Comparison

Tenuto vs EarMaster

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

Head to head
About

Tenuto

Enhance your musicality with a comprehensive suite of 24 customizable theory exercises and six essential musical calculators. Practice note and chord identification, ear training, and construct musical elements. Tools include accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices.

Highlights
  • 24 customizable theory exercises
  • Note and chord identification
  • Ear training for intervals and scales
  • Musical construction exercises
  • Accidental calculator
  • Interval calculator
  • Chord calculator
Read full description

Tenuto is a collection of 24 highly-customizable exercises designed to enhance your musicality. From recognizing chords on a keyboard to identifying intervals by ear, it has an exercise for you. Tenuto also includes six musical calculators for accidentals, intervals, scales, chords, analysis symbols, and twelve-tone matrices. A short description of the exercises and calculators follows. –––––– • Note Identification • Key Signature Identification • Interval Identification • Scale Identification • Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the written staff line. For example: if shown a C, E, and G with a sharp; tap the "Augmented Triad" button. –––––– • Note Construction • Key Signature Construction • Interval Construction • Scale Construction • Chord Construction Construct the specified label by moving notes and/or adding accidentals. For example: if shown a C and an "Augmented 4th" label, move the second note to F and add a sharp. –––––– • Keyboard Reverse Identification Tap the piano key corresponding to the written note on the staff. While similar to Note Identification, this exercise uses a piano keyboard rather than note name buttons. • Keyboard Note Identification • Keyboard Interval Identification • Keyboard Scale Identification • Keyboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the highlighted piano key(s). If the C and G keys are highlighted, tap the "P5" (Perfect 5th) button. –––––– • Fretboard Note Identification • Fretboard Interval Identification • Fretboard Scale Identification • Fretboard Chord Identification Tap the button corresponding to the marked fretboard position(s). If the 2nd fret of the D string is marked, tap the "E" button. –––––– • Keyboard Ear Training • Note Ear Training Listen to the played reference and question notes. Select the piano key or note button corresponding to the question note. • Interval Ear Training • Scale Ear Training • Chord Ear Training Tap the button corresponding to the played notes. If E and F are played, tap the "Minor 2nd" button. –––––– • Accidental Calculator Display the accidental for a note and key. • Interval Calculator Display the interval for a note, type, and key. • Chord Calculator Display the scale for a tonic and scale type. • Chord Calculator Display the chord for a note, type, and key. • Analysis Calculator Display the chord for a symbol and key. • Matrix Calculator Display the twelve-tone matrix for a specified tone row.

About

EarMaster

Enhance your musical abilities with comprehensive ear training, sight-singing, and rhythm exercises. This app offers thousands of lessons for all skill levels, from beginners to advanced musicians, and is used by top music schools.

Highlights
  • Ear training exercises
  • Sight-singing practice
  • Rhythm training
  • Vocal training
  • Beginner's course
  • Customizable exercises
  • Detailed progress stats
Features
Read full description

Music theory made easy and fun: EarMaster is the ultimate app for your ear training, sight-singing practice, rhythmic workout and vocal training at all skill levels! Thousands of exercises will help you build up your musical skills and become a better musician. Try it, it's not just fun to use but also very efficient: some of the best music schools use EarMaster! "The exercises are so well thought out, and have so much to offer both the complete beginner and the most world class musicians alike. Being an instructor at Nashville Music Academy, I can say this app has developed my ear and my students ear to a level that would have taken many more years to develop, if at all, without it." - User review by Chiddychat AWARDS “Best App of the Month” (App Store, Jan 2020) NAMM TEC AWARDS nominee Music Teacher Awards for Excellence nominee INCLUDED IN FREE VERSION: - Interval Identification (Customized Exercise) - Chord Identification (Customized Exercise) - 'Carmen – Habanera' (based on the iconic opera by Bizet) - 'Call of the Notes' (call-response ear training course) - 'Greensleeves' thematic course - First 20+ lessons of Beginners Course *Highlights* BEGINNER'S COURSE - Acquire all the core music theory skills with hundreds of progressive exercises on rhythm, notation, pitch, chords, scales, and more. COMPLETE EAR TRAINING - Train with intervals, chords, chord inversions, scales, harmonic progressions, melodies, rhythm, and more. LEARN TO SIGHT-SING - Sing on-screen scores into the microphone of your iPad or iPhone and get immediate feedback on your pitch and time accuracy. RHYTHM TRAINING - Tap! tap! tap! Sight-read, dictate and tap back rhythms, and get instant feedback on your performance. VOCAL TRAINER - Become a better singer with progressive vocal exercises on vocalizes, scale singing, rhythmic precision, interval singing, and more. SOLFEGE FUNDAMENTALS - Learn to use movable-do solfege, as easy as Do-Re-Mi! MELODIA - Become a true sight-singing master with EarMaster's take on the classic sight-singing book method AURAL TRAINER FOR UK GRADES - Prepare for ABRSM* Aural Tests 1-5 and similar exams RCM VOICE* - Prepare for your RCM Voice exams from Preparatory level to Level 8. CARMEN – HABANERA (free) - Explore the world of opera with this course based on the iconic opera by Bizet CALL OF THE NOTES (free) - A fun and challenging course in call-response ear training GREENSLEEVES (free) - Learn the English folk ballad Greensleeves with a series of fun exercises CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING - Take control of the app and configure your own exercises: voicing, key, pitch range, cadences, time limits, etc. JAZZ WORKSHOPS - Exercises for advanced users with jazz chords and progressions, swing rhythms, jazz sight-singing and sing-back exercises based on jazz classics such as "After You've Gone", "Ja-Da", "St. Louis Blues", and many more. DETAILED STATS - Follow your progress day by day to spot your strengths and weaknesses. AND MUCH, MUCH MORE – Learn to sing and transcribe music by ear. Learn to use solfege. Plug a microphone or a MIDI controller to answer the exercises. And even more to explore on your own in the app :) WORKS WITH EARMASTER CLOUD - If your school or choir is using EarMaster Cloud, you can connect the app with your account and complete your home assignments with the app. *Not affiliated with ABRSM or RCM LOVE EARMASTER? LET'S STAY CONNECTED Drop us a line on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Mastodon, or X!

