Comparison

Beat vs RealPlay

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

Head to head
About

Beat

Develop pitch sensitivity and harmonic awareness through interactive exercises focused on just intonation. Explore intervals and chords, tune by ear, and enhance your musical listening skills in a focused environment. Ideal for musicians seeking to refine their understanding of pure tuning relationships.

Highlights
  • Interactive interval training
  • Chord tuning and harmonic awareness
  • Progressive ear-training exercises
  • Customizable interval and chord building
  • Focus on just intonation
  • Designed for real musical environments
Features
Read full description

Core Features Interactive Interval Training Develop sensitivity to pitch relationships by exploring intervals tuned using just intonation. • Hear intervals begin perfectly aligned • Adjust pitch in real time to hear beats appear and disappear • Tune intervals by ear using guided listening exercises • Practice intervals across multiple keys and registers Chord Tuning and Harmonic Awareness Understand how scale degrees shape harmony by exploring chords built from pure tuning relationships. • Major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads • Seventh chords including dominant, major, minor, half-diminished, and fully diminished • Isolate chord tones to hear how each pitch affects resonance • Adjust individual notes to hear chords stabilize or destabilize Challenge Mode Strengthen listening accuracy through progressive ear-training exercises. • Tune intervals by ear with adjustable difficulty levels • Customize time limits and precision targets • Unlock intervals through guided progression • Track improvement and share results with teachers or directors Lab Mode Experiment freely with pitch relationships and harmonic structure. • Build custom intervals, chords, or harmonic textures • Assign independent tuning values to each pitch • Explore consonance, dissonance, and overtone interaction Designed for Real Musical Environments In rehearsals and performances, musicians rarely hear themselves in isolation. Beat-Less Tuning removes ensemble noise and allows you to focus on deliberate listening, helping you build reliable tuning instincts that translate directly into real musical situations. This app is ideal for: • Band and orchestra students • Choir and vocal ensemble singers (especially Straight-Tone singing) • Drum corps and marching musicians • Barbershop and a cappella performers • Music educators and ensemble directors Why Just Intonation? Most modern instruments use equal temperament, which balances pitch across all keys but slightly compromises many intervals. Beat-Less Tuning introduces just intonation, where intervals follow natural harmonic ratios that create clarity, depth, and resonance. The listening skills developed in this app strengthen tuning awareness in any musical tuning system. Built by Musicians and Educators Beat-Less Tuning was created by Grammy Finalist and Recording Academy Music Educator of the Year Jeremy Bradstreet, in collaboration with software developer Noirit Ghosh Choudhuri. Together they combined decades of teaching experience and advanced software design to create a powerful and intuitive listening tool for musicians at every level. Train your ears. Build your sound. Hear music more clearly.

About

RealPlay

Practice music with authentic backing tracks performed by professional musicians. Customize tempo, key, and mix for focused learning. Features over 100 standard chord progressions with an expanding library.

Highlights
  • Authentic backing tracks
  • 100+ standard chord progressions
  • Real-time tempo adjustment
  • Instrument isolation and mixing
  • Instant transposition to all keys
Features
Read full description

RealPlay lets you practice with real music—not midi tracks, AI, or loops. Play along with authentic backing tracks performed by world-class rhythm sections, featuring an expanding library of over 100 essential standard chord progressions. Easily customize your practice with real-time controls for tempo, key, and mix—so you can focus on exactly what you need. Features: • World-class rhythm sections • 100+ essential jazz standards and chord progressions (expanding library) • Real-time tempo adjustment • Instrument isolation and mixing (ideal for rhythm section players) • Instant transposition to all 12 keys Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Beat4 screens
RealPlay4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: RealPlay at Free against Beat's $4.99. RealPlay also leads on ratings volume (165 vs 4). Beat's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (100% vs 73%). On 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

RealPlay is free to download; Beat costs $4.99 up front. RealPlay sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.29 per month. Beat asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Beat holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: RealPlay has 165 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Beat's written reviews are positive against 73% of RealPlay's.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Beat versus RealPlay: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBeatRealPlay
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (4 ratings) — better4.7 (165 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better73.2% of reviews
Number of ratings4165 — better
Update frequency—Every 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size223 MB113 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJeremy BradstreetRealPlay LLC

Customer experience

Beat

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

RealPlay

All ratings164 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral2.4%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews41 reviews
Positive73.2%
Neutral12.2%
Negative14.6%

In-app purchases

None

Beat

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

RealPlay

Subscriptions2
  • RealPlay Pro Monthly$3.291 Month
  • RealPlay Pro Yearly$21.991 Year

Questions

Is Beat free?
Beat costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is RealPlay free?
RealPlay is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Beat or RealPlay?
Beat is rated higher. Beat averages 5.0 out of 5 from 4 ratings, while RealPlay averages 4.7 from 165 ratings.
Do Beat or RealPlay have ads?
Neither Beat nor RealPlay shows ads.

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