Comparison

Piano Companion PRO vs StringMaster Pro

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

Head to head
About

Piano Companion PRO

This music theory app serves as a comprehensive chord and scale dictionary for musicians. It aids in finding chords and scales by inputting keys, offers a chord progression builder, and allows users to create and save custom chords and scales. Practice and explore musical concepts with interactive tools.

Highlights
  • Extensive chord and scale dictionary
  • Chord progression builder
  • Custom chord and scale creation
  • Interactive Circle of Fifths
  • MIDI keyboard support
  • Audio playback for chords and scales
Features
Read full description

Piano Companion is a music theory app which helps songwriters, producers, teachers and their students. It’s a flexible piano chords and scales dictionary with user libraries, reverse mode, the circle of 5ths, chord progression builder with common patterns. If you can’t remember the name of a piano chord or scale, this app helps you to find it by keys or using your external MIDI keyboard. For example, just press C, G and you will get C Major as the first piano chord in the search result. If you don’t see a piano chord or a specific scale, you can create a custom piano chord or scale and use it for chord charts or your user library. The Piano Companion app shows chord and scale notes on the grand staff, degrees, relative scales, intervals, fingering for both hands in major and minor scales – and you can contribute your own custom fingering too. You can practice scales in different keys and clefs, practice progressions. Additionally, you can listen to how a scale or chord sounds in the loop or arpeggiated. You can see the list of compatible chords in the selected scale or list of compatible scales for a selected chord. The app helps you to compose, practice progressions and experiment with different chord progressions using our Chord Progression Builder with relative or common chords. Key features: - 1500+ piano chords, up to 6th inversions such as major, minor, diminished, augmented, sevenths, etc. - 10,000+ scales, such as Ionian (major), Aeolian (minor), Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Locrian, Harmonic minor, Melodic Minor, chromatic, pentatonic, blues, etc. - Chord Progression builder with scale patterns (chord sequencer) - Interactive Circle of Fifths with grand staff and relative scales - Ability to input your own custom chords and organize your own chord charts and library - External MIDI keyboard support for reverse mode - MIDI output (iOS) with the ability to connect your favorite DAW (Ableton, Garage Band, etc.) with Piano Companion - List of available chords in Circle of Fifths, practice common chords. - Popular key notations: English, Italian, German, Japanese, Russian, etc. - Shows chord and scale in different octaves on the grand staff with treble and bass clef - Displays compatible scales’ chords - Displays similar and relative scales - Analytical labels: Secondary Dominant and Secondary Leading-Tone - Common degrees: Tonic, Supertonic, Mediant, Subdominant, Dominant, Submediant, Leading tone (in Major scale) / Subtonic (in Natural Minor Scale) - Displays compatible chords’ scales - Ability to create custom chords or modify existing ones - Audio support: the ability to play a chord in the loop or arpeggio; ability to play a scale in the loop - Arpeggio in the chord progressions - Relative scale suggestions - Relative chords in chord progressions - You can create your own scale fingering and have the ability to use community scale fingerings - User libraries with the ability to add scale or chord - You can create your own chord libraries and chord charts - Ability to create favorite scales - Chord Intervals: Unison, Perfect Fifth, Major Third, Minor Third, etc. Prompt support from the Piano Companion Team is guaranteed! We would also be happy to hear your suggestions for Piano Companion. Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pianocompanion Facebook: http://facebook.com/PianoCompanion Google+: https://plus.google.com/112151838811905661920 Have questions? Community forum: http://forums.songtive.com or contact us at: support@songtive.com

About

StringMaster Pro

This advanced music app helps musicians of all levels learn and master fretted instruments. It offers tools for chords, scales, songwriting, and includes a tuner and fretboard learning system. Supports a wide range of instruments and integrates with wireless Fretlight Guitars.

