Guitar Tab Maker vs Sortwave
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Guitar Tab Maker
Create, edit, and share guitar tablature with an intuitive editor. Sync across devices, listen to playback, and export your creations. Offers free and premium features for musicians of all levels.
- Intuitive tab editor
- Automatic iCloud syncing
- Built-in audio playback
- Export tabs for sharing
- Support for multiple instruments
- Unlimited tab creation (Premium)
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Create, edit, and share guitar tabs with ease. Here’s the Riffs & Licks: Guitar Tab Maker is a powerful yet straightforward tablature editor designed for guitarists, bassists, and other stringed-instrument players. Whether you're capturing a new riff, transcribing a song, or organizing your ideas, Guitar Tab Maker makes writing tabs fast and intuitive. Available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac with seamless syncing across your devices. FREE FEATURES • Create and edit guitar tabs in an intuitive editor • Sync your tabs automatically with iCloud • Listen back with built-in audio playback • Export tabs for sharing and backup • Support for guitar, bass, ukulele, and 7- and 8-string instruments • Available across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS PREMIUM FEATURES • Upgrade to Premium to unlock: • Unlimited tab creation • Advanced editing tools • Watermark-free exports • Backup all tabs ability • Additional organization & customization options • Future Premium enhancements as they're released ~ New User Special ~ Start with a free 7-day Premium trial. No strings attached. Whether you're sketching ideas, practicing songs, or building a personal tab library, Guitar Tab Maker helps keep your music organized and accessible wherever inspiration strikes. User Guide: https://kylegorlick.com/guitartabber/guide/ Questions, feedback, or feature requests? Email: kyle@kylegorlick.com Your support is much appreciated. Thank you! Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Sortwave
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Swipe music into place. Sortwave is a focused playlist-curation companion for Apple Music. Choose a playlist, listen to each full song, and decide what belongs without breaking your flow. Swipe right to keep a song. Route it up or down into playlists you already use. Mark favorites, shuffle your session, scrub through playback, undo a decision, or stop whenever you want. Sortwave queues your choices locally and applies them together when you choose Finish & Sync. Apple Music doesn’t allow third-party apps to directly delete arbitrary library songs. When you mark songs for removal, Sortwave places them in a clearly labeled Deleted Songs playlist and shows a short guide for completing deletion safely in Apple Music. Your original library stays under your control. Features: • Full-song Apple Music playback • Fast, gesture-first playlist decisions • Two configurable quick-route playlists • Favorite and unfavorite controls • Interactive playback scrubber • Shuffle, previous, next and undo controls • Batched sync with a clear summary • Session history and resilient local queueing • Secure connection restoration • No advertising or tracking An active Apple Music subscription may be required for full-song playback and library access. Sortwave is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sortwave at none against Guitar Tab Maker's 7. Sortwave also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 5 weeks). Guitar Tab Maker's advantage is device support (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price 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. Guitar Tab Maker sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Sortwave asks for nothing beyond the download.
Guitar Tab Maker ships an update every 5 weeks, Sortwave every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Guitar Tab Maker | Sortwave |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (515 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 79.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 515 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kyle Gorlick | Sooraj Sambasivam |
Bugs and requests
Guitar Tab Maker
Reported bugs
3 issues- Tabs randomly deleted or lost
- Infinite loading screen when accessing tabs
- Inability to change tunings in some cases
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for advanced tab notation (slides, bends, etc.)
- Implement playback and audio features to hear the tabs
- Improve tab organization and management tools
- Add print and export options (PDF, MIDI, etc.)
- Expand to desktop/web version for better workflow
Sortwave
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Guitar Tab Maker
- Premium (Monthly)7 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Premium (Monthly)$1.991 Month
- Premium (Annual)7 Days trial$12.991 Year
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- Premium (Annual)$12.991 Year
- Premium (Annual Family)3 Days trial$17.991 Year
- Premium One-Time Buy$29.99
- Premium Lifetime$34.99
Sortwave
No in-app purchases









