Sonofield Ear Trainer vs FretPulse
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sonofield Ear Trainer
This app helps musicians develop their ear by focusing on the feeling of individual notes within a key, rather than traditional interval training. It uses sustained drones and offers various modes like identifying scale degrees, melodies, and singing exercises. The app adapts to your skill level with an intuitive interface and progression path.
- Feeling-based note recognition
- Scale degree identification
- Melody recognition training
- Singing exercises
- Hands-free training mode
- Interactive exploration instrument
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Sonofield Ear Trainer (SET) is a revolutionary ear training app designed to help you intuitively play the melodies you hear and imagine. Instead of relying on traditional old methods like intervals, SET focuses on helping you feel the unique character of each note within a key. By using sustained drones to create a tonal foundation, you’ll learn to recognize scale degrees based on their *feeling*, not just how they sound. The app offers a variety of ways to train: * Degrees Mode - Identify individual notes against the drone by feeling. The heart of SET. * Melody Mode - Identify short melodic phrases, preparing you for real music. * Voice Mode - Sing the requested scale degree into your microphone. * Pocket Mode - Hands-free training for when you're on the go. * Free Play - An interactive instrument for exploration. With its intuitive, color-coded interface, thoughtfully designed progression path, and multiple difficulty levels, SET adapts to your skill level while keeping practice engaging. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced musician, SET is your guide to unlocking true musical fluency through intuitive, feeling-based ear training. No ads or forced payments. The free version contains full foundations for feeling-based ear training. Download the ear training app now!
FretPulse
This app generates personalized daily guitar practice routines, tracks your progress with real-time BPM tracking, and guides you through exercises with scrolling notation and a built-in metronome. It offers a growing library of exercises and allows for custom routine creation.
- Personalized daily practice routines
- Auto-generated practice plans
- Speed trainer with BPM progression
- Real-time scrolling notation
- Built-in metronome
- Track BPM progress per exercise
- Customizable routines and playlists
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FretPulse auto-generates your daily practice routine, tracks your BPM progress exercise by exercise, and guides you through every drill with real-time scrolling notation. Built for guitarists who practice with intention. Stop winging it. Start getting better. PERSONALIZED DAILY ROUTINES FretPulse builds a fresh practice plan based on your skill level, focus areas, and session length — Mechanics & Dexterity, Lead Articulation, Rhythm & Groove, or Fretboard Navigation. Your routine refreshes on a schedule you control (1–7 days) so you're never grinding the same thing. SPEED TRAINER BUILT IN Set a start BPM, a target BPM, and an increment. FretPulse walks you up to tempo automatically — the same way serious musicians build speed. No separate app needed. REAL-TIME NOTATION & METRONOME Every exercise plays back with a scrolling staff and a live playhead so you always know where you are. Built-in metronome with Always On and Count-In modes. Independent volume for both click and guitar. TRACK BPM MASTERY PER EXERCISE FretPulse remembers your working tempo and personal-best BPM for every single exercise. Rate your effort after each session and your progress updates automatically — so you can see exactly how far you've come. GROWING EXERCISE LIBRARY Hundreds of exercises across Alternate Picking, Legato, Sweep Picking, String Bending, Strumming, Scales, Chords, Tapping, and more — organized by technique and difficulty. New exercises added regularly. CUSTOM ROUTINES & PRE-BUILT PLAYLISTS Build your own practice playlists from the full library. Drag to reorder, set per-exercise durations, and return to them any time. Or start from a pre-built routine and clone it to make it your own. DRILL ANY SECTION Loop a specific measure range to isolate exactly what needs work. Set work/rest intervals so your hands recover between rounds. No restarting the whole exercise just to hit one section. STREAKS & FOCUS ANALYTICS See your practice streak, total time by category, technique breakdown charts, and recent personal bests — all in one dashboard view. FREE TO TRY Jump in with a full-featured demo — no account, no credit card. Upgrade to FretPulse Premium to unlock the complete exercise library, unlimited custom routines, cloud sync, and full progress tracking. FretPulse is free to download. Full access to all features requires asubscription ($9.99/month or $99.99/year.) Terms of Service: https://fretpulse.io/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Sonofield Ear Trainer at 392 against FretPulse's 1. Sonofield Ear Trainer also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.1). FretPulse's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 9 days). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Sonofield Ear Trainer sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and FretPulse sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Sonofield Ear Trainer against 5.0 for FretPulse. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sonofield Ear Trainer has 392 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Sonofield Ear Trainer ships an update every 9 days, FretPulse every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sonofield Ear Trainer | FretPulse |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (392 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 88.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 392 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 105 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sonofield Ear Trainer Education Ltd. | FretPulse LLC |
Bugs and requests
Sonofield Ear Trainer
Reported bugs
1 issue- None reported
Requested features
5 requests- Option to switch between 12TET and just intonation
- Ability to reduce octave range
- Incorporate more timbre options for drone and notes
- Tracking and visualization of progress and learned skills
- Add interactive tutorial for level 1
FretPulse
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Sonofield Ear Trainer
- Lifetime Pro$14.99
- Lifetime Pro$17.99
- Lifetime Pro2 variants$19.99
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- Lifetime Pro$24.99
FretPulse
- FretPulse Premium$9.991 Month
- FretPulse Premium$99.991 Year
Questions
Is Sonofield Ear Trainer free?
Is FretPulse free?
Which has better reviews, Sonofield Ear Trainer or FretPulse?
Do Sonofield Ear Trainer or FretPulse have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sonofield Ear Trainer or FretPulse?
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