LiveVault vs The Dead Archive
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LiveVault
Explore thousands of historic live Grateful Dead performances with this mobile streaming player. Discover new shows, browse by era, and curate your personal library of legendary concerts with gapless playback.
- Thousands of historic live Grateful Dead shows
- Explore shows by era and year
- Gapless audio playback
- Robust song catalog
- Personal library for favorite shows
- On This Day discovery feature
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Explore live Grateful Dead performances with LiveVault. Browse shows by date and era, discover performances of your favorite songs, and stream recordings hosted by the Internet Archive. LiveVault is free. Browse and play music without an account. Sign in to use Live Guide and My Trip, with no payment card or subscription required. FIND THE SHOW See shows performed on today's month and day, browse by year and era, and explore a curated catalog of 166 songs with their live performances. CHOOSE THE TAPE Inspect up to ten same-date recordings with SBD, AUD, or MTX labels, ratings, reviews, and download counts, then pick the one you want to hear. Choosing a source changes the recording and setlist. PRESS PLAY Full-show playback with background audio, lock-screen controls, queue and seek, and resume from your saved position. LIVE GUIDE Follow one shared daily episode built around the recordings. Narration alternates with selected Archive-hosted recordings in a visible timeline. Narration is AI-generated and may contain errors. Guide availability depends on the published episode catalog. Free with sign-in. MY TRIP Keep a personal listening trail across shows, songs, venues, years, and milestones, and revisit what you discover. You can turn listening-history collection off in settings. Free with sign-in. YOUR LIBRARY Save favorites, write notes, and build playlists. Previously saved shows remain playable on the device where you saved them. LiveVault is an unofficial, third-party streaming client. Music streams from the public catalog hosted by the Internet Archive (archive.org). LiveVault is not affiliated with the Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead Productions, Rhino, nugs.net, the Internet Archive, or any artist. Recording availability varies. AI-generated context may contain errors. Privacy Policy: https://www.livevaultapp.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.livevaultapp.com/terms
The Dead Archive
Explore a comprehensive catalog of Grateful Dead shows, including setlists, song histories, and venue details. Stream available recordings and discover curated jams. Engage with a community of listeners and enjoy background playback with lock-screen controls.
- Grateful Dead show catalog
- Stream Archive.org recordings
- Setlists, songs, and venues
- Curated and community-favorite jams
- Community discussion board
- Background audio playback
- Tribute band recordings
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Find your next Grateful Dead show, and the tape you want to hear. • On This Day: revisit shows played on today's date. • The 1965-1995 show catalog: browse every cataloged show and stream available Archive.org recordings. Community-rated sources help you find the best soundboard fast or compare audience tapes. • Setlists, songs and venues: follow a song through the years, explore venue histories and read each show's setlist. • Heady Picks: discover curated jams and community-favorite performances. • The Board: talk about the jams and see who is listening now when listeners choose to share. • Keep listening: background audio, lock-screen controls, AirPlay and Bluetooth let the music travel with you. • Tribute bands: explore Dark Star Orchestra (DSO) and Joe Russo's Almost Dead (JRAD) recordings. The Dead Archive is an independent fan app. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Grateful Dead. Free, with no ads and no account needed to listen.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: The Dead Archive at every 3 days against LiveVault's every 3 months. LiveVault's advantage is ratings volume (26 vs 1). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for LiveVault against 5.0 for The Dead Archive. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LiveVault has 26 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
LiveVault ships an update every 3 months, The Dead Archive every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LiveVault | The Dead Archive |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (26 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 26 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | LiveVault App, LLC | John D'Attoma |
In-app purchases
LiveVault
No in-app purchases
The Dead Archive
No in-app purchases
