Lyrium vs PenVox
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lyrium
This app is a comprehensive music songwriting tool designed to spark creativity and refine lyrics. It offers AI-powered suggestions, rhyming dictionaries, and collaborative features to help users craft their songs. Users can also analyze their work, explore musical theory, and share their creations.
- AI-powered lyric suggestions
- Rhyming dictionary and thesaurus
- Collaborative songwriting
- Word cloud and concept generation
- Meter and rhyme analysis
- Chord progression composer
- Sharable song pages
Read full descriptionHide full description
You won't find a lyrics app with more features on the App Store. Music tools are our passion and Lyrium is the best for this job. Get the lyrics app developed by ex-Apple engineers. Feature List • Collaboration - Lyrium is fully multiplayer. • Word Cloud - Tom Petty wrote an entire album looking at magnet words on a music stand. We put a galaxy of magnets right around your notepad. • Cloud Tags - type [word] in your lyrics and the cloud shows words that could go there • LyRhyme - smart songwriting dictionary and Roget-style thesaurus • Freestyle Drafting Engine - capture lyrics as you think out loud and get contextual suggestions • Rhyme Worksheets - seed inspiration by generating a tapestry of thematic words and rhymes to get lyrics flowing • Object Writing - utilize this powerful technique to capture your sense memories and transport your listeners into the world of your song • First Line Engine - offers suggestions that integrate your own meticulously curated ideas and words to get a first line on the page • Configurable Context - every suggestion generation feature has a configurable context that controls exactly what your inspiration should source • Song Palette - tweak the thematic and emotional energy you want to capture in your song • Meter Analysis - see the rhythm of your lines right in the editor • Rhyme Highlighting - automatically color code rhymes • Chord Annotations - add your chords and share them • Sharable Song Pages and Lyric Sheets - share your song via links hosted by Lyrium. Export social captions, HTML embeds, or bbcode for forum posts. Upload audio to share your entire complete work. • Collect Notes - capture inspiration in the form of journal entries, song concepts, or voice notes to tap for your songwriting • Journal Rewind - review your daily happenings for inspiration • Song Analysis - automatically detect narrative stagnation or cliches and get suggestions for improvement • Metaphor Explorer - get metaphor ideas as you work • Explore Feed - branch into related words and mull ideas • Song History - catalog the evolution of your song over time to revisit old threads or explore the origins of old ideas • Song Chat - when all else fails, you can interact with a generative model to get answers or inspiration from any prompt • Concept suggestions - source starting points for kicking off songs • Chords Playground - compose and preview chord progressions • Harmonic Vibe Dictionary - explore common chord movements and the theory behind them • Apple Intelligence - skip the data center and generate suggestions right on your phone • Writing Prompts • Writing Timer • Tuner Our AI philosophy in a letter A note to your other lyrics app: AI can't write lyrics. So many new songwriting apps don’t get this. AI just writes the song, and the output is derivative by design. Great art is a product of emotion and experience by the unconscious mind, not a rehash of unlicensed pop songs spewed by autocomplete matrix math in a data center on leveled farmland. Expediting the process while undermining the authenticity is futile. Lyrium is fundamentally different. It’s built from the ground up to cultivate connections and inspiration in *you*. We tap the best tools available to amplify your sparks at every songwriting stage: a powerful rhyme dictionary and Roget-style thesaurus, your sense memories, your journal, and creative interfaces that tap language models for their mastery of language, not lyrics. All this input is tied together in a first-of-its-kind workspace that exposes the power and flexibility you’d expect from the pro tools you use to make the rest of your music. Terms of use: https://lyrium.app/terms
PenVox
This app provides a comprehensive suite of tools for songwriters, from drafting lyrics with section headers and multiple versions to accessing rhyming dictionaries, thesauruses, and AI assistance for creative blocks. It also includes multi-track audio recording, a chromatic tuner, metronome, and collaboration features.
- Distraction-free lyrics editor with section headers
- Multiple versions per song
- Rhymes, thesaurus, dictionary, and emotion tools
- AI helper for brainstorming and overcoming blocks
- Multi-track audio recording up to 5 takes
- Chromatic tuner and metronome with practice sets
- Collaboration with co-writers
Read full descriptionHide full description
PenVox is a songwriting studio built for people who take writing seriously. Write the lyrics, build the chords, record your ideas and finish songs in one focused app. WRITE WITHOUT FRICTION - Distraction-free lyrics editor with section headers ([Verse], [Chorus], [Bridge]) - Rhyme colors: words that rhyme share a color, so your rhyme scheme jumps off the page - Syllable counts beside every line, with a check against your first verse or chorus - Multiple versions per song — star the one you want to open - Auto-save as you type - Voice dictation for capturing lines on the fly - Notes panel for ideas and reminders - Word, line, and syllable counts WRITING TOOLS BUILT IN - Rhymes — perfect and near rhymes, right from your lyrics - Thesaurus — synonyms and related words - Dictionary — definitions, parts of speech, examples - Emotions — 12 categories to find the right feeling - Phrases — common songwriting hooks and patterns - Writing Coach — brainstorm, revise, and break through blocks - Freestyle — random word generator with timer mode CHORDS - Chord projects for the music behind your lyrics - Tap chords in any key, with numbers, feel colors, and guitar and piano shapes - Ready-made progressions, or hum a melody and get chords that fit - Real instrument sounds, drums and bass, in simple rhythms or 41 styles, or make your own - Lyrics beside each section's chords, with Rhymes - Record over the chords and mix with levels, pan, reverb, delay and Tune - Export a chord sheet (PDF), MIDI, or the chords as audio SYNC, PERFORM AND SHARE - Sync Lyrics: tap along as each line is sung - Performance View: your lyrics full screen, in time with your track - Lyric videos for Reels, TikTok and Shorts - Share your lines as an image ORGANIZE YOUR CATALOG - Albums (a song can be in more than one), favorites, and custom sort order - Search across every lyric and title, and search your Recent songs - Grid and list views - Deadline tracking with days-left indicators - Tags for genre, BPM, and key RECORD AND LAYER AUDIO - Multi-track recording — stack up to 10 takes per song - Import audio from your device - Play All transport with 15-second seek - Loop any part of a track while you write - Rename, delete, and export individual tracks TUNER AND METRONOME - Chromatic tuner with cents-accurate pitch detection - Full metronome with time signatures, subdivisions, and multiple sounds - Practice Sets — build routines with multiple BPMs and durations - Save and recall metronome presets COLLABORATE - Write together, live: see each co-writer's cursor and name as they type - Invite co-writers with Editor, Viewer, or Commenter roles - Co-writers hear the song's audio tracks - Invite co-writers to chord projects - Share links for quick access - Share Calendars EXPORT - Export songs as PDF, HTML, plain text, or for DistroKid - Export your entire catalog at once Constant updates and improvements! PenVox also works on the web at penvox.app, so your songs travel with you. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: PenVox at free against Lyrium's freemium. PenVox also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.4). Lyrium's advantage is ratings volume (6 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Lyrium sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month and PenVox 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 — 5.0 for Lyrium against 5.0 for PenVox. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lyrium has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Lyrium ships an update weekly, PenVox every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lyrium | PenVox |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (6 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.4 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 96 MB | 57 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jake Spracher | PenVox LLC |
Customer experience
Lyrium
PenVox
In-app purchases
Lyrium
- Plus14 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Plus Annual — Early Adopter14 Days trial$49.991 Year
PenVox
- PenVox Pro7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- PenVox Pro7 Days trial$99.991 Year









