NoteBrainer vs Piano eTutor
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NoteBrainer
This app helps users learn to sight-read sheet music through interactive note identification exercises. It offers configurable flashcards, various instrument sounds, and progress tracking, making it suitable for beginners and music teachers alike.
- Configurable flashcard exercises
- Treble and bass clef support
- Multiple instrument sound options
- Assistant learning modes
- Key signature highlighting
- Play history and high score tracking
- MIDI keyboard support
Read full descriptionHide full description
Learn to sight read sheet music with this simple note training app. Great for kids and adults trying to learn how to read sheet music by sight. Just play for a minute or two each day and be amazed by how much improved your site reading becomes. The app is super simple: see how many notes you can correctly identify within the time limit. Flash card training exercises are completely configurable for ability covering all the main key signatures. Sound effects from a choice of instruments help train your ear as well as eye. Music teacher? The app is an excellent companion for your students. The play history allows you to review how well and how often your students are practicing. Set them a challenge to beat their high score before the next lesson! NoteBrainer has the following great features: * Full key signature coverage - choose how many to train with * Treble and bass clef - play both or either depending on your instrument * Quality instrument sounds - choose from piano, guitar, violin, viola, cello, harp, recorder, flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, sax, organ or even bagpipes! * Assistant modes to help learn notes * Key signature highlighting - indicates which keys in the key signature are valid to help gain signature familiarity * English and romantic solfège - C, D, E... or Do, Re, Mi... you choose! * Sound only mode - see how many notes you can identify by sound only * Play history - view all your previous exercises, try to beat your high score * External compatible midi keyboard support * Universal - works great on both your iPhone or iPad * Free - So why not send me some great feedback and improvement suggestions If you have any feedback, suggestions or improvements you would like to see in the app please do not hesitate to contact me via the web site or Facebook. I am open to all and any ideas.
Piano eTutor
Learn piano with an interactive, technology-driven app that listens to your playing and provides instant feedback. Master songs note by note, hand by hand, with adjustable tempo and helpful tools.
- Interactive real-time feedback
- Note and timing correction
- Adjustable tempo
- Metronome tool
- Sheet music import (MusicXML/MIDI)
- Note hint tool
Read full descriptionHide full description
MULTIPLE-PLATFORM INTERACTIVE PIANO LEARNING APP FOR STUDENTS & TEACHERS. "Piano eTutor" is a multiple-platform (mobile & laptop) piano learning app that introduces a totally new approach to piano learning which is completely technology-oriented. The common problems with learning piano have been solved in an intuitive and user-friendly way, thanks to the technologies that the app has tried to make the most of. You don't need to read a lot of theory to start playing. Just read a few lines of summary and interact immediately with the exercises, then you'll easily understand what you need to know. With the help of technology, not much explanation is required in order to demonstrate a musical concept. Compared to other traditional self-study methods, the app provides you with two things that other methods don't have, which are INTERACTION and MUSICAL TOOLS. * INTERACTION: - The app can listen to you while you're playing and IMMEDIATELY respond to what you play on the piano: it checks whether the notes you're playing are correct or not, in terms of pitch and timing, then shows you the next notes to play. In this way, you can learn to play note by note, one hand at a time, then combine two hands to play the whole song at the right speed. * MUSICAL TOOLS: - Playback tool: You can listen to an exercise before practice, to analyze the structure, rhythm, note positions, ... - Tempo-adjustment tool: You can adjust the tempo (speed) of the exercise to the value that you feel comfortable with. This helps you start practicing at a slow speed, then gradually increase the playing speed. - Metronome tool: This tool helps you understand and develop the sense of beats, the rhythmic aspect of music. In addition, it also helps you play in the correct timing, which is an extremely important skill in music. - Part-selection tool: In an exercise, there can be easy parts as well as difficult ones. You can just select the parts that you think you need to work on to start practicing. - Note-hint tool: If you find it difficult to identify the position of a note, or the note positions of a chord, you can choose to show hints when practicing, then the app will show you where the notes are located on the keyboard. In addition, there're TWO EXCLUSIVE FEATURES that you won't find in most other piano learning apps. Piano eTutor is built upon the sheet music