Comparison

Notehead vs CRITICSCALE

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

Head to head
About

Notehead

Features
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A second of sound. A lifetime of “I KNOW THIS ONE!” NoteHead is a fast-paced solo music quiz where your brain screams louder than the beat — especially when you forget lyrics you've sung 50 times. Whether you're a casual listener or die-hard music fan, NoteHead challenges your memory and musical instincts in a fun, addictive way.

About

CRITICSCALE

Engage in daily music trivia challenges with eight distinct mini-games. Test your knowledge of music history, artists, and albums to maintain a daily streak and compete with friends. Offers a Pro version for expanded features.

Highlights
  • Eight bite-sized music trivia games
  • Daily streak challenges
  • Leaderboards and head-to-head play
  • Album cover identification
  • Music fact connection game
  • Artist origin guessing
  • Pro version with extra features
Features
Read full description

CRITICSCALE — DAILY MUSIC GAMES FOR PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY KNOW MUSIC. Eight bite-sized games. One streak. A fresh round of every game at local midnight, every night. Free to play forever. THE EIGHT GAMES ERAPIN — A 30-second clip plays. Drag the pin along the timeline to the year you think it dropped. Closer is more points. CHROMEVINYL — An album cover, blurred down to its palette. Identify the artist before the clues sharpen and the score drops. CRITICWEB — Connect each music fact to the artist who lived it. Build the full web — no second guesses. VINYLCRACK — Hangman, but vinyl. Guess the artist letter by letter. Eight wrong picks and the record shatters. FAKEVINYL — Four album covers. One is real. Three are convincing fakes. Five rounds of pure paranoia. BANDGRID — Sixteen tiles. Four hidden categories of four. Group them all without burning four mistakes. ORIGINMAP (Pro) — A song plays. Drop a pin on the map where you think the artist is from. BEATBLITZ — Pick a music prompt. Type as many correct answers as you can before the clock dies. Rare answers buy you more time. ONE STREAK, EVERY DAY Play any game on a given day to keep your streak alive. Build it one day at a time, lose it in a missed midnight, defend it with a streak shield. FRIENDS, NOT FEEDS Add friends, compare daily scores on the leaderboard, and challenge anyone to a 1v1 head-to-head round. No algorithmic feed, no follower counts, no rage. Just receipts. NO ADS. NO TRACKING. NO NONSENSE. We don't run third-party advertising. We don't track you across other apps. We don't sell your data. The app is free; Pro is optional. PRO Pro unlocks past challenges (replay any previous day's round), Originmap, Endless Erapin, and a few quality-of-life upgrades. Subscription billed by Apple, cancellable any time from your subscription settings. QUESTIONS support@criticscale.com — bugs, account help, anything privacy@criticscale.com — privacy and data requests criticscale.com — eight games, one streak, see for yourself Made for music nerds. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Notehead4 screens
CRITICSCALE4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Notehead at none against CRITICSCALE's 6. Notehead also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). CRITICSCALE's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.6). On price, 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

Both are free to download. CRITICSCALE sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Notehead asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notehead ships an update fortnightly, CRITICSCALE every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Notehead versus CRITICSCALE: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNoteheadCRITICSCALE
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.615.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAMYNEBO SP Z O OCARLOS ANDRES SALAME AROSEMENA

In-app purchases

None

Notehead

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

CRITICSCALE

Subscriptions2
  • CriticScale Pro (Monthly)7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • CriticScale Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time4
  • 100 Vinyl Stars$0.99
  • 550 Vinyl Stars$2.99
  • 1,200 Vinyl Stars$4.99
Show 1 more
  • 2,500 Vinyl Stars$9.99

Questions

Is Notehead free?
Notehead is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CRITICSCALE free?
CRITICSCALE is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Notehead or CRITICSCALE have ads?
Neither Notehead nor CRITICSCALE shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notehead or CRITICSCALE?
Notehead ships an update fortnightly, and CRITICSCALE every 2 months. Most recently, Notehead was updated on October 30, 2026 and CRITICSCALE on October 24, 2026.

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