Comparison

Tonic vs EarForge

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

Head to head
About

Tonic

This app uses augmented reality to display over 130 chords directly on your piano. It guides you on finger placement, making it easier to learn and play chords, especially for those who don't read traditional sheet music. Ideal for musicians of all levels.

Highlights
  • Augmented reality chord display
  • Over 130 chords
  • Finger placement guidance
  • Flat/sharp display modes
  • Works with various piano sizes
  • 3 octave options
Read full description

Tonic is the world's first AR chord dictionary. Chords are amazing. But for musicians who aren't jazz aficionados, finding a chord from a lead sheet is often frustrating and time consuming. And for the many talented musicians who don't read sheet music, chord dictionaries with music notation don't make things any easier. Tonic is the solution. Using AR, Tonic lets you easily view over 130 chords on your own piano. It tells you exactly where to place your fingers to play almost any chord. Great for students, professionals, or anyone interested in music. Features: - Over 130 chords with music notation - Flat/sharp display modes - Works with 88, 76, 61, 49, and 25 key pianos - 3 octaves to choose from - An adorable app icon

About

EarForge

This app offers a structured ear training program designed to improve your sense of pitch and ability to recognize musical notes and chords. It features progressive lessons, personalized quizzes, and detailed progress tracking. Advanced users can create custom training sessions for specific musical elements.

Highlights
  • 30-level note recognition program
  • Chord identification lessons
  • Customizable note and chord training
  • Progress tracking with profile statistics
  • Ad-free experience (PRO)
  • Exclusive themes (PRO)
Features
Read full description

— Featured in App of the Day and one of Apple's "Apps We Love", "Our latest Favourites" and "Turn Learning Into a Game" more than 100 countries including United States, United Kingdom and China! — EarForge is an app that can help you achieve the perfect ears and improve your sense of pitch with our well-designed training program. FEATURES - Lessons NOTES Enjoy our 30-level well-designed program. Develop your skill to recognize different notes. Great for beginners and any musicians. - Lessons CHORDS Given a single chord. Your goal is to identify the chord that you heard. - Quiz Unlock the quiz to challenge yourself in the next level. - Profile You can find your stat here. Check out your note accuracy, what you’re good at and what to improve. And track your progress with Facebook login, Google login or sign in with apple. EarForge PRO — a paid subscription feature * - Training NOTES You can program your own specific notes, sounds and octaves. This training mode will help you focus on the notes you want to learn and practice. - Training CHORDS You can program on specific chord keys, chord types and octaves. Listen to the chord and try to guess the correct answers. - Custom NOTES LESSON Keep practicing and create your own notes lesson. Select at least 3 notes you want to learn. This lesson will collect stats but not collect stars. - Custom CHORDS LESSON Keep practicing and create your own chords lesson. Select chord keys and select at least 3 chord types. This lesson will collect stats but not collect stars. - Exclusive themes It's beautiful and more delightful to use. - No ads Ad-free, no interruptions. * EarForge PRO subscription price is $2.99/month or $19.99/year. (Pricing may be converted to your local currency.) Payment will be charged to your iTunes account. Your subscription will auto-renew within 24 hours before the end of the current period and you can turn off auto-renewal at any time in the account settings. See our Privacy Policy at https://earforge.blog/privacy-policy/ and Terms of Service at https://earforge.blog/terms-of-service/ Feedback is always welcome, please let we know in the comment.  Start forging your ears now! Learn Perfect pitch / Relative pitch / Absolute pitch / Ear training

Screenshots

Tonic4 screens
EarForge4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: EarForge at 4.6 against Tonic's 4.0. EarForge also leads on review sentiment (63% vs 39%). Tonic's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks). On price, ratings volume, 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. EarForge sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Tonic asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

EarForge holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 204 and 293 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of Tonic's written reviews are positive against 63% of EarForge's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tonic ships an update weekly, EarForge every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Tonic versus EarForge: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTonicEarForge
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (204 ratings)4.6 (293 ratings) — better
Positive reviews38.6% of reviews62.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings204293 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB93 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCoda Labs IncorporatedPatcharapon Phasukdee

Customer experience

Tonic

All ratings203 ratings
Positive74.4%
Neutral6.9%
Negative18.7%
Written reviews70 reviews
Positive38.6%
Neutral8.6%
Negative52.9%

EarForge

All ratings292 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral5.5%
Negative6.2%
Written reviews59 reviews
Positive62.7%
Neutral11.9%
Negative25.4%

Bugs and requests

Tonic

Reported bugs

26 issues
  • Calibration doesn't work
  • Dots move perpendicular to what they should
  • App thinks piano is rotated 90 degrees
  • App won't pick up the piano
  • Keys never show
Show 21 more
  • Dots overlap and don't align for each key
  • Dots slide around after calibration
  • Target for placing a dot can become permanently rotated
  • Second marker/target never appears
  • Blue circle pops up floating around
  • Target doesn't pop up for alignment
  • Notes don't align perfectly
  • G# is completely off
  • Diminished triads and augmented triads switched in notation
  • Highest key not detected
  • Second target won't appear on screen
  • Dots are not centered on the keys correctly
  • Doesn't detect highest key on 61 key pianos
  • First target aligns perfectly but second target doesn't show up
  • Second dot will not appear during alignment
  • No second target to align
  • Can't calibrate, second target doesn't appear
  • Calibration dot gets stuck in one place
  • Second target doesn't appear for alignment
  • Hard to calibrate properly
  • AR is not perfect

Requested features

10 requests
  • Fix calibration tool
  • Make YouTube video with instructions
  • Add more chords (9ths, 11ths, 13ths, jazz chords)
  • Add chord inversions
  • Support for smaller keyboards
Show 5 more
  • Display all key names
  • Add basic music playing/ar tutorial
  • Specify number of keys for unconventional keyboards
  • Auto-calibrate by detecting keyboard
  • Allow searching all chords and inversions

EarForge

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Tonic

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

EarForge

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription$3.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Tonic free?
Tonic is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is EarForge free?
EarForge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Tonic or EarForge?
EarForge is rated higher. Tonic averages 4.0 out of 5 from 204 ratings, while EarForge averages 4.6 from 293 ratings.
Do Tonic or EarForge have ads?
Neither Tonic nor EarForge shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tonic or EarForge?
Tonic ships an update weekly, and EarForge every 5 weeks. Most recently, Tonic was updated on October 21, 2026 and EarForge on October 24, 2026.

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