Comparison

Ear Cat Lite vs Fretboard Learning

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

Head to head
About

Ear Cat Lite

Develop your musical ear with this game featuring 20 progressively challenging levels. It offers an intuitive approach to recognizing intervals and improving solfege skills. Created with professional musicians and educators, it's designed to be both helpful and entertaining.

Highlights
  • 20 progressive levels
  • Interval recognition
  • Solfege improvement
  • Pitch identification
  • Intuitive gameplay
Features
Read full description

Ear Cat Lite is a fun game created to develop your musical ear, with 20 levels that get progressively more challenging. From the creators of Melody Cats. (Rhythm Cat, Treble Cat, Bass Cat). An intuitive approach to recognising intervals. Improve your solfege and learn to identify pitches in relation to a tonal center. Helpful and entertaining, Ear Cat has been developed in collaboration with professional musicians and educators.

About

Fretboard Learning

Master the guitar fretboard with interactive games and comprehensive learning tools. Practice your ear, learn hundreds of chords and scales, and customize your learning experience with various tunings and modes. Track your progress with detailed statistics and explore music harmony.

Highlights
  • Educational games for fretboard notes
  • Learn over 500 chords
  • Master all scales in different boxes
  • Customizable tunings
  • Left-handed mode
  • Interactive Circle of Fifths
  • Metronome
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Are you new to the guitar? Or maybe you're a seasoned player who's looking for a little help getting your ear back in shape. Either way, Fretboard Learning is your best bet for learning the notes on your guitar. Fretboard Learning offers the best educational games to learn the notes on your guitar. You can practice your musical ear, learn more than 500 chords all over the fretboard, learn all scales in all the different boxes, and customize your experience by selecting your favorite tuning or creating a new one of your own! Left-handed mode is also available. The app includes: - Differents game modes - More than 500 chords all over the fretboard - All scales in all the differents boxes - Custom tunings or create your own - Left handed mode - Different notes notation - Circle of fifths: an interactive and fun tool to explore music harmony - Metronome - Statistics of your results - Detailed heat map of the fretboard

Screenshots

Ear Cat Lite3 screens
Fretboard Learning4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Ear Cat Lite at none against Fretboard Learning's 2. Fretboard Learning's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 7 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). On price, review sentiment, ads and device support 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. Fretboard Learning sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Ear Cat Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Fretboard Learning holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Fretboard Learning has 487 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 71% of Ear Cat Lite's written reviews are positive against 70% of Fretboard Learning's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ear Cat Lite ships an update every 7 months, Fretboard Learning every 3 days. Both last shipped on November 7, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Ear Cat Lite versus Fretboard Learning: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEar Cat LiteFretboard Learning
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (13 ratings)4.7 (487 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews — better69.8% of reviews
Number of ratings13487 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#171 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.1 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJames UhartMustapha AOUAS

Customer experience

Ear Cat Lite

All ratings13 ratings
Positive84.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative15.4%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%

Fretboard Learning

All ratings485 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews43 reviews
Positive69.8%
Neutral9.3%
Negative20.9%

Bugs and requests

Ear Cat Lite

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Fretboard Learning

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Identify by sound produces no audio or disturbing beep sound
  • Notes on lower half of fretboard not selectable
  • Missing button for sharps/flats (D# not available when shown)
  • Low E string gets stuck on D in custom tuning setup
  • Broken links to Twitter and website in about section
Show 4 more
  • Screen cutoff in horizontal orientation
  • Enharmonic errors in some scales
  • Pro access lost after app reinstall
  • Incorrect answer options not provided for some questions

Requested features

14 requests
  • Octave differentiation (C1, C2, C3, etc.)
  • Support for different number of strings and instruments (bass)
  • Actual guitar note sounds instead of generic beep
  • Horizontal/landscape orientation support
  • Ability to select specific frets and notes in all game modes
Show 9 more
  • Single string isolation practice mode
  • Backing tracks for practice
  • CAGED system mapping
  • Unlimited practice mode option
  • Show correct answer after wrong selection
  • Chord support for alternate tunings
  • Share button for scales and chords
  • Full fretboard view with scrolling instead of limited sections
  • Customizable game progression pace

In-app purchases

None

Ear Cat Lite

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Fretboard Learning

Subscriptions1
  • All Access Package$1.491 Month
One-time1
  • All Access Package$9.99

Questions

Is Ear Cat Lite free?
Ear Cat Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Fretboard Learning free?
Fretboard Learning is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Ear Cat Lite or Fretboard Learning?
Fretboard Learning is rated higher. Ear Cat Lite averages 4.4 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Fretboard Learning averages 4.7 from 487 ratings.
Do Ear Cat Lite or Fretboard Learning have ads?
Neither Ear Cat Lite nor Fretboard Learning shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ear Cat Lite or Fretboard Learning?
Ear Cat Lite ships an update every 7 months, and Fretboard Learning every 3 days. Most recently, Ear Cat Lite was updated on November 7, 2026 and Fretboard Learning on November 7, 2026.

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