Free tanpura and tala apps, compared
Six options, what each is actually good at, and what ours does not do.
For a free tanpura drone in a browser with no sign-up, Shruti and Tala Clock cover the basics on any device. Riyaz and Abhyas offer richer sampled tanpuras and structured courses but require accounts and paid tiers. Talanome and Tala Keeper are focused native tala apps with deeper rhythm features than any browser tool.
Work out which problem you have first
“Best tanpura app” is not one question. It is at least three, and the answers point at different software.
- You need a drone right now. Something that makes a steady Sa in under ten seconds on whatever device is nearest. Sound quality is secondary to speed.
- You practise daily and the sound matters. You will hear the difference between a synthesised drone and a well-sampled tanpura within a week, and it will start to bother you.
- You need rhythm, not pitch. Talas, gatis, eduppu, korvai arithmetic. A drone is incidental; the cycle is the point.
A tool that is excellent at one of these is usually mediocre at the others, and the comparison below is more useful read as which column matters to me than as a ranking.
The six, compared
| App | Platform | Cost | Sign-up | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shruti (ours) | Browser · installable | Free | None | Instant drone, Sa and Pa, works on any device | Synthesised, not sampled. No Ma option. |
| Tala Clock (ours) | Browser · installable | Free | None | Gati changes, eduppu, konnakol, tempo ramps, silent cycles | No mridangam sounds, no korvai builder |
| Talanome | iOS · Android | Free tier, paid upgrade | Varies | Purpose-built Carnatic tala metronome, deep rhythm options | Rhythm only — not a practice drone |
| Tala Keeper | iOS · Android | Free with in-app purchases | Varies | Long-established, reliable, popular with teachers | Interface shows its age |
| Riyaz | iOS · Android | Freemium, subscription | Required | Sampled tanpura, structured lessons, feedback on your singing | Account and subscription for most of it |
| Abhyas | iOS · Android | Freemium | Required | Good drone quality alongside practice tracks and lessons | Heavier than a drone needs to be |
What ours does not do
The two browser tools in that table are ours, so here is the specific version rather than the marketing version. Each of these is checkable in the tool itself.
Shruti
- The drone is synthesised, not sampled. It is a clean, stable reference pitch with a shimmer pattern on top. It is not a recording of a tanpura, and next to Riyaz or Abhyas it sounds thinner. For pitch reference this makes no difference; for training your ear on tanpura overtones, it does.
- Sa and Pa only — there is no Ma. Ragas conventionally sung at madhyama shruti, and pieces in Madhyamavati or Hindolam where the Ma string is preferred, are not supported. Our own FAQ says as much.
- Audio stops when the tab is hidden. Browsers throttle background audio, so the drone pauses if you switch tabs or your phone locks. A native app keeps playing. This is the single biggest practical reason to prefer an installed app for long sessions.
- No fine tuning in cents. You get the twelve semitones, not the pitch between them.
Tala Clock
- No mridangam or percussion samples. You get a click, konnakol syllables and a drone. If you want to practise against something that sounds like an accompanist, this is not it.
- No korvai or mora builder. There is no arithmetic helper for constructing rhythmic cadences, and no way to program a sequence of them.
- The same background-audio limit applies. Keep the screen on.
- Not a teaching syllabus. It assumes you already know what a gati is — which is exactly why the guides on this site exist.
Offline, and what “installable” means
Browser tools can work offline. Both of ours install as progressive web apps: visit once with a connection and the tool caches itself, after which it opens from your home screen without the network. The icon looks like any other app’s.
What this does not fix is the background-audio limit. An installed web app is still running in a browser engine, so a locked screen still stops the sound. If you need a drone running while your phone is in your pocket, install a native app — that is a genuine platform difference and no amount of web engineering removes it.
A straight recommendation
| If you are… | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A student needing a drone in class | Any free browser drone | No install, no account, works on a borrowed device |
| Practising an hour a day at home | A paid sampled tanpura | Sound quality compounds over hundreds of hours |
| Working on gati and eduppu | Tala Clock, or a dedicated tala app | A general metronome cannot express a cycle |
| Building korvais | A dedicated native tala app | Nothing in a browser covers this well yet, ours included |
| Learning without a teacher | Riyaz or Abhyas | Structure and feedback are what you are paying for |
| Performing | A native app, installed and tested | Screen lock and background audio will otherwise find you out |
The honest summary: free browser tools have closed most of the gap for everyday practice and have not closed it at all for performance or for structured learning. Ours are good at being immediate. If what you need is depth, pay for depth — and if what you need is a Sa in the next ten seconds, you do not need to pay anyone.
Tools for this
Common questions
- What is the best free tanpura app?
- It depends what you need. For an instant drone with no account, a browser tool such as Shruti is fastest. For the most convincing sampled tanpura sound, the paid tiers of Riyaz and Abhyas are better. For offline reliability on stage, a native app you have already installed beats anything loaded fresh.
- Do I need to pay for a tanpura app?
- No. A drone is a simple thing and several free options are good enough for daily practice. Paying gets you better samples, structured lessons, and feedback on your singing — not a fundamentally better drone.
- Do browser tanpura apps work offline?
- They can. Tools that install as a PWA cache themselves on first visit and run without a connection afterwards. The first load needs the network; later ones do not.
- What is the difference between a tanpura app and a shruti box app?
- A tanpura app models a plucked string instrument with a repeating pattern and the characteristic buzz. A shruti box models a bellows-driven reed drone, which is a steadier and flatter sound. Many apps blur the two.
- Can these apps replace a real tanpura?
- For practice, largely yes, and most students now practise this way. For performance and for training a fine ear to overtones, a real tanpura still does something no sample loop quite matches.
- Which app is best for practising tala?
- A dedicated tala app with per-anga sound control and korvai support will out-feature a general metronome. If you need gati changes, eduppu shifts and konnakol together in a browser without installing anything, Tala Clock covers that ground.
- Adi tala explained, with gati and eduppuEight beats, three hand gestures, and the two things that change how it feels.
- How to find your SaYour shruti is not a fact about your voice. It is a decision you make once, then check.
- The 72 melakarta ragas, in one tableNot 72 facts to memorise. Six choices, made twice, in a fixed order.