EarMaster vs Sonofield Ear Trainer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
EarMaster
Enhance your musical abilities with comprehensive ear training, sight-singing, and rhythm exercises. This app offers thousands of lessons for all skill levels, from beginners to advanced musicians, and is used by top music schools.
- Ear training exercises
- Sight-singing practice
- Rhythm training
- Vocal training
- Beginner's course
- Customizable exercises
- Detailed progress stats
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Music theory made easy and fun: EarMaster is the ultimate app for your ear training, sight-singing practice, rhythmic workout and vocal training at all skill levels! Thousands of exercises will help you build up your musical skills and become a better musician. Try it, it's not just fun to use but also very efficient: some of the best music schools use EarMaster! "The exercises are so well thought out, and have so much to offer both the complete beginner and the most world class musicians alike. Being an instructor at Nashville Music Academy, I can say this app has developed my ear and my students ear to a level that would have taken many more years to develop, if at all, without it." - User review by Chiddychat AWARDS “Best App of the Month” (App Store, Jan 2020) NAMM TEC AWARDS nominee Music Teacher Awards for Excellence nominee INCLUDED IN FREE VERSION: - Interval Identification (Customized Exercise) - Chord Identification (Customized Exercise) - 'Carmen – Habanera' (based on the iconic opera by Bizet) - 'Call of the Notes' (call-response ear training course) - 'Greensleeves' thematic course - First 20+ lessons of Beginners Course *Highlights* BEGINNER'S COURSE - Acquire all the core music theory skills with hundreds of progressive exercises on rhythm, notation, pitch, chords, scales, and more. COMPLETE EAR TRAINING - Train with intervals, chords, chord inversions, scales, harmonic progressions, melodies, rhythm, and more. LEARN TO SIGHT-SING - Sing on-screen scores into the microphone of your iPad or iPhone and get immediate feedback on your pitch and time accuracy. RHYTHM TRAINING - Tap! tap! tap! Sight-read, dictate and tap back rhythms, and get instant feedback on your performance. VOCAL TRAINER - Become a better singer with progressive vocal exercises on vocalizes, scale singing, rhythmic precision, interval singing, and more. SOLFEGE FUNDAMENTALS - Learn to use movable-do solfege, as easy as Do-Re-Mi! MELODIA - Become a true sight-singing master with EarMaster's take on the classic sight-singing book method AURAL TRAINER FOR UK GRADES - Prepare for ABRSM* Aural Tests 1-5 and similar exams RCM VOICE* - Prepare for your RCM Voice exams from Preparatory level to Level 8. CARMEN – HABANERA (free) - Explore the world of opera with this course based on the iconic opera by Bizet CALL OF THE NOTES (free) - A fun and challenging course in call-response ear training GREENSLEEVES (free) - Learn the English folk ballad Greensleeves with a series of fun exercises CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING - Take control of the app and configure your own exercises: voicing, key, pitch range, cadences, time limits, etc. JAZZ WORKSHOPS - Exercises for advanced users with jazz chords and progressions, swing rhythms, jazz sight-singing and sing-back exercises based on jazz classics such as "After You've Gone", "Ja-Da", "St. Louis Blues", and many more. DETAILED STATS - Follow your progress day by day to spot your strengths and weaknesses. AND MUCH, MUCH MORE – Learn to sing and transcribe music by ear. Learn to use solfege. Plug a microphone or a MIDI controller to answer the exercises. And even more to explore on your own in the app :) WORKS WITH EARMASTER CLOUD - If your school or choir is using EarMaster Cloud, you can connect the app with your account and complete your home assignments with the app. *Not affiliated with ABRSM or RCM LOVE EARMASTER? LET'S STAY CONNECTED Drop us a line on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Mastodon, or X!
Sonofield Ear Trainer
This app helps musicians develop their ear by focusing on the feeling of individual notes within a key, rather than traditional interval training. It uses sustained drones and offers various modes like identifying scale degrees, melodies, and singing exercises. The app adapts to your skill level with an intuitive interface and progression path.