processing technology that we've been developing for many years (please also check out our music notation app "Score Creator" to see if you can combine the two apps for learning purposes), so it can provide advanced features related to sheet music. Specifically, two very useful features: - Import your own sheet music: if you want to learn a specific song, you can look for it on a digital sheet music sharing website (such as musescore.com), then download the song (in MusicXML or MIDI format) and import it into the app. As a teacher, you can also use a music notation program, such as Musescore, to create your own exercises for your students, then export the files to MusicXML format and send them to your students, so that they can import into the app and practice at home. - Transpose songs to any key: If the song you're learning is in a difficult key (e.g., the key with four sharps), you can just transpose it into an easier key to practice. Or when learning piano accompaniment, it's useful to transpose a song into a key that suits your vocal range. * The app doesn't teach you only piano solo, but it also teaches you piano accompaniment. * If you're a music school/institute, we can support you to import your own sheet music into the app, so that you can apply this new teaching method to your students. End-User License Agreement: https://www.termsfeed.com/live/bc38f42b-4637-462c-a215-f046cb5b45d8 Privacy Policy: https://www.termsfeed.com/live/7cc2ec5b-798c-4f0b-acce-748a4d734386
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: NoteBrainer at 4.7 against Piano eTutor's 2.0. NoteBrainer also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). Piano eTutor's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 9 months) and review sentiment (88% vs 70%). On price 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
Both are free to download. Piano eTutor sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per 3 months. NoteBrainer asks for nothing beyond the download.
NoteBrainer holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NoteBrainer has 840 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 70% of NoteBrainer's written reviews are positive against 88% of Piano eTutor's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
NoteBrainer ships an update every 9 months, Piano eTutor every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NoteBrainer | Piano eTutor |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (840 ratings) — better | 2.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 70.3% of reviews | 87.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 840 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 15 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 56 MB | 288 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | James Buchanan21733609631 | TRAN PHUONG |
Customer experience
NoteBrainer
Piano eTutor
User reviews
NoteBrainer
From 840 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Helps with sight reading and note recognition
- 💡 Useful for beginners and those wanting to improve music reading skills
- 🚀 Effective and efficient for learning notes
- 🚀 Improves speed of note reading
- 👍 Simple and straightforward interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues on some devices
- 🔒 Lacks customization options
- 💡 Keyboard range is limited, doesn't cover full octave range
- 🔒 Doesn't differentiate between notes in different octaves
- 🔒 Doesn't provide rhythm training
Piano eTutor
From 2 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great for learning piano
- 👍 Easy to use for beginners
- 👍 Helpful for sight-reading practice
- 👍 Good for learning music theory
- 👍 Fun and engaging gameplay
Room to improve
- 🐛 MIDI chord recognition issues
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Playback lessons not opening
- 🐛 Octave selection limited
- 🐛 Tie notes not recognized
Bugs and requests
NoteBrainer
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when getting a note wrong
- Back button not working on some screens
- Sound not working for some users
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Expand keyboard range to cover full octave
- Add option to require button press to continue after wrong answer
- Include rhythm training exercises
- Add more customization options
- Improve stability and reduce crashes
Piano eTutor
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes after pressing play
- App crashes when playback lessons are opening
- App crashes on install
- App keeps crashing, requires reboot
- Game just exits
Requested features
11 requests- Add more new songs
- Add bagpipe plugin
- Include steps on how to use the app
- Add a search bar for songs
- Don't limit lessons
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Show correct answer on screen when a wrong note is played
- Improve sound quality
- Scale to tablet screen size
- Allow playing longer exercises
- Allow both hands exercises
- Cheaper full version
In-app purchases
NoteBrainer
No in-app purchases
Piano eTutor
- Three-month subscription$9.993 Months
- One-year subscription$19.991 Year
- Versión completa de por vida$23.99
- Full Version$29.99
- Song Library$39.99








