Pantry vs Tuva
Two small, one-time, local-first apps at a similar price. Tuva browses your DAW projects. Pantry starts from a search box and runs on Linux.
Pick Pantry if
- You’d rather type what you’re after than browse categories
- You want to see a waveform for every result, not just the one playing
- You need Linux support
- You want a free tier with no time limit
Pick Tuva if
- You want to browse DAW projects and see which samples they use
- You prefer navigating samples through instrument-category tags
- You want a slightly lower entry price
| Feature | Pantry | Tuva |
|---|---|---|
| Price / licence | Free up to 15k; €29 one-time unlimited | €25 one-time, updates included |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows |
| Auto-tagging | Yes instrument, key, BPM | Yes 66+ instrument categories, BPM |
| Semantic / text search | Yes plain-language descriptions | Not listed |
| Find-similar | Yes also from any outside audio file | Yes |
| Works fully offline | Yes | Partial (online login every 30 days) |
| Account required | No | For licence verification |
| Machines | Up to 5 activations | Install anywhere; signed in on 2 at once |
| Bundled store | No | No |
| Duplicate detection | Yes | Not listed |
| DAW project browsing | No | Yes Ableton, FL Studio, Logic, Cubase, Reaper |
| Waveform display | Yes every result in the list | Yes playing sample only |
| Free version / trial | Free up to 15k samples (no time limit) | 14-day full-feature trial |
Checked October 2026 against each vendor’s own site; the waveform row against Tuva’s trial. “Not listed” means we couldn’t find it there either way.
Pantry also: match any audio file, build kits from your library, suggest sounds for a collection, and filter to sounds you’ve never played.
Two small teams, same philosophy
Pantry and Tuva have more in common than either has with most of the tools on this compare list. Both are one-time purchases from small independent teams: Featherfall in Germany, Tuva AB in Stockholm. Both store samples locally and run analysis on-device. Neither bundles a sample store, pushes a subscription, or requires you to create an account just to try the software. At €29 and €25 respectively, both sit in the same price neighbourhood.
That overlap is the point worth making first: if you care about owning your tools outright and keeping your sample library private, both of these apps were built with that in mind. The differences are in how each one helps you find sounds once they're indexed.
How you search
Pantry's primary interface is semantic text search. You type a description of what you're looking for, like "dusty breakbeat" or "clean electric guitar stab", and the engine matches your words against what it heard during analysis. You can combine terms with boolean operators (pad AND NOT reverb) and layer filters to narrow results further. The workflow assumes you have an idea in your head and want to get to matching samples quickly.
Tuva approaches discovery through tag browsing. Its on-device AI assigns each sample to one or more of 66+ instrument categories based on the audio content. You navigate by selecting categories, then refine with tempo sorting and similarity search. The workflow is more visual and exploratory: less "type what you want" and more "browse what you have." Tuva also offers a find-similar function, currently limited to libraries of up to 100,000 files.
Under the hood the two are closer than the interfaces suggest: both listen to the audio with on-device machine learning, and both use it to find similar sounds. The real difference is the front door. Pantry puts a search box first; Tuva puts the category browser first. Typing is faster when you already know what you want; browsing tags is useful when you want the library itself to suggest directions.
Free tier vs trial
Pantry is free with full features for libraries up to 15,000 samples, with no time limit and no account required. If your library outgrows that, a single €29 payment unlocks unlimited samples. Tuva offers a 14-day free trial with no account or payment. Download, install, and start using it immediately on your full library.
Both models let you genuinely evaluate the tool at zero cost on your own samples, which matters because tagging accuracy varies with the kind of library you have. A loop-heavy electronic library and a foley recording archive will surface different strengths in each tool's analysis. The honest recommendation is to try both. Point each at the same folders and see which results feel more useful for how you actually work.
| Library size | Pantry | Tuva |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 15,000 samples | €0 | €25 |
| More than 15,000 | €29 once | €25 |
Linux
Pantry runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Tuva supports macOS and Windows. If you produce on a Linux workstation, Pantry is the option that works there.
When Tuva is the better choice
Tuva's signature feature is DAW project browsing, and Pantry has nothing equivalent. Open Tuva and you can browse your Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, Cubase, and Reaper projects directly: see which samples each project uses, preview embedded MIDI and audio clips, and sort project files by BPM or date. If you've ever needed to track down which project uses a particular sample, or reconstruct the building blocks of a session without opening the DAW, this is genuinely useful and unique among the tools on this compare list.
Tuva is also €4 cheaper than Pantry's unlimited unlock. The difference is small, but it's there, and both teams include lifetime updates in that price.
If your workflow centres on managing and understanding DAW projects alongside samples, and you work on macOS or Windows, Tuva deserves a serious look.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tuva a one-time purchase or a subscription?
Tuva is a one-time purchase at €25 with lifetime updates included. There is no subscription. Pantry is also a one-time purchase at €29 for unlimited samples, with a free tier covering up to 15,000 samples.
Do Pantry and Tuva work offline?
Both tools keep your samples local and run audio analysis on your machine. Pantry works fully offline with no account or internet required. Tuva works offline for day-to-day use but requires an internet login once every 30 days to verify your licence.
Can I try both for free?
Yes. Pantry is free with full features for libraries up to 15,000 samples, with no time limit. Tuva offers a 14-day free trial with no account or payment required. Both let you evaluate on your own sample library at zero cost, and we recommend doing exactly that, including for tagging quality.
Which tags samples more accurately?
Both tools use on-device analysis to tag samples automatically, but tagging accuracy depends heavily on the kind of samples in your library. Rather than claiming a winner, we recommend running both on your own folders. Pantry's free tier and Tuva's 14-day trial make that straightforward.
Try it on your own library.
Free with every feature up to 15,000 samples. €29 once for unlimited.
Get notified at launch