A Soft Murmur vs Blanket
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
A Soft Murmur
Ambient sound mixer for the browser, iPhone and Android
Where they differ
- A Soft Murmur starts at $14.99 / year (Pro, bought on the web); iOS sound packs are $1.99 to $3.99 each. Blanket is free.
- Only A Soft Murmur lists a web app.
- Only A Soft Murmur lists iOS and Android apps.
- Only Blanket lists a Linux app.
- Blanket is open source, according to its own site.
At a glance
| A Soft Murmur | Blanket | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $14.99 / year (Pro, bought on the web); iOS sound packs are $1.99 to $3.99 each | Free |
| Free plan | Free on the web: 10 sounds with the mixer, Meander, timers and saved mixes. The iPhone and Android apps include 4 sounds free: rain, thunder, waves and wind. | Free and open-source software under the GPL 3.0 or later, listed as Free on Flathub. The developer takes donations through PayPal and Liberapay. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Sleepy Rabbit LLC | Rafael Mardojai CM |
| Price read from | asoftmurmur.com | flathub.org |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
A Soft Murmur
- Masking noise in a library, coffee shop or shared office
- People who want ambient sound in a browser tab at no cost
- Falling asleep to rain or waves with a fade-out timer
Blanket
- Linux users who want background noise while they work
- Falling asleep in a noisy environment
- People who want to mix their own audio files with stock sounds
Worth knowing
A Soft Murmur
- The free web app has 10 sounds; the other 15 in its list need Pro at $14.99 a year.
- The mobile apps include four sounds free, and the rest are in-app purchases.
- The site's upgrade screen says Pro's extra sounds work on the web and Android only; the iOS release notes say Pro accounts get its added sounds, and others buy packs.
- There is no desktop app. The App Store's latest version is dated 10/13/2023 and Google Play shows the Android app as updated on Aug 23, 2023.
Blanket
- Linux only, from Flathub or distribution packages. The README lists Windows, macOS, Android and web apps only under Related Projects, as apps inspired by Blanket.
- The built-in library is 14 sounds; anything else has to be added as a custom audio file.
- The latest release, 0.8.0, is dated July 27, 2025; the one before it, 0.7.0, came out in April 2024.
Key features
A Soft Murmur
- Sound mixer
- Each sound has its own volume slider. The free web app carries rain, thunder, waves, wind, fire, birds, crickets, a coffee shop, a singing bowl and white noise, and up to 10 sounds can be active at once.
- Meander
- With Meander switched on, the volume of every active sound drifts up and down at random, so the mix keeps changing instead of looping at fixed levels.
- Timers
- A timer can stop the sounds after a set period, start them after a delay, or fade them out gradually, which the site suggests for falling asleep.
- Saved and shared mixes
- Mixes can be named, saved and switched between. A mix can be shared as a link, and the web app has share buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Tumblr.
- Extra sounds with Pro
- The web app lists 15 Pro sounds, among them brown and pink noise, two fan speeds, air conditioning, a city, a stream, a waterfall, three more rain recordings, cicadas and frogs.
- Offline mobile apps
- The iPhone, iPad and Android apps store their sounds on the device, play without a connection and keep running in the background alongside music or podcasts.
Blanket
- Fourteen built-in sounds
- Birds, Boat, City, Coffee Shop, Fireplace, Pink Noise, Rain, Summer Night, Storm, Stream, Train, Waves, White Noise and Wind, with a general volume control over the whole mix.
- Presets
- Save a set of sounds and their volumes as a preset and switch between presets later. Presets arrived in version 0.5.0.
- Custom sounds
- Add your own audio files alongside the built-in sounds. Version 0.8.0 added the ability to rename custom sounds.
- Background playback and autostart
- Sounds can keep playing after the window is closed, and the app can start in the background when you log in, with a preference to always start paused.
- MPRIS controls
- Play, Pause, Stop and PlayPause are available through MPRIS, the Linux desktop's media player interface, and its Next and Previous commands step through presets.
- Power awareness
- Playback pauses when the system enters power saver mode. Keeping the computer from suspending while sounds play is an option, off by default.
Plans
A Soft Murmur
Free$0
Ten sounds on the website with the mixer, Meander, timers and saved mixes; four sounds in the iPhone and Android apps.
iOS sound packs$1.99 to $3.99
per pack, US App Store in-app purchase
Unlock all default sounds is $3.99, described as a one-off purchase, and adds the six sounds beyond the free four. Six themed packs cost $1.99 to $3.99 each.
Android in-app purchases$2.49 to $14.99
per item on Google Play (US); the basis is not shown
The listing says a single in-app purchase unlocks six of the app's ten sounds, and shows only a price range for its in-app items.
A Soft Murmur Pro$14.99
per year, or local currency equivalent
A yearly license bought on the website through Paddle: the 15 extra sounds in the web app's list, plus any web sounds released later.
Blanket
Blanket$0
The complete Linux app: 14 built-in sounds, custom sounds, presets, background playback and MPRIS controls.
