Comparison

OnSong 2026 vs HelloBand

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

OnSong 2026

This app helps musicians prepare, practice, and perform by managing chord charts, lyrics, and setlists. It offers features like importing songs from various sources, hands-free control, and advanced video output for live performances.

Highlights
  • Import and manage chord charts and lyrics
  • Create and organize setlists
  • Hands-free page turning and autoscrolling
  • Transpose, capo, and format charts
  • Real-time sharing with band members
  • Video output for lyrics and backgrounds
  • MIDI event automation and stage lighting control
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

OnSong is the best app for musicians. Get ready to prepare, practice and perform with ease. Download the app for free, create your account, and get started importing and viewing up to 30 songs. You can even receive sets and play with other OnSong users. When you're ready to go to the next level with more songs and features, subscribe to OnSong Essentials or OnSong Premium. ALWAYS READY Import and build your library of chords and lyrics with built-in support for Dropbox, Google Drive, SongSelect, Planning Center, and more to work the way you do. Even scan your paper charts directly and extract text¹. OnSong supports text-based chord charts, Adobe PDF and many other file types you can import from any supporting app like Safari. OnSong Console¹ lets you manage your library from your Mac or PC in any web browser. Whether you have ten or ten-thousand songs in your repertoire², it's always lightweight and mobile so you can play anytime, anywhere. PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS Play more gigs with planning made easy. Pull your set lists in moments² and gather the band. Transpose, capo, and format your text-based chord charts² to look just right and then annotate or draw on the page to make special notes¹. When you're all done, share wirelessly with your team in real-time¹, or print, email, and export too². OnSong is as flexible as it is powerful. BUILT FOR PERFORMANCE OnSong is built for the stage. Tap to turn pages or go hands-free with wireless foot pedals or intelligent autoscrolling². No more clumsy page turning on cluttered music stands. Every aspect of the song is at your fingertips. Assign tempo and time signature for a reassuring click², sing a cappella with a digital pitch pipe², link to backing tracks to play along², or even send MIDI events to automate your stage¹, all without complicated or confusing equipment. BE SEEN AND HEARD OnSong features powerful video features that go well beyond other apps. Display lyrics on a projector or an HDTV with a video adapter, AppleTV, or Google Cast-compatible device¹. Compose custom backgrounds with still or motion graphics, or live video¹ feeds for dynamic performances. Stay on the same page with your band with confidence monitors you control on-stage. While you're at it, run stage lighting too¹. OnSong is the ultimate creative tool for musicians. GET STARTED WITH ONSONG® ESSENTIALS Add an unlimited number of songs to your library and enable the features that let you perform with confidence including: • Pulling sets and organizing songs into books. • Hands-free control with foot pedals and actions. • Writing your own songs with custom formatting. • Transposing charts, applying capo and diagrams. • Sharing with your team. ONSONG® PREMIUM MEANS MORE POWER While OnSong Essentials has many of the basic features you need, there are a few that are only available with a Premium subscription including: advanced actions, annotations such as sticky notes, clips, text, and drawings, timeline, backing tracks, click tracks, multitracks, video tracks, Connect and OnCue, Console, document scanner, live video and motion videos backgrounds, MIDI automation, scenes, and premium technical support. Want to learn more? Visit http://onsongapp.com/features to find out if OnSong is right for you. ¹ Requires an active Premium subscription. ² Requires an active Essentials subscription. Terms of Use http://onsongapp.com/premium/terms Privacy Policy http://onsongapp.com/privacy-policy

About

HelloBand

This app helps performers manage fan engagement and their music business through a customizable landing page accessible via a QR code. Artists can receive instant messages, digital tips, and build an email list, all while tracking fan interactions.

Highlights
  • QR code fan engagement
  • Customizable landing pages
  • Instant fan messaging
  • Digital tipping
  • Email list building
  • Gig promotion
  • Performance analytics
Read full description

