Comparison

Tunebook vs Tunepal

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

Head to head
About

Tunebook

This app is a viewer for music written in the ABC format, a text-based notation popular for folk music. It allows users to import tunes from the web, organize them into collections, search by title, key, or time signature, and view them in musical notation. Users can also play the tunes with various voices.

Highlights
  • ABC music format viewer
  • Import tunes from websites
  • Search tunes by title, key, time signature
  • Display musical notation
  • Play tunes with various voices
  • Organize tunes into tunebooks
Features
Read full description

Tunebook is now identical to the Tunebook for iPad application - don't buy both! I keep both on the App Store because it's not possible to provide an upgrade path to a single app without forcing some users to pay twice. Tunebook is a viewer for music expressed in the ABC format. ABC is a simple text-based notation for music and many thousands of tunes are freely available in this format on the Web. ABC is also supported by many music applications. See http://abc.sourceforge.net/ for more details on the ABC format. The format is primarily geared towards traditional folk music where tunes fit on a single page. Tunebook allows you to import files in the ABC format from websites into its database. You can then list the tunes, search for tunes by words in the title, by key and by time signature. Selecting a tune will display it in musical notation and allow you to play it in a variety of voices. You can also create tunebooks to organize your tune collection. Tunebook is based on the well-known abc2ps and abc2midi applications, and licensed under the GPL. The source code is available from http://www.jhlabs.com/tunebook.

About

Tunepal

Identify traditional Irish, Scots, Welsh, and Breton tunes by playing them into your device. Search a vast database, download and view notation, edit staves, and share your findings. Enjoy high-quality playback of identified melodies.

Highlights
  • Identify tunes by playing them
  • Searchable database of 22,000+ tunes
  • Download and view musical notation
  • Edit tune staves
  • High-quality playback engine
  • Share tunes via email and Facebook
Features
Read full description

Listed in the top 500 apps of all times by the Sunday Times (6 February 2012) Listed in the top twenty cultural apps for iPhone by the Sunday Times (28 March 2010). Winner of the best overall invention 2010 in the Dublin Institute of Technology. Tunepal was in the top 25 grossing apps on the app store (17-18 July 2010). The essential tool for all musicians playing traditional Irish, Scots, Welsh and Breton music! Ever sat in a trad session and wondered what was the name of that great tune someone just played? Well now you can search a database of over 22,000 tunes from your iPhone/iPod BY PLAYING! Hold your device up to a melody instrument such as the tin-whistle, flute, concertina, uilleann pipes, accordion or banjo, hit record and the melody will be extracted and submitted to the tunepal.org search engine for matching. Matching tunes are downloaded to your device, where you can view and edit the notation or the stave, email the tune, post it to facebook or play it back using the high quality playback engine based on ABC2MIDI and FMOD.

Screenshots

Tunebook3 screens
Tunepal2 screens

Verdict

The call

Tunebook and Tunepal both sit at 3.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 75% of Tunebook's written reviews are positive against 56% of Tunepal's. Tunepal's advantage is ratings volume (45 vs 6). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.0 for Tunebook against 3.0 for Tunepal. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tunepal has 45 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 75% of Tunebook's written reviews are positive against 56% of Tunepal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 15, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Tunebook versus Tunepal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTunebookTunepal
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (6 ratings) — better3.0 (45 ratings)
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews — better56.1% of reviews
Number of ratings645 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better10.3
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB53 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperJH LabsBryan Duggan

Customer experience

Tunebook

All ratings6 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%
Written reviews48 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%

Tunepal

All ratings42 ratings
Positive42.9%
Neutral11.9%
Negative45.2%
Written reviews107 reviews
Positive56.1%
Neutral7.5%
Negative36.4%

In-app purchases

None

Tunebook

No in-app purchases

None

Tunepal

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tunebook free?
Tunebook is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tunepal free?
Tunepal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Tunebook or Tunepal?
Tunebook is rated higher. Tunebook averages 3.0 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Tunepal averages 3.0 from 45 ratings.
Do Tunebook or Tunepal have ads?
Neither Tunebook nor Tunepal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tunebook or Tunepal?
Tunebook ships an update every 2 months, and Tunepal every 2 months. Most recently, Tunebook was updated on October 15, 2026 and Tunepal on October 15, 2026.

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