A Soft Murmur vs Noizio

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

Noizio

• People who want ambient sound without a subscription or account
• Masking office or street noise while working or studying
• Falling asleep to rain or waves with a fade-out timer

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.

Noizio

• Each platform is bought separately: $2.99 on iPhone and iPad, $9.99 on Mac and a $4.99 unlock on Android, at US store prices.
• No Windows app yet: the site says Noizio for Windows is on the way and takes email addresses for a launch notice.
• Noizio Lite for Mac and the free Android app each include 5 sounds; the rest of the library needs the paid version or the web mixer.
• The Pomodoro timer and alarm are listed for the Mac apps only; the iPhone and Android listings describe a sleep timer.

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.

Noizio

Sound mixer

More than 40 looping sounds, from October Rain and Sea Waves to Paris Cafe, white, pink and brown noise and brainwave tones. Several can play at once, each with its own volume slider.

Saved mixtures

Save a combination as a mixture and load it again later. The iPhone app can share a mixture with a friend or import theirs, and Mac mixtures sync through your own iCloud account.

Sleep timer, Pomodoro and alarm

A sleep timer fades the sound out and stops it. The Mac apps add a Pomodoro timer, with sessions of up to 180 minutes, an auto-pause timer and an alarm.

Free web mixer

Noizio Play mixes more than 40 of the sounds in a browser tab, free and without a download or an account.

Offline and background playback

The apps play their sounds without an internet connection and keep going behind other apps. On phones, playback continues with the screen locked and shows lock screen controls.

Noizio Lite for Mac

A free edition that lives in the Mac menu bar with five sounds, saved combinations, a Pomodoro timer, a sleep timer and a choice of output device.

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.

Noizio

• Web mixer$0

  Noizio Play mixes more than 40 sounds in the browser with no download or sign-up.

• Noizio Lite (Mac)$0

  Menu bar app with 5 sounds: rain, thunderstorm, sea waves, campfire and a sunny day. Includes saved mixes, a Pomodoro timer and a sleep timer.

• Noizio for iPhone and iPad$2.99

  one-time purchase, US App Store

  41 sounds, saved and shareable mixtures and a sleep timer. The listing says no subscription, ads, account or internet connection is needed.

• Noizio for Android$4.99

  one-time in-app purchase, Google Play (US)

  Free to install with 5 sounds; a single purchase unlocks all 40+ sounds for good, with no subscription or ads.

• Noizio for Mac$9.99

  one-time purchase, Mac App Store (US)

  40+ sounds, saved mixtures synced through iCloud, a timer, a Pomodoro timer and an alarm. The privacy policy says it is also in Setapp.