Screenshots

Tenuto4 screens
EarMaster4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: EarMaster at Free against Tenuto's $4.99. Tenuto's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 22) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On ratings volume, update cadence, 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

EarMaster is free to download; Tenuto costs $4.99 up front. EarMaster sells 22 one-off in-app purchases. Tenuto asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Tenuto holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 652 and 423 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 95% of Tenuto's written reviews are positive against 81% of EarMaster's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tenuto ships an update every 3 months, EarMaster every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Tenuto versus EarMaster: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTenutoEarMaster
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (652 ratings) — better4.6 (423 ratings)
Positive reviews94.5% of reviews — better81.1% of reviews
Number of ratings652 — better423
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#4 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.815.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB306 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developermusictheory.netEarMaster ApS

Customer experience

Tenuto

All ratings652 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral2.0%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews348 reviews
Positive94.5%
Neutral2.6%
Negative2.9%

EarMaster

All ratings423 ratings
Positive89.6%
Neutral3.3%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews254 reviews
Positive81.1%
Neutral4.7%
Negative14.2%

User reviews

Tenuto

From 652 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Essential for musicians
  • 👍 Great app
  • 👍 Perfect app
  • 👍 Wonderful app
  • 👍 Highly recommend

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Wrong billing
  • 🐛 Piano tone is so bad
  • 🐛 Not good
  • 🐛 Great but buggy
  • 🐛 All sounds stopped working

EarMaster

From 423 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent for sight reading and vocal singing
  • 👍 Helpful for improving musicianship and sharpening ears
  • 💡 Customizable exercises and lessons
  • 🚀 Systematic and progressive approach
  • 👍 Covers a wide range of topics (intervals, chords, rhythm, etc.)

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Pitch recognition issues, especially for lower voices
  • 🐛 Rhythm playback issues on some devices
  • 💰 Expensive, with in-app purchases required for full access
  • 🤔 Forced landscape mode on mobile devices

Bugs and requests

Tenuto

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Sound cuts out
  • Unresponsive at times
  • Freezes up
  • Doesn't work well for guitar
  • Incorrect chord/key associations

Requested features

20 requests
  • Cadences and inversions for ear training
  • Chord progressions for ear training
  • Melodic and harmonic minor modes for scale recognition
  • 6th, 9th, 11th and 13th chord extensions for chord recognition
  • Melodic dictation
Show 15 more
  • Rhythm exercises
  • Fretboard reverse identification
  • Chord inversions for chord identification
  • Scales written on staff using various clefs
  • Rhythm, melodic, and harmonic dictation exercises
  • Part writing exercises
  • Exercises for form, cadences, etc.
  • MIDI support
  • Autoplay function
  • Ability to input notes/chords on fretboard
  • Chord progression ear training
  • Inversion options for chord and interval identification
  • Melodic and harmonic minor scale identification
  • Extended chord identification
  • Rhythmic dictation

EarMaster

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes and errors when loading certain exercises
  • Inconsistent behavior with metronome and rhythm playback
  • Issues with saving progress and restoring purchased content

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow users to specify their vocal range
  • Add more chord and chord progression options
  • Implement a jazz-focused curriculum
  • Improve feedback and error analysis for users
  • Add support for different tuning systems

In-app purchases

None

Tenuto

No in-app purchases

22 purchases

EarMaster

One-time22
  • Customized: Chord Progressions$0.99
  • Customized: Interval Singing$0.99
  • General Workshop: Scale Identification$0.99
Show 19 more
  • General Workshop: Interval Comparison$0.99
  • Customized Exercise: Scale Identification$0.99
  • General Workshop: Rhythmic Sight-Reading$1.99
  • General: Chord Identification$1.99
  • General: Interval Singing$1.99
  • General: Interval Identification$1.99
  • General: Chord Progressions$1.99
  • Jazz: Chord Identification$1.99
  • Customized Exercise: Melodic Dictation$1.99
  • Customized Exercise: Melodic Sight-Singing$1.99
  • Jazz Workshop: Chord Progressions$1.99
  • General Workshop: Melodic Sight-Singing$1.99
  • Beginner's Course: Modules 5 to 13$3.99
  • Beginner's Course bundle$7.99
  • Solfege Fundamentals$9.99
  • Customized Exercises bundle$14.99
  • General Workshops bundle$14.99
  • Jazz Workshops bundle$14.99
  • Vocal Trainer$14.99

Questions

Is Tenuto free?
Tenuto costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is EarMaster free?
EarMaster is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Tenuto or EarMaster?
Tenuto is rated higher. Tenuto averages 4.8 out of 5 from 652 ratings, while EarMaster averages 4.6 from 423 ratings.
Do Tenuto or EarMaster have ads?
Neither Tenuto nor EarMaster shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tenuto or EarMaster?
Tenuto ships an update every 3 months, and EarMaster every 2 months. Most recently, Tenuto was updated on September 24, 2026 and EarMaster on September 22, 2026.

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