre-composed Taals and Sequences, and more than 246+ pre-composed Lehra/Nagma compositions, and 650+ SwarMandal patterns in 65+ Ragas, TaalMala provides a complete practising solution for any Indian musician. With TaalMala Composer, you can compose your own Taals, Lehras/Nagmas, SwarMandal patterns by simply typing the notation of the Taal/Lehra on special built-in Taal/Lehra keyboard. With TaalMala Sequencer, you can arrange sequences of fixed or randomized or tempo-based Taal and Lehra/Nagma patterns. TaalMala features: - High-quality studio-recorded Tabla, Pakhawaj, Tanpura, SwarMandal, Santoor, Harmonium and Manjeera (Zanj) sounds - Two sets of Tabla/Dagga sounds and ability to choose and mix-match between the two sound sets - 360+ pre-composed Taals and Taal sequences, including most popular Taals and their variations - 246+ pre-composed Lehra/Nagma compositions and sequences in multitude of ragas and Taals - 620+ pre-composed SwarMandal patterns in 62+ Ragas - New Taals, Lehras/Nagmas and compositions added frequently as updates - Compose your own Taals and Lehras/Nagmas by simply entering the notation - Powerful sequencer to compose fixed, tempo-based and randomized sequences from the Taals and Lehras library - Taal/Lehra/SwarMandal pad; play any Taal/Lehra/SwarMandal pattern on-demand in live accompaniment - Automatic Manjeera/Zanj accompaniment, synchronized with the Tabla/Pakhawaj Taals - Adjustable tempo from 10 bpm to 1000 bpm - Pitch control (+/- 0.5 octave), with independent fine-tuning of all instruments for precise matching with your scale - Pitch detector for detecting your pitch and precise matching, built within the app - Independent volume control for Tabla/Pitch, Dagga/Bass, Manjeera and Lehra/Nagma - Choice of chromatic or just/harmonic tuning for all instruments, with fine-tuning capability. - Up to 2 simultaneous Tanpuras - High-quality Tanpura sounds (male and female tones) with all popular Tanpura patterns included - Adjustable Tanpura tempo and strumming speed of 4 Tanpura strings independently - Option to slightly vary the Tanpura plucking delays randomly for better realism - Tap on the screen twice to set exact Taal tempo, as required This version of the application has following limitations: Playback restricted to 5 minutes every hour. To unlock full functionality and remove the limitation above, click "Buy" option on the main screen. Once you purchase a subscription to the app, the 5-minute per hour limitation will be removed. Please contact us at service@taalmala.com if you have any questions. Licensing terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Our privacy policy: https://www.taalmala.com/privacy.shtml

About

Kathak Studio

This app provides authentic instrument sounds and a vast library of lehra and tabla for Kathak dancers to practice. It offers customizable tempos, pitches, and volume controls for a personalized rehearsal experience.

Highlights
  • Authentic instrument sounds
  • Extensive lehra and tabla library
  • Customizable tempo and pitch
  • Multiple taals and raags
  • Minimalistic UI with practice tools
Features
Read full description

Its finally here! From the makers of the internationally acclaimed Lehra Studio, comes Kathak studio, the world's first app made exclusively for Kathak dancers. Kathak Studio emulates a live kathak rehearsal by providing sounds of authentic instruments recorded by some of the best musicians in the industry. Practise kathak dance to unique lehra recorded in Sarangi, Esraj, Sitar Harmonium and Sarod & Bansuri, alongside authentic sounds of tabla and ghungroo. Stunning, beautiful and timeless lehra combined with blissful tabla teka and ghungaroo makes riaz for kathak dance simpler then it has ever been before! With an astounding 9 different taals recorded across 74 unique instrument-dependent raags, Kathak boasts the largest Lehra and Tabla library ever seen on any software application. Practise kathak dance to your common kathak taals such as teentaal, dhamar taal, jhaptaal, roopak taal, and ektaal. The entire sound library in the Kathak studio can be pitched to any key in the octave, hence making it easier for live instruments to join the Kathak riaz. Kathak Studio's clever UI inferface packs a punch. Kathak Studio has a simple minimalistic UI display which incorporates features such as the Pitch Tuner, Fine Tuner, Tempo Slider, Matra Display, Play/Pause Functionality, and Lehra, Ghungaroo and Tanpura volume sliders. Whether you are a student or an experienced dancer, Kathak Studio will revolutionise the way you practice your Kathak repertoire. Download Kathak Studio today for free, and try the app fully unlocked for 72 hours! After the 72 Hour Trial: The app will expire after 72 hours. If you would like to continue using Kathak Studio, you can purchase the app via the purchase page. Whether you have just started learning Kathak, or are a seasoned professional, Kathak studio is a must-have app for all Kathak dancers.

Screenshots

TaalMala4 screens
Kathak Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: TaalMala at 4.3 against Kathak Studio's 3.2. TaalMala also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (177 vs 24). Kathak Studio's advantage is iOS requirement (7.0 vs 12.0). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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. TaalMala sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Kathak Studio 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

TaalMala holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: TaalMala has 177 ratings behind it against 24, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 33% of TaalMala's written reviews are positive against 40% of Kathak Studio's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TaalMala ships an update every 2 months, Kathak Studio every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
TaalMala versus Kathak Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTaalMalaKathak Studio
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (177 ratings) — better3.2 (24 ratings)
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews40.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings177 — better24
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.07.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB532 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAbhijit PataitAman Kalyan

Customer experience

TaalMala

All ratings177 ratings
Positive82.5%
Neutral3.4%
Negative14.1%
Written reviews42 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral14.3%
Negative52.4%

Kathak Studio

All ratings24 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral4.2%
Negative45.8%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative55.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

TaalMala

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Edition - Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Premium Edition - Yearly$29.991 Year
1 purchases

Kathak Studio

One-time1
  • Kathak Studio$49.99

Questions

Is TaalMala free?
TaalMala is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Kathak Studio free?
Kathak Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, TaalMala or Kathak Studio?
TaalMala is rated higher. TaalMala averages 4.3 out of 5 from 177 ratings, while Kathak Studio averages 3.2 from 24 ratings.
Do TaalMala or Kathak Studio have ads?
Neither TaalMala nor Kathak Studio shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TaalMala or Kathak Studio?
TaalMala ships an update every 2 months, and Kathak Studio every 7 months. Most recently, TaalMala was updated on October 29, 2026 and Kathak Studio on October 24, 2026.

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