Comparison

SPL vs Decibel meter for personal use

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

Head to head
About

SPL

This professional-grade digital sound level meter measures decibels with advanced modes and filters meeting ANSI Type 1 standards. It allows storing, exporting, and calibrating measurements, and can be used with external calibrated microphones for precise results.

Highlights
  • Professional-grade digital sound level meter
  • ANSI/IEC Type 1 standards compliant filters and modes
  • Store, recall, and export GPS/time-stamped results
  • Supports external calibrated microphones
  • Adjustable calibration for accuracy
  • Internal mic compensation filter
Features
Read full description

SPL is a professional-grade digital sound level meter (decibel meter) for your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. It includes all of the modes, filters, and features that you would expect from a professional ANSI or IEC Sound Level Meter. All filters and averaging modes meet or exceed the criteria for ANSI Type 1 standards or better. SPL is created from the same team who brought you the Audio Toolbox and ATB Plus. Store Results -- Uses the same powerful Save / Recall engine as our premier app, AudioTools. Allows storing GPS and time-stamped results, and exporting them to your computer. You can also use SPL with our calibrated iPhone measurement mic, iTestMic, or iAudioInterface. The screen flips if you turn the phone upside down, so that you can point the built-in iPhone mic directly at the sound source. *** Modes: Slow, Fast, Impulse, Peak, and Leq. *** Filters: A and C weighting, and 10 octave band filters. *** Includes a resettable Max field to track the highest reading. *** Includes a reference field (except in Leq mode) so that you can set a reference level and do seat-to-seat comparisons. The SPL meter can be fully calibrated. It comes preset with the calibration for a typical iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Most iOS devices will be within a few dB of this reading. If you have access, even temporarily, to a calibrated sound level meter, just use the calibration field on the settings scree to match the meter, and you will be accurately calibrated. Also, see our other professional-grade audio apps: AudioTools, our premier suite of professional-caliber audio and acoustics test apps, Speaker Pop, to test speaker polarity, and RTA, a real-time analyzer for the iPhone. And, we have a group of calibrated, accurate measurement microphones, including iTestMic,iTestMic2, and iAudioInterface2, that allows full professional results for Type 1 or Type 2 measurements. This will allow measuring a range from approximately 30 dB SPL to 130 dB SPL. Each mic will include a calibration factor that you will enter into the SPL app for calibrated measurements. This mic will also work with Speaker Pop, our speaker polarity tester, FFT, RTA, ETC, and other acoustical measurement apps in our AudioTools app that is available now. Also, see our iAudioInterface2 system, which supports any pro test and measurement mic. Now includes an iPhone internal mic compensation filter, to cancel out the low-frequency roll-off present in the iPhone and other iOS devices. See our other audio apps, including AudioTools.

About

Decibel meter for personal use

This app measures ambient noise levels and offers features to suppress unwanted sounds like traffic and conversations. It provides real-time analysis, background operation, and historical data for a comprehensive understanding of your sound environment.

Highlights
  • Noise level measurement
  • Background noise suppression
  • Background measurement operation
  • Peak and average noise level calculation
  • Spectral noise analysis
  • Measurement history access
  • UI design for beginners and pros
Features
Read full description

Hello! Have you ever wondered what a noisy place this world is? Even at night, in a quiet room, it can actually be quite noisy. By the way, regular exposure to sound above 100 decibels lead to hear damage and even permanent hearing loss. This is not a list of facts for a horror movie, but reasons why you, like us, might once need a sound level meter. Our application is one of the very few on the market that can not only measure the level of noise around, but also help to suppress unwanted sounds: traffic, conversations, the general environment. We wanted to make an application that would determine the level of noise around. Minimalistic, not overloaded with extra features, but with everything you need: - Not only measuring the noise level, but also hints when to protect yourself from it 
- Work in the background, which allows you to take measurements without even taking out your phone - Determination of peak values ​​of the sound level and calculation of the average noise level - Simple and clear spectral noise analysis - Access to the history of your measurements for further analysis - Carefully crafted UI design that will be clear to both beginners and pros We like the result and regularly use the application for our purposes. But if you have any comments, ideas and suggestions, we will be very happy to receive your feedback. ************************************************************* • Subscription Decibel Meter Plus get access to all functions of the application. • You can turn off the auto-renewal at any time: you'll find the option to do this change to a different payment plan in the settings of your iTunes and App Store account. • The first time you can try the free trial for 3 days. After that, your account will be automatically charged for the subscription if you will not stop it before the end of the free trial. • The length of the subscription is 1 month, this subscription is auto-renewing. You can stop the subscription at any moment; • Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and is identical to the cost of the renewal. • Removing the app doesn’t automatically cancel the subscription. ATTENTION: before you subscribe please read: Privacy Policy(https://rabosh.kz/privacy) Terms Of Use(https://rabosh.kz/tos/noize)

Screenshots

SPL1 screens
Decibel meter for personal use4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Decibel meter for personal use at Free against SPL's $8.99. Decibel meter for personal use also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.0) and review sentiment (100% vs 68%). SPL's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On 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

Decibel meter for personal use is free to download; SPL costs $8.99 up front. Decibel meter for personal use sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per month. SPL asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Decibel meter for personal use holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Decibel meter for personal use has 28 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of SPL's written reviews are positive against 100% of Decibel meter for personal use's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SPL ships an update every 6 months, Decibel meter for personal use every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
SPL versus Decibel meter for personal use: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSPLDecibel meter for personal use
Price$8.99Free — better
Rating3.0 (4 ratings)4.5 (28 ratings) — better
Positive reviews67.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings428 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 5 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAndrew SmithSvetlana Rabosh

Customer experience

SPL

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews34 reviews
Positive67.6%
Neutral8.8%
Negative23.5%

Decibel meter for personal use

All ratings28 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral7.1%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

SPL

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Decibel meter for personal use

Subscriptions1
  • Decibel Meter+3 Days trial$9.991 Month

Questions

Is SPL free?
SPL costs $8.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Decibel meter for personal use free?
Decibel meter for personal use is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SPL or Decibel meter for personal use?
Decibel meter for personal use is rated higher. SPL averages 3.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while Decibel meter for personal use averages 4.5 from 28 ratings.
Do SPL or Decibel meter for personal use have ads?
Neither SPL nor Decibel meter for personal use shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SPL or Decibel meter for personal use?
SPL ships an update every 6 months, and Decibel meter for personal use every 5 weeks. Most recently, SPL was updated on September 23, 2026 and Decibel meter for personal use on September 16, 2026.

Other comparisons