Comparison

Ear Trainer vs Complete Ear Trainer

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

Head to head
About

Ear Trainer

This app is designed to enhance your musical listening skills. It offers a comprehensive set of over 260 exercises across nine study areas, plus custom exercise creation. Suitable for all levels, it helps musicians and students improve their ear training.

Highlights
  • Over 260 built-in exercises
  • Nine areas of musical study
  • Custom exercise creation
  • Interval, chord, and scale identification
  • Melody and chord progression training
  • Progress tracking and statistics
  • Virtual piano and note view
Features
Read full description

With an overall 4.8 out of 5 rating in it is a must to try out this ear training app. What our users says: Awesome ear training app ***** One of the most in depth apps out there for ear training and a easy to use interface. You can even make your own exercises. I wish you could undo a note entry in the melodic exercises, a lot of the times iv just pressed the wrong note because of my fat fingers but I guess it’s part of the challenge to not make a mistake(wish you could change it in the settings or something). Still a must buy for ear training. Guy ***** You guys deserve 1000000 stars thank you Everything You Need **** It took a while for me to appreciate this app. It wasn't until I had a bit of ear training done that I could see the limitations in other apps and how this one would take me further and teach more of what I could actually use versus simpler apps. Once I could hear intervals up to an octave and major vs minor chords, this app had plenty more for me to study. Great app. ---- Listening is the most important skill in music, and this app will help you to listen better. Ear Trainer is an educational tool designed for musicians, music students and anyone interested in improving ones musical ear. It has over 260 individual exercises that are conveniently placed into nine different areas of study. It is also possible to create custom exercises so that you can practice exactly what you need. No need to be an expert, Ear Trainer is suitable for all users from beginner to very advanced. No matter what level your musical hearing skills are, Ear Trainer will help to hone them. * Built-in Exercises * - Interval Comparison (48 different exercises) - Interval Identification (30 different exercises) - Chord Identification (48 different exercises) - Chord Inversions (24 different exercises) - Chord Progressions (25 different exercises) - Scales (24 different exercises) - Note relative to chord (18 different exercises) - Relative Pitch (12 different exercises) - Melody Exercises (38 different exercises) Each exercise has a short description of its purpose and optional preview. A virtual piano keyboard and note view in each exercise helps you visually understand and analyze the notes that have been played. To aid your progression you can compare the different options after answering. (You can even play the virtual piano if you like!) As you work through the exercises, statistics are collected so that you can see your progress. The questions in the exercises are randomly generated so you can do them over and over again as many times as you like to continue to hone your skills. * Custom Exercises * Users can create their own custom exercises to match their desired areas of study and/or skill level. The following areas are available for custom exercises: - Interval Comparison - Interval Identification - Chord Identification - Chord inversion - Chord Progression - Scale Identification - Note after chord * Share Custom Exercises * Custom exercises can be shared with friends and class mates through Email, AirDrop and iMessage. What our users says: ------ ***** Must Have!!! This is the best Ear Trainer of all I tried in App Store, everything works just perfectly. If you are interested in improving your musical hearing you must have it. ------ ***** Amazing I have been using this app every day for just about a year now and the result are simply amazing. ------ **** I'm in my second third semester as a music major and I have to say, this is a great app for any music major, or anyone looking for ear training. I like that I'm able to switch between different instruments, it makes hearing the notes on the instrument you're use to a bit easier for me. ------ For more information please see: www.dev4phone.com

About

Complete Ear Trainer

Develop your musical ear and music theory knowledge with this comprehensive training app. It offers progressive drills, various sound options, and a gamified learning experience to improve improvisation, composition, and performance skills.