HelloBand is a fan engagement app designed to help performers manage their music business all in one app! With a valid HelloBand user account, this app will be your control center to create and manage your HelloBand Landing Page. Our “One Scan Does it All” method makes it easy for an artist to build, manage and communicate with a fan database. Your unique HelloBand QR code gets generated and is used on all your marketing materials. Once a potential fan sees your QR code at a live show, they scan it with their mobile device, then their phone’s browser will open to your landing page. They immediately will have access to “All things you” on your custom programmable landing page that they will see instantly, all without having to download an app, or sign up for anything. HelloBand Features: INSTANT MESSAGE “HELLO” FEATURE Fans can scan your QR code, press the Say Hello button and message you instantly on stage! They can say hello, request a song from your in-app songlist, ask for a birthday shout-out, or even just tell you how cool you are. No need to advertise your cell number for texting, or advertising your email address for messaging. No need to promote a social media messaging app, that is tracking your every detail. Our HelloBand Say hello feature is a direct-to-you private message that you receive instantly on your device that you have on-stage. TIPS With fewer people carrying cash, and the younger generations using their hand-held devices for almost everything, HelloBand makes it simple to receive digital tips via whatever digital cash provider you use. Venmo, CashApp, PayPal… what ever digital payment provider you already use, your fans will see and have a choice to use it, even all of them if you use multiple providers. Your TIPS go right to you – Instantly! No middleman here. FOLLOW The follow feature makes it easy for a fan to join your email list. It asks for their First Name, email address and zip code. You can manage this list in your app, and even export it as csv file to your current email manager. SPOTLIGHT Create a unique tile for your landing page that directs fans to where you want. Choose an icon, color it, give it a name, tagline and URL and your fan will be directed right to it with a simple click. Promote your merch store, EPK, endorsed products, your favorite charity and so many more options! SOCIALS Fans can see and link to whatever social sites you allow on the landing page. Facebook? Instagram? Twitter? They will see them all if you choose. GIGS Your fans can see a list of all your upcoming gigs with date, time, venue name and address, and any special notes about the show. STATS See the daily totals of how many people visited your landing page, and what they took interest in and clicked through to. All clicks are tracked including individual digital payment sites, social media sites, and even your own custom spotlights! SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS The Standard Plan provides you access to all of the HelloBand features listed above as well as hosting of your custom Landing Page, accessible to fans via a custom QR Code. Your subscription will automatically renew monthly or annually, and your credit card will be charged through your iTunes account. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings. Privacy Policy - https://helloband.io/privacy Terms of Use - https://helloband.io/terms Thanks for using HelloBand! We'd love to hear from you. Email us at support@helloband.io.

Screenshots

OnSong 20264 screens
HelloBand4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: HelloBand at 100% against OnSong 2026's 28%. HelloBand also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.5). OnSong 2026's advantage is ratings volume (5.5K vs 27) and update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. OnSong 2026 sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and HelloBand sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HelloBand holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: OnSong 2026 has 5.5K ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of OnSong 2026's written reviews are positive against 100% of HelloBand's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

OnSong 2026 ships an update every 4 weeks, HelloBand every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and August 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
OnSong 2026 versus HelloBand: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOnSong 2026HelloBand
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (5.5K ratings)4.9 (27 ratings) — better
Positive reviews28.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5.5K — better27
Update frequencyEvery 4 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#147 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.5 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size204 MB129 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperOnSong LLCWilliam Edmondson

Customer experience

OnSong 2026

All ratings5,466 ratings
Positive87.9%
Neutral3.6%
Negative8.5%
Written reviews676 reviews
Positive28.3%
Neutral7.8%
Negative63.9%

HelloBand

All ratings27 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

OnSong 2026

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Songs and annotations randomly disappearing
  • Frequent crashes and freezes
  • Inconsistent behavior when importing/exporting songs
  • Sync and sharing issues between devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved sync and backup capabilities
  • More intuitive user interface
  • Ability to transpose songs easily
  • Better support for older devices and iOS versions

HelloBand

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

OnSong 2026

Subscriptions4
  • Essentials (Monthly)$3.991 Month
  • Premium (Monthly)7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Essentials (Annual)$29.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium (Annual)1 Month trial$59.991 Year
2 purchases

HelloBand

Subscriptions2
  • Standard14 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Standard (17% off)14 Days trial$99.991 Year

Questions

Is OnSong 2026 free?
OnSong 2026 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HelloBand free?
HelloBand is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, OnSong 2026 or HelloBand?
HelloBand is rated higher. OnSong 2026 averages 4.5 out of 5 from 5.5K ratings, while HelloBand averages 4.9 from 27 ratings.
Do OnSong 2026 or HelloBand have ads?
Neither OnSong 2026 nor HelloBand shows ads.
Which is updated more often, OnSong 2026 or HelloBand?
OnSong 2026 ships an update every 4 weeks, and HelloBand every 2 months. Most recently, OnSong 2026 was updated on September 27, 2026 and HelloBand on August 22, 2026.

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