- Feeling-based note recognition
- Scale degree identification
- Melody recognition training
- Singing exercises
- Hands-free training mode
- Interactive exploration instrument
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Sonofield Ear Trainer (SET) is a revolutionary ear training app designed to help you intuitively play the melodies you hear and imagine. Instead of relying on traditional old methods like intervals, SET focuses on helping you feel the unique character of each note within a key. By using sustained drones to create a tonal foundation, you’ll learn to recognize scale degrees based on their *feeling*, not just how they sound. The app offers a variety of ways to train: * Degrees Mode - Identify individual notes against the drone by feeling. The heart of SET. * Melody Mode - Identify short melodic phrases, preparing you for real music. * Voice Mode - Sing the requested scale degree into your microphone. * Pocket Mode - Hands-free training for when you're on the go. * Free Play - An interactive instrument for exploration. With its intuitive, color-coded interface, thoughtfully designed progression path, and multiple difficulty levels, SET adapts to your skill level while keeping practice engaging. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced musician, SET is your guide to unlocking true musical fluency through intuitive, feeling-based ear training. No ads or forced payments. The free version contains full foundations for feeling-based ear training. Download the ear training app now!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sonofield Ear Trainer at every 9 days against EarMaster's every 2 months. Sonofield Ear Trainer also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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
Both are free to download. EarMaster sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Sonofield Ear Trainer sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Sonofield Ear Trainer holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 429 and 392 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of EarMaster's written reviews are positive against 89% of Sonofield Ear Trainer's.
EarMaster ships an update every 2 months, Sonofield Ear Trainer every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | EarMaster | Sonofield Ear Trainer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (429 ratings) | 4.9 (392 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 80.9% of reviews | 88.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 429 — better | 392 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 306 MB | 105 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | EarMaster ApS | Sonofield Ear Trainer Education Ltd. |
Customer experience
EarMaster
Sonofield Ear Trainer
User reviews
EarMaster
From 429 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent for sight reading and vocal singing
- 👍 Helpful for improving musicianship and sharpening ears
- 💡 Customizable exercises and lessons
- 🚀 Systematic and progressive approach
- 👍 Covers a wide range of topics (intervals, chords, rhythm, etc.)
Room to improve
- 🐛 Pitch recognition issues, especially for lower voices
- 🐛 Rhythm playback issues on some devices
- 💰 Expensive, with in-app purchases required for full access
- 🤔 Forced landscape mode on mobile devices
Sonofield Ear Trainer
From 392 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent ear training tool
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly design
- 🎶 Effective for improving relative pitch
- 💡 Innovative use of drone and scale degrees
- 🎯 Helpful for aural skills development
Room to improve
- 🤔 Challenging for true beginners
- 💭 Desire for more customization options
Bugs and requests
EarMaster
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes and errors when loading certain exercises
- Inconsistent behavior with metronome and rhythm playback
- Issues with saving progress and restoring purchased content
Requested features
5 requests- Allow users to specify their vocal range
- Add more chord and chord progression options
- Implement a jazz-focused curriculum
- Improve feedback and error analysis for users
- Add support for different tuning systems
Sonofield Ear Trainer
Reported bugs
1 issue- None reported
Requested features
5 requests- Option to switch between 12TET and just intonation
- Ability to reduce octave range
- Incorporate more timbre options for drone and notes
- Tracking and visualization of progress and learned skills
- Add interactive tutorial for level 1
In-app purchases
EarMaster
- General: Interval Singing$1.99
- General: Interval Identification$1.99
- General: Chord Progressions$1.99
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- Jazz: Chord Identification$1.99
- Beginner's Course: Modules 5 to 13$3.99
- Beginner's Course bundle$7.99
- Customized Exercises bundle$14.99
- General Workshops bundle$14.99
- Jazz Workshops bundle$14.99
- Vocal Trainer$14.99
Sonofield Ear Trainer
- Lifetime Pro$14.99
- Lifetime Pro$17.99
- Lifetime Pro2 variants$19.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Lifetime Pro$24.99
Questions
Is EarMaster free?
Is Sonofield Ear Trainer free?
Which has better reviews, EarMaster or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
Do EarMaster or Sonofield Ear Trainer have ads?
Which is updated more often, EarMaster or Sonofield Ear Trainer?
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