Comparison

FingerStyle vs Guitar Notebook

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

Head to head
About

FingerStyle

This app helps guitarists of all levels master songs with tools like daily song additions, tab creation, and YouTube tutorials. It allows users to play along, adjust song speed, loop sections, and save songs for offline practice.

Highlights
  • Daily new songs
  • Create guitar tabs
  • YouTube tutorials integration
  • High-quality song sheets
  • Adjust song speed
  • Loop song sections
  • Offline song playback
Features
Read full description

Are you struggling learning guitar? FingerStyle is a must have app for all guitarists. Whether you are a beginner or experienced player. FingerStyle is packed with many tools and features to help you master any guitar song. Features: ▶ New songs added daily ▶ Discover songs ▶ Create guitar tabs ▶ YouTube tutorials ▶ High quality song sheets ▶ Play through songs ▶ Slow down/speed up any guitar song ▶ Loop songs ▶ Save songs to play in offline mode

About

Guitar Notebook

Organize all your musical creations in one place. Add chords, lyrics, and audio recordings. Import songs from photos using AI. Streamline your songwriting with customizable organization and sharing options.

Highlights
  • Add chords and notes
  • Record audio and lyrics
  • Import songs from photos with AI
  • Organize songs with labels and tags
  • Print and share songs as PDFs
  • Customizable page styles
  • Offline access and cloud sync
Features
Read full description

Keep all your songs and ideas together in one place! Add chords, audio recordings, lyrics, and more. Import songs from photos with SongSight AI! Perfect for songwriters and guitarists of any skill or music theory level. ADD CHORDS AND NOTES Use the Chord Keyboard and Automatic Chord Detector to quickly add chords to your song. With the virtual fretboard, you can also just tap to add notes for custom chords or any pattern. Add a capo, create custom tunings, and choose from beautiful page styles for your song. Show your notation as chord diagrams or expandable fretboard diagrams. Display notes on the fretboard as note letters, frets, chord degrees, or fingering. RECORD AUDIO & LYRICS Record your song to capture rhythm and tempo, and add as many recordings to a page as you like. Use the Text Editor to add notes and lyrics. With audio, text, and notation you have everything you need to save and recreate your idea, whether that’s a new song or part of a multi-track GarageBand / DAW project. IMPORT AND ORGANIZE YOUR SONGS Streamline your songwriting workflow with Folders and Tags. Group songs by Writing Phase, Category, Rating, Album, Style, or Instrument. SongSight imports your handwritten notebooks, photos of printed songs, or PDF chord charts, so you can keep all your songs together in one place. PRINT & SHARE Print songs, or save as PDFs to your Files. Share your songs as PDFs via email, text, AirDrop, and more! YOUR SONGS ARE SAFE Guitar Notebook was created by guitarists at SonaMetro. We understand how important your songs are to you. SongSync ensures your songs are private, secure, and available on all your devices using your personal iCloud account. You can even work offline and SongSync will upload any changes to your account when you come back online. GET MORE WITH PRO Get started songwriting with this limited version Guitar Notebook. Upgrade to Guitar Notebook PRO in-app with a Lifetime Buy or Yearly Subscription (your songs will always be there even if you end your subscription) for unlimited songs, pages, recordings, capo, custom tuning, and more. With Universal Purchase, your upgrade works on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. BEAUTIFUL PAGE STYLES • Paper: Crisp white with maple fretboard • Maple: Neutral off-white with maple fretboard • Rosewood: Dark Mode with rosewood fretboard • Blue Steel: Twilight blue with metal fretboard • Dark Studio: Ultra-dim and easy on the eyes during late night sessions • Sunburst: Classic orange sunburst with hardwood fretboard The FREE version of Guitar Notebook gets you started with: • Up to 5 Songs, 1 Page per Song • 1 Audio Recording per Page (up to 1 hour per recording) • Import songs from photos with SongSight AI • Chord Library and Chord Keyboard to easily add chords • Chord Detector helps you figure out what chord your notes are • All Page Styles with Auto Light/Dark Modes • Professional audio monitoring • Custom labels and tags to organize songs • Tap/strum and zoomable fretboard with sound • SongSync between devices • Work Online or Offline • Print, Save, and Share PDFs • Full portrait and landscape mode support Get Guitar Notebook PRO with a Lifetime Upgrade or Yearly Subscription and get all current and future Pro features! • Unlimited Songs and Pages • Unlimited Audio Recordings per Page (up to 1 hour per recording) • SongSight up to 500 photos • Guitar Capo • Custom Tuning with 128 note range • Remove Guitar Notebook header from PDFs • Universal Purchase - Works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac • Family Sharing support (everyone has their own private notebook) Questions? Contact us at support@sonametro.com Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.sonametro.com/privacy

Screenshots

FingerStyle4 screens
Guitar Notebook4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Guitar Notebook at 4.6 against FingerStyle's 3.7. Guitar Notebook also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 months). FingerStyle's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.6). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Guitar Notebook sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year. FingerStyle asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Guitar Notebook holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18 and 30 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of FingerStyle's written reviews are positive against 80% of Guitar Notebook's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FingerStyle ships an update every 6 months, Guitar Notebook every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
FingerStyle versus Guitar Notebook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFingerStyleGuitar Notebook
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (18 ratings)4.6 (30 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.7% of reviews80.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1830 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS11.0 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB107 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJonathan KoppSonaMetro LLC

Customer experience

FingerStyle

All ratings18 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral9.1%
Negative18.2%

Guitar Notebook

All ratings30 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral3.3%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative10.0%

In-app purchases

None

FingerStyle

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Guitar Notebook

Subscriptions1
  • Guitar Notebook Pro - 1 Year$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Guitar Notebook Pro$19.99

Questions

Is FingerStyle free?
FingerStyle is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Guitar Notebook free?
Guitar Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, FingerStyle or Guitar Notebook?
Guitar Notebook is rated higher. FingerStyle averages 3.7 out of 5 from 18 ratings, while Guitar Notebook averages 4.6 from 30 ratings.
Do FingerStyle or Guitar Notebook have ads?
Neither FingerStyle nor Guitar Notebook shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FingerStyle or Guitar Notebook?
FingerStyle ships an update every 6 months, and Guitar Notebook every 3 weeks. Most recently, FingerStyle was updated on October 22, 2026 and Guitar Notebook on October 30, 2026.

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