Comparison

Better Ears Beginner vs PitchMatch

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

Head to head
About

Better Ears Beginner

Enhance your musical skills and hearing with this comprehensive ear training app. It offers 13 diverse exercises, from interval recognition to chord progressions, with customizable training routines and instrument options. Track your progress and sync across devices for a seamless learning experience.

Highlights
  • 13 music theory and ear training exercises
  • Customizable training routines
  • User-created chords, scales, and progressions
  • Six instrument sound options
  • Pitch detection for vocal or instrument answers
  • Virtual keyboard and guitar fretboard
  • Cross-device synchronization
Features
Read full description

Better Ears is the complete ear training and sight‑reading workout for musicians, students and teachers. Train your musical ear and master music theory — from interval recognition all the way to chord progressions and rhythm training. 15 exercises take you from absolute beginner to pro, at your own pace, with no rules and no pressure. NEW: RHYTHM TRAINING Sharpen your sense of timing with two brand‑new exercises. Hear a rhythm and clap or tap it back, or read rhythmic notation and perform it in time — with count‑in, metronome, triplets and time signatures like 3/4, 4/4 and 5/4. Clap straight into your device's microphone and Better Ears listens. YOU DECIDE HOW TO TRAIN There are no rules to follow. You decide when to start, what to practice and how often. 15 EXERCISES INCLUDED • Interval recognition • Scale recognition • Chord recognition • Chord progressions • Pitch recognition • Melodic dictation • Tempo recognition • Key signature recognition • Music reading • Interval music reading • Scale music reading • Chord music reading • Melody music reading • Rhythm recognition (new) • Rhythm reading (new) ANSWER WITH YOUR VOICE OR A REAL INSTRUMENT Built‑in pitch detection lets you answer by singing or by playing a real instrument (e.g. piano or guitar). Just sing or play the notes when the microphone button lights up red. CUSTOM CHORDS, SCALES & CHORD PROGRESSIONS The built‑in editor lets you add your own chords, scales and chord progressions. FOUR PRESET LEVELS + UNLIMITED CUSTOM LEVELS Start at Beginner, Easy, Normal or Professional — then build your own levels to focus exactly where you need to: church modes, those two pesky intervals, custom rhythms, whatever you like. 6 INSTRUMENTS & CUSTOM SOUNDFONTS Train with Acoustic Grand, Bright Acoustic Piano, Electric Grand, Drawbar Organ, Nylon and Steel Acoustic Guitar — or extend Better Ears with your own sounds via SoundFonts (.sf2). KEYBOARD & FRETBOARD Answer on a virtual piano keyboard or a virtual guitar fretboard. MIDI SUPPORT Route sound through an external MIDI device and even control Better Ears with a connected master keyboard. SYNC ALL OF YOUR DEVICES Keep your Mac, iPhone and iPad in sync via Dropbox. You choose what to sync: your own levels, your statistics, your settings — or all of it. STATISTICS Better Ears tracks your progress for every exercise and every question — right and wrong answers at a glance. WIKIPEDIA INTEGRATION The matching Wikipedia article is shown for each exercise, so the theory is always one tap away. REFRESHED DESIGN A modern, fully redesigned interface on iPhone, iPad and Mac — with full Dark Mode and crystal‑clear music notation.

About

PitchMatch

Features
Read full description

Made by a musician for musicians! Do you care about having good intonation? Do you want to improve your singing or playing? This tuner will help you on your journey every step of the way! Accurate to fractions of a cent, this tuner is much easier to read than regular chromatic tuners. The graph interface makes it really easy to see how your sound and intonation has changed over time. By adding this app to your collection, you will also be gaining direct contact with the app developer. Please send me your feature requests! This app will help me sustain my journey as a conductor. If you're a performer of historically accurate concerts, you will be able to tune based on historical temperaments including but not limited to: - Vallotti (1680 Venice) - Kirnberger (1771) - Neidhardt, Big City (1732) - Siracusa (17th Century) - Werckmeister (1691) - Gallimard (1754) - Lambert-Chaument (1695) - Mercadier (1771) Many more features/improvements to follow!

Screenshots

Better Ears Beginner4 screens
PitchMatch4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Better Ears Beginner at Free against PitchMatch's $4.99. Better Ears Beginner also leads on update cadence (every 6 months vs every 13 months). PitchMatch's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Better Ears Beginner is free to download; PitchMatch costs $4.99 up front. Better Ears Beginner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. PitchMatch asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Better Ears Beginner ships an update every 6 months, PitchMatch every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Better Ears Beginner versus PitchMatch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBetter Ears BeginnerPitchMatch
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.5 (35 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings35 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 months — betterEvery 13 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size86 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMAMP GmbHNotesmiths LLC

Bugs and requests

Better Ears Beginner

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Reverts to beginner version after phone update
  • Audio stops working after some time
  • Keyboard unresponsive on iPad
  • Chord spellings are incorrect

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more instruments
  • Include rhythm training
  • Provide more customization options
  • Implement a game-like format
  • Add support for reading sheet music

PitchMatch

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Better Ears Beginner

One-time1
  • Unlock all functions$4.99
None

PitchMatch

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Better Ears Beginner free?
Better Ears Beginner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PitchMatch free?
PitchMatch costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Better Ears Beginner or PitchMatch have ads?
Neither Better Ears Beginner nor PitchMatch shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Better Ears Beginner or PitchMatch?
Better Ears Beginner ships an update every 6 months, and PitchMatch every 13 months. Most recently, Better Ears Beginner was updated on October 18, 2026 and PitchMatch on October 10, 2026.

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