FretSketch vs Guitar Handbook
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FretSketch
This app serves as a portable chord dictionary for guitar, standard ukulele, and baritone ukulele. It offers over 500 chords with fingering details and audio playback, organized by harmonic family or root.
- Chord reference for guitar, ukulele, baritone ukulele
- Over 500 chords
- Organized by harmonic family and root
- Exact fingering and alternatives
- Audio playback of chords
- Free to download
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FretSketch is your pocket chord reference for guitar, standard ukulele and baritone ukulele. Explore over 500 chords, organized by harmonic family within a key or in a reference chart by root. Check exact fingering, often including alternatives, and hear what a chord should sound like. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Guitar Handbook
Master the guitar fretboard by learning note locations, chord shapes, and scale patterns. This app helps you solo in any key and improve your musical understanding.
- Fretboard note identification
- Open chord fingerings
- Pentatonic scale patterns
- Diatonic scale patterns
- Soloing in any key
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Learn where all the notes on the fretboard are, finger positions for open chords, pentatonic & diatonic scale patterns so you can solo in any musical key.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Guitar Handbook at none against FretSketch's 2. FretSketch's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (18.4 vs 26.4). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. FretSketch sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Guitar Handbook asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for FretSketch against 5.0 for Guitar Handbook. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
FretSketch ships an update weekly, Guitar Handbook every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FretSketch | Guitar Handbook |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.4 — better | 26.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 25 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hive 604 Software Inc | Stephen Comstock |
Customer experience
FretSketch
Guitar Handbook
In-app purchases
FretSketch
- Full Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Full Yearly Subscription1 Month trial$9.991 Year
Guitar Handbook
No in-app purchases
