Tabs & Notes vs Guitar Tabs X
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tabs & Notes
This app displays and plays song tablature and notes, supporting gp3, gp4, gp5, and gpx files. It offers full General MIDI sound playback, making it ideal for guitar practice anywhere. Features include easy song downloads, track switching, flexible playback speed, and editable metadata.
- Plays gp3, gp4, gp5, gpx files
- Full General MIDI sound playback
- Flexible playback speed
- Free instrument to track mapping
- Editable song metadata
- Easy song download
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Tabs & Notes displays and plays your song tablature and notes. Compatible with gp3, gp4, gp5 and gpx files. Playback with full general midi sound. Great for guitar practice everywhere you want. Features: - Easy download of new songs - Fast switching between tracks of a song - Free instrument to track mapping - Flexible playback speed - Free positioning of song cursor - Editable song meta data
Guitar Tabs X
Create, edit, and save professional-looking guitar, bass, and ukulele tabs. Preview and play your compositions, and export them as PDF or MIDI files. Ideal for musicians of all levels to capture and organize musical ideas.
- Interactive tablature interface
- Special tab editing keyboard
- Insert chords with a slide
- Export tabs to PDF
- Export song to MIDI
- Supports bass and ukulele tabs
- Preview and play tabs
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Guitar Tabs X is a powerful guitar tabs editor. It is intended as the guitar and bass players' notebook so you can easily write and save your ideas and songs as pro looking guitar tabs. As an addition the app supports ukulele tabs. All tabs can be previewed and played. Supports bass tabs. Great tool for bands, composers, guitar schools and even beginners. With Guitar Tabs X you can write your chords fast so you never again forget your ideas. Guitar Tabs X exclusive features: - Interactive tablature interface - Special tab editing keyboard (like fretboard) - Insert chords with a slide - Full screen guitar tab read and edit - Smart bar metrics algorithms - dedicated tab file format - readable and small - easy chord edit - export tabs to PDF ( print ready ) - export song to MIDI (which you can import to any DAW) other features: - Fast tempo change - One touch bar metrics change - Copy, paste, insert, delete and clear bars - In-place edit title, artist and author - legato - bend up and bend down - vibrato - P.M. - Bass tabs support - Ukulele tabs support - undo last actions - send songs via email - send songs to server - free guitar tabs server - fast repeat chords - distortion guitar and bass sounds You can access your tabs via iCloud or iTunes share feature. To export songs as MIDI or PDF and to store more than 5 songs on the device you should unlock the PRO features via In-App purchase. All other features are available free and the app has no ads. Should you choose to upgrade to a Pro features, payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Your may choose monthly subscription (paying per month),yearly subscription (paying per year) or one-time payment. (Price may vary by location.) Your subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the current period and cancellation of the current active subscription period is not allowed. Auto-renewal may be turned off in your Account Settings in iTunes after purchase. You can also manage your subscriptions in Account Settings after purchase. Guitar Tabs X Terms of Service: http://guitartabsx.com/termsandconditions/ Guitar Tabs X Privacy Policy: http://guitartabsx.com/privacypolicy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Tabs & Notes at 5.0 against Guitar Tabs X's 4.1. Guitar Tabs X's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (358 vs 1). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Tabs & Notes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Guitar Tabs X sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Tabs & Notes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Guitar Tabs X has 358 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 40% of Tabs & Notes's written reviews are positive against 55% of Guitar Tabs X's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Tabs & Notes ships an update every 5 months, Guitar Tabs X every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tabs & Notes | Guitar Tabs X |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.1 (358 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | 54.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 358 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 17 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Oliver Buecker | Aleksandar Mlazev |
Customer experience
Tabs & Notes
Guitar Tabs X
Bugs and requests
Tabs & Notes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Guitar Tabs X
Reported bugs
13 issues- Songs automatically deleted when creating new tabs
- Multiple songs overwritten to same filename
- File save not confirmed properly
- App freezes with 'stop playback to edit' message
- Playback stops at high tempos (150+ BPM)
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- Ties/slurs ignored across measure boundaries
- Incorrect note playback in certain tunings
- Double copy when changing song title
- Accidental delete function too sensitive
- No sound on some newly created tabs
- Pro version purchase breaks save functionality
- Slider tempo control glitchy and unresponsive
- Coding issue with special characters in composer field
Requested features
26 requests- Capo/Capodastre functionality
- Hammer-on and pull-off notations
- Custom tuning editor for any string configuration
- 7-string and 8-string guitar support
- 5-string bass support with more tuning options
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- Chord names above tabs
- Tempo changes mid-song
- Additional time signatures (6/8, 7/4, 8/8)
- Dotted note options
- Rest/silence notation
- Harmonics and pinch harmonics
- Slides and bend notations
- Copy and paste functionality
- Multiple tracks/instruments in one project
- Text annotations and lyrics
- First and second ending markers
- Better metronome and tempo control
- Auto-save functionality
- Larger font sizes for printing
- Ghost notes support
- Glissando notation
- Percussion/drum tabs
- Better sound samples for guitar
- Shuffle rhythm option
- Bar numbering
- Search functionality for saved tabs
In-app purchases
Tabs & Notes
- Tabs & Notes Full Version$0.99
Guitar Tabs X
- Guitar Tabs X Pro - monthly$0.991 Month
- Guitar Tabs X Pro - yearly$5.991 Year
- Guitar Tabs X PRO features$11.99
