Comparison

iReal Pro vs AxeModes

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

Head to head
About

iReal Pro

This app provides a virtual band accompaniment for musicians to practice with, offering realistic sounding instruments and a variety of styles. It also functions as a digital chord chart book, allowing users to create, edit, and share their own song charts.

Highlights
  • Virtual band accompaniment
  • Create, edit, and share chord charts
  • Thousands of downloadable songs
  • Chord diagrams and scale recommendations
  • Practice exercises and transposition
  • Export charts and audio
  • Cloud synchronization
Features
Read full description

iReal Pro is two things musicians love in one app: a realistic backing band that plays along with you, and a huge free library of chord charts you can pull up anytime — at practice, at a jam session, or on a gig. Need to transpose a song for a singer? Done. Want to practice with a full rhythm section behind you? Hit play. Named one of TIME Magazine's 50 Best Inventions and trusted by thousands of students, teachers, and pros at schools like Berklee College of Music — iReal Pro has been helping musicians get better since 2008. BAND • 50 accompaniment styles — Swing, Bossa Nova, Blues, Funk, Rock, Bluegrass, Reggae, Latin, Gypsy Jazz, Country, and more • Customize each style with acoustic or electric piano, Fender Rhodes, guitars, upright or electric bass, drums, vibraphone, organ • 40 additional styles — blues, salsa, Brazilian — available as in-app purchases BOOK • Download thousands of free chord charts shared by the iReal Pro community • Create your own charts in minutes with the built-in editor • Organize charts into playlists for gigs, sets, or lessons PRACTICE • Adjust tempo, loop difficult sections, transpose to any key • Automatic tempo increase and key cycling for focused practice • Global Eb, Bb, F, and G transposition for horn players REFERENCE • Guitar, ukulele, and piano fingerings for any chord • Tap any chord in your chart to see how it's played • Scale suggestions for improvisation SHARE • Share charts and playlists with other iReal Pro users • Export charts as PDF or MusicXML • Export backing tracks as audio or MIDI files • Sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud FOR TEACHERS • Create playlists of exercises or tunes for students • Use in the classroom, over live stream, or while screen-sharing lessons We're a small team of musicians who built this app because we needed it ourselves. We hope you enjoy using it as much as we do.

About

AxeModes

This app helps guitarists learn various musical modes and scales from any root note. It features a dynamic fretboard, scale degree visualization, and audio playback for each note, along with chord accompaniment.

Highlights
  • Learn major, minor, and other scale modes
  • Dynamic fretboard display
  • Color-code and show/hide scale degrees
  • Hear individual note sounds
  • Play chord accompaniment
  • Context-sensitive help
Read full description

Learn all the associated Modes of the Major, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor, Harmonic Major, Double Harmonic Major, Hexatonic, Pentatonic, and Diminished Scales. Starting from any Root Note. (Hundreds and hundreds of combinations!) Dynamically generated Fretboard. Show between 2 and 22 Frets at a time. Color code any Scale Degree(s). Show or hide any Scale Degree(s). Click on any Note to hear what it sounds like. Play Chord accompaniment for any Scale/Mode/Root combination. Context sensitive help available on every screen.

Screenshots

iReal Pro4 screens
AxeModes3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: AxeModes at $4.99 against iReal Pro's $21.99. AxeModes also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). iReal Pro's advantage is ratings volume (11K vs 2) and chart position (#4 vs unranked). On rating, 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

iReal Pro costs $21.99 and AxeModes $4.99 up front. iReal Pro sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. AxeModes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for iReal Pro against 5.0 for AxeModes. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: iReal Pro has 11K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iReal Pro ships an update fortnightly, AxeModes every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and June 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
iReal Pro versus AxeModes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriReal ProAxeModes
Price$21.99$4.99 — better
Rating4.9 (11K ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings11K — better2
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#4 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.416.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size176 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTechnimo LLCJoseph Svantner

Customer experience

iReal Pro

All ratings11,136 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral1.1%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews1,007 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral7.9%
Negative8.7%

AxeModes

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

iReal Pro

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Occasional skipping or timing issues with playback
  • Trouble with registration and login process
  • Compatibility issues with newer devices or operating systems

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add ability to write rhythm notation
  • Integrate with Real Books
  • Improve sound quality and add more instrument options
  • Add melodies and lyrics support
  • Improve chord editing and customization
Show 2 more
  • Add more styles and grooves
  • Improve sync and backup functionality across devices

AxeModes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

iReal Pro

One-time3
  • Blues style backing tracks$6.99
  • Salsa style backing tracks$6.99
  • Brazilian backing tracks$6.99
None

AxeModes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is iReal Pro free?
iReal Pro costs $21.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is AxeModes free?
AxeModes costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, iReal Pro or AxeModes?
AxeModes is rated higher. iReal Pro averages 4.9 out of 5 from 11K ratings, while AxeModes averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do iReal Pro or AxeModes have ads?
Neither iReal Pro nor AxeModes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iReal Pro or AxeModes?
iReal Pro ships an update fortnightly, and AxeModes every 4 days. Most recently, iReal Pro was updated on September 28, 2026 and AxeModes on June 1, 2026.

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