Piano Maestro vs StaffWars
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Piano Maestro
This app transforms piano practice into an engaging experience for learners of all ages. It offers interactive lessons, a vast song library, and instant feedback to help master sight-reading, rhythm, and technique. Compatible with any piano or keyboard, it makes learning fun and effective for families and students.
- Interactive piano lessons
- Vast song library (2,800+ songs)
- Instant feedback on playing
- Progress tracking with skill points
- Method books from publishers
- Touch mode for devices without piano
- Teacher management features
Read full descriptionHide full description
Piano Maestro is a fun and engaging piano practice tool for families and teachers. Chosen by Apple as #1 Education App in over 20 countries. Works with any piano or keyboard. From playing a single note to complete pieces, Piano Maestro helps your student master sight-reading, rhythm, technique and playing with both hands to make sheet music come to life. Fun piano learning for the entire family with positive screen time! What is included: - Journey - progress by chapters, rising in difficulty level. Collect SKILL POINTS as you play - Library - over 2,800 songs & exercises according to level or genre for songs or by exercise type. From classical, pop, rock, TV & movie songs and themes all songs have fun background music - Method Books - tons of lesson books from leading publishers like Hal Leonard - Receive a 3-star score after mastering rhythm, timing and sight-reading - Practice options to learn songs step-by-step to personalize your learning experience How it works: - Download Piano Maestro to your iPad, place it on your piano/keyboard and the app will immediately recognize what you are playing! - Get instant feedback on your playing to quickly learn and improve your skills - No piano? No problem! TOUCH MODE also available Piano teachers: Created by music educators, Piano Maestro is used as a resource in lessons by tens of thousands of piano teachers worldwide. Includes many teacher management features, reports and a Home Challenge Center to easily assign and assess homework to increase practice time between lessons, helping students learn faster. Join our thriving Piano Maestro Teachers community on Facebook to get ideas on how to use Piano Maestro in your lessons and to connect with other like-minded teachers. “This is the kind of app that if I could get in the hands of every single student, I would!” How the subscription works: All app users can play several free skill levels. Upgrade to a subscription package at any time - Subscribers will receive FULL access to the entire app including all pop songs, method books and other licensed content. New content added every month! Choose from one of the following subscription options. Parents and students learning without a teacher: - Monthly recurring subscription for $9.99/month - Recurring yearly subscription for $59.99/year Teachers: - My Studio: full access to all content, for $12.99/month or $9.99/month (annual) - Studio+Home: Unlocks everything for you and ALL your students, for $19.99/month or $14.99/month (annual) - All recurring subscriptions will auto-renew unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can turn off auto-renewal at any time from your iTunes account settings - Your subscription is for your iTunes account and can be used on your iOS device - Payments will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase - Subscriptions cannot be canceled during the active subscription period Piano Maestro is developed by Simply (formerly JoyTunes), creators of award-winning apps Simply Piano, Simply Guitar and Simply Sing. Created by music educators, the apps are used by tens of thousands of music teachers worldwide with over 1 million songs learned every week. Simply are experts in creating educational and fun music apps for learning piano quickly and easily. Awards & Recognition: - "EMI’s Innovation Challenge” - "World Summit Award", by the United Nations - “Best Tools for Beginners”, NAMM - "Best Tablet Game", GameIS - “Parents' Choice Award” - “Golden App”, Apps for Homeschooling Have questions, feedback or suggestions? Reach out to us at education@hellosimply.com Enjoy Playing! privacy policy: https://www.hellosimply.com/legal/privacy terms of use: https://www.hellosimply.com/legal/terms
StaffWars
Master musical clefs with this interactive game. Practice note names on the grand staff, treble, alto, and bass clefs. Ideal for musicians of all levels looking to improve their sight-reading skills.
- Learn note names on grand staff
- Practice treble clef
- Master alto clef
- Woodshed bass clef
- Interactive musical game
Read full descriptionHide full description
StaffWars is a game designed to help beginning and intermediate musicians learn, practice and woodshed the note names on the grand staff, treble, alto and bass clefs. THE APP for anyone who wants to master these clefs.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Piano Maestro at Free against StaffWars's $1.99. Piano Maestro also leads on ratings volume (27K vs 134) and rating (4.6 vs 4.2). StaffWars's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and chart position (#36 vs unranked). On review sentiment, ads and iOS requirement 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
Piano Maestro is free to download; StaffWars costs $1.99 up front. Piano Maestro sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. StaffWars asks for nothing beyond the download.
Piano Maestro holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Piano Maestro has 27K ratings behind it against 134, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Piano Maestro's written reviews are positive against 74% of StaffWars's.
Piano Maestro ships an update every 9 months, StaffWars every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Piano Maestro | StaffWars |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (27K ratings) — better | 4.2 (134 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 78.8% of reviews — better | 74.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 27K — better | 134 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #36 — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 160 MB | 32 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Simply Ltd | TMI Media, LLC |
Customer experience
Piano Maestro
StaffWars
User reviews
Piano Maestro
From 27K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great for learning piano
- 👍 Fun and engaging
- 👍 Helps improve piano skills
- 👍 Motivates practice
- 👍 Suitable for all ages
Room to improve
- 🐛 Note recognition issues
- 🐛 Bugs and crashes
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🔒 Difficult to cancel subscription
- 🔒 Locked content behind paywall
StaffWars
From 134 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎯 Highly effective for learning note reading
- 👨🏫 Excellent tool for music teachers and students
- 🎮 Engaging and addictive gameplay mechanics
- ⚡ Increasing difficulty keeps users motivated
- 🎼 Supports multiple clefs (treble, alto, bass, tenor)
Room to improve
- 🐛 Double-click detection issues causing missed points
- ⚠️ Game pace too fast for beginners
- 🎯 Unresponsive tap detection at times
- ❌ Note location accuracy problems reported
- 😤 Frustrating difficulty curve for some users
Bugs and requests
Piano Maestro
Reported bugs
3 issues- Levels not unlocking properly
- Inconsistent note recognition
- App crashing and freezing
Requested features
5 requests- More popular song options
- Better tutorial videos
- Ability to adjust piano tuning
- Ability to download sheet music
- More advanced content for experienced players
StaffWars
Reported bugs
5 issues- Double-click registration causing unintended note selections
- Incorrect note location detection preventing proper learning
- App fails to close properly on iPhone X
- Unresponsive touch input
- Occasional app crashes reported
Requested features
13 requests- Extended note range for ledger lines (especially for cello and violin)
- Piano keyboard interface instead of letter buttons
- Microphone/instrument input feature for actual note playing
- Note names displayed in note heads
- Slow mode option for beginners
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Sound feedback for incorrect answers
- Multiple clef practice mode (switching between clefs)
- Separate range settings for treble and bass staves
- Teacher account system to track student progress
- Different background music themes
- Instrument-specific transposition settings
- Audio playback of correct pitches
- Account system for home practice tracking
In-app purchases
Piano Maestro
- Unlimited Access$9.991 Month
- Full Access$9.991 Month
- Teacher Subscription My Studio1 Month trial$12.991 Month
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- My Studio1 Month trial$12.991 Month
- Studio + Home1 Month trial$19.991 Month
- Full Access$47.996 Months
- Unlimited Access$49.991 Year
- Full Access$59.991 Year
- My Studio1 Month trial$119.991 Year
- Studio + Home1 Month trial$179.991 Year
StaffWars
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Piano Maestro free?
Is StaffWars free?
Which has better reviews, Piano Maestro or StaffWars?
Do Piano Maestro or StaffWars have ads?
Which is updated more often, Piano Maestro or StaffWars?
Other comparisons