Highlights
  • 150+ progressive drills
  • 11 drill types
  • 24 intervals, 36 chord types
  • Melodic dictations and chord progressions
  • Gamified learning with star system
  • Custom drill and program creation
  • Cloud sync across devices
Features
Read full description

The ultimate ear training app for musicians. Develop your relative pitch to the full by improving your aural skills and your music theory knowledge. This will better many aspects of your life as a musician, be it regarding improvisation, composition, arrangement, interpretation, singing, or playing in a band. Designed like a video game and with strong pedagogical concepts in mind, this app will make you truly master each interval, chord, scale, etc. before taking you to the next one. Features • 150+ progressive drills arranged over 4 levels / 28 chapters • 11 drill types, 24 intervals, 36 chord types, chord inversions, 28 scale types, melodic dictations, chord progressions • Easy mode: 50+ progressive drills arranged over 12 chapters especially designed for beginners • Play a selection of 21 drills in arcade mode • 5 octaves of actual recorded grand piano sounds • 7 additional sound banks are available, all with actual recorded sounds: vintage piano, Rhodes piano, electric guitar, harpsichord, concert harp, strings and pizzicato strings • In each chapter, a theory card will introduce you to the concepts you will need to know • No need to know how to read music on a staff • Designed like a video game: earn 3 stars in each drill of a chapter to unlock the next one. Or will you be able to obtain perfect 5-star scores? • Don't want to follow the preestablished path of progression? Create and save your own custom drills and rehearse them at your own convenience • Create full custom training programs and invite friends or students to join them. If for example you're a teacher you can create custom programs for your students, add drills every week and view their scores on private leaderboards • Never lose any progress: cloud sync across your various devices • 25 achievements to unlock • Worldwide leaderboards (global, per level, per chapter, easy mode, arcade mode) • Nice and clean user interface with 2 display themes: light and dark • Designed by a musician and music teacher with a Royal Conservatory master's degree Full Version • Download the app and try out the first chapter of each mode for free • One-time in-app purchase to unlock the full version on all your devices Having a problem? Got a suggestion? You can reach us at hello@completeeartrainer.com Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Ear Trainer4 screens
Complete Ear Trainer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Complete Ear Trainer at Free against Ear Trainer's $7.99. Complete Ear Trainer also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months). Ear Trainer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (95% vs 85%). On rating, 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

Complete Ear Trainer is free to download; Ear Trainer costs $7.99 up front. Complete Ear Trainer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Ear Trainer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Ear Trainer against 4.7 for Complete Ear Trainer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ear Trainer has 1.2K ratings behind it against 199, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 95% of Ear Trainer's written reviews are positive against 85% of Complete Ear Trainer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ear Trainer ships an update every 4 months, Complete Ear Trainer fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Ear Trainer versus Complete Ear Trainer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEar TrainerComplete Ear Trainer
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better4.7 (199 ratings)
Positive reviews94.8% of reviews — better85.1% of reviews
Number of ratings1.2K — better199
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.1 — better17.5
Further details — not scored
Size90 MB78 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerthoor software ABBinary Guilt

Customer experience

Ear Trainer

All ratings1,200 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral1.4%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews386 reviews
Positive94.8%
Neutral3.6%
Negative1.6%

Complete Ear Trainer

All ratings199 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral2.0%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews174 reviews
Positive85.1%
Neutral7.5%
Negative7.5%

Bugs and requests

Ear Trainer

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Incorrect chord quality identification
  • Inconsistent note layout in some exercises

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add more chord types (diminished, half-diminished, etc.)
  • Include more modes and scale types
  • Implement MIDI connectivity for external instruments
  • Add a random exercise mode
  • Provide more detailed progress tracking and statistics
Show 2 more
  • Introduce a timed test mode
  • Offer a dark mode option

Complete Ear Trainer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Ear Trainer

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Complete Ear Trainer

Subscriptions2
  • Cloud Sync and Web access$0.991 Month
  • Cloud Sync and Web access$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Full Version$6.99

Questions

Is Ear Trainer free?
Ear Trainer costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Complete Ear Trainer free?
Complete Ear Trainer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Ear Trainer or Complete Ear Trainer?
Ear Trainer is rated higher. Ear Trainer averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Complete Ear Trainer averages 4.7 from 199 ratings.
Do Ear Trainer or Complete Ear Trainer have ads?
Neither Ear Trainer nor Complete Ear Trainer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ear Trainer or Complete Ear Trainer?
Ear Trainer ships an update every 4 months, and Complete Ear Trainer fortnightly. Most recently, Ear Trainer was updated on October 14, 2026 and Complete Ear Trainer on October 13, 2026.

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