Highlights
  • Chord building and detection
  • Fretboard learning system
  • Advanced songwriting tools
  • Chromatic tuner and metronome
  • Instrument comparison
  • MIDI output
Read full description

Introducing StringMaster Pro – the pinnacle of advanced music applications for iPad and Mac, tailored for musicians ranging from relative beginners to seasoned guitarists & other fretted instrument musicians. The StringMaster family has five versions catering to diverse needs with StringMaster Pro seamlessly integrating all features, making it the ultimate companion for any fretted instrument including wireless Fretlight Guitars. Unlock a world of possibilities with support for chords, chord tones, scales, and songwriting, backed by a chromatic tuner, fretboard learning, instrument comparison, and more. The StringMaster family boasts over 150,000 users and having held the #1 Music App position in 34 countries. StringMaster Pro supports an array of instruments, from acoustic and electric guitars to bass guitars, banjos, mandolins, ukuleles, pianos, and even balalaikas. Dive into a rich sound library with distortion, reverb, or piano options for any instrument. Whether you're a guitarist, bassist, or multi-instrumentalist, StringMaster Pro has you covered. Key features include chord building and detection, a comprehensive fretboard learning system, advanced songwriting tools, and flexible alternate tuning and capo support for any instrument in any orientation. StringMaster 4 introduces piano keyboard support, allowing seamless mapping of guitar chords to the piano keyboard. Explore the robust capabilities of StringMaster Pro: * Play and discover chords and fingering with natural tones. * Display and play scales, including scale runs up the fretboard. * Visualize chord notes, suggested fingering, and Chord Tones. * Utilize the unique Note Finding capability to learn notes and their relative positions on the fretboard. * Benefit from the integrated Chromatic Tuner and Metronome, playable in the background. * Leverage StringMaster's chord-naming algorithms based on finger positions. * Unleash your creativity with the Song Writer, recommending chord progressions and facilitating songwriting. * Master instruments by comparing chords, patterns, and fingerings across a variety of instruments. * Output MIDI from played notes and play along with MIDI tracks from the built-in library. Experience the next level of musical exploration and education with StringMaster Pro – where versatility meets excellence. Join the global community of musicians who have made StringMaster their go-to app for musical innovation. Download StringMaster Pro now and elevate your musical journey to new heights! Note: Fretlight Ready™ designates that an app can send its data over Bluetooth to a Fretlight® guitar and light its fretboard. To learn more about Fretlight guitars go to www.fretlight.com This Application is developed and maintained by Great Apptitude, an independent app developer for use with the Fretlight Guitar. Optek Music Systems, the owner of the Fretlight Guitar brand, accepts no responsibility for the development, maintenance or support for this Application.

Screenshots

Piano Companion PRO4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: StringMaster Pro at $14.99 against Piano Companion PRO's $99.99. Piano Companion PRO's advantage is review sentiment (90% vs 67%) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

Piano Companion PRO costs $99.99 and StringMaster Pro $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Piano Companion PRO holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Piano Companion PRO has 207 ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 90% of Piano Companion PRO's written reviews are positive against 67% of StringMaster Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Piano Companion PRO ships an update every 6 weeks, StringMaster Pro every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Piano Companion PRO versus StringMaster Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPiano Companion PROStringMaster Pro
Price$99.99$14.99 — better
Rating4.7 (207 ratings) — better4.5 (20 ratings)
Positive reviews90.1% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings207 — better20
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad, Mac
Requires iOS13.013.0
Further details — not scored
Size154 MB171 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperSongtiveGreat Apptitude Pty Ltd

Customer experience

Piano Companion PRO

All ratings207 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral0.5%
Negative3.9%
Written reviews252 reviews
Positive90.1%
Neutral3.6%
Negative6.3%

StringMaster Pro

All ratings20 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

Piano Companion PRO

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Chord progression feature kicks user out randomly
  • MIDI out plays only one note instead of a chord, gets choppy and freezes
  • App crashes when accessing certain features (e.g. circle of fifths)

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add atonality scale with uncertain root
  • Improve chord progression feature (move chords, more customization)
  • Implement MIDI out support
  • Add dark mode or customizable UI
  • Improve stability and reduce crashes

StringMaster Pro

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Piano Companion PRO

No in-app purchases

None

StringMaster Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Piano Companion PRO free?
Piano Companion PRO costs $99.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is StringMaster Pro free?
StringMaster Pro costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Piano Companion PRO or StringMaster Pro?
Piano Companion PRO is rated higher. Piano Companion PRO averages 4.7 out of 5 from 207 ratings, while StringMaster Pro averages 4.5 from 20 ratings.
Do Piano Companion PRO or StringMaster Pro have ads?
Neither Piano Companion PRO nor StringMaster Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Piano Companion PRO or StringMaster Pro?
Piano Companion PRO ships an update every 6 weeks, and StringMaster Pro every 3 months. Most recently, Piano Companion PRO was updated on November 10, 2026 and StringMaster Pro on November 1, 2026.

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