Comparison

SonarMood vs shelves.fm

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

Head to head
About

SonarMood

Features
Read full description

Pick a genre, mood and decade, then add a short prompt to guide the vibe. SonarMood turns your choices into an AI-generated music playlist. Create playlists for moments like “2AM night drive”, “Nordic melancholy”, “90s summer nostalgia” or “villain workout arc” and export them directly to Apple Music. Whether you want something nostalgic, energetic, sad, cinematic, focused, romantic or completely weird, SonarMood helps you discover music that fits the feeling. Choose your ingredients: Genre — pop, rock, hip-hop, electronic, indie, country and more Mood — happy, melancholic, chill, energetic, dark, romantic or focused Decade — from older classics to modern sounds Prompt — add your own idea to make the playlist more personal SonarMood is made for people who know the vibe they want, but not always the songs. Use it for: Driving playlists Workout music Party playlists Focus sessions Rainy days Cabin weekends Nostalgic throwbacks Late-night moods Movie-like moments Discovering new songs Save your generated playlists, build your own playlist library and export your favorites directly to Apple Music. Turn any vibe into a playlist with SonarMood.

About

shelves.fm

This app allows you to rate albums, discover new music, and create shareable displays of your favorite music. It offers detailed stats and analytics on your listening habits and supports importing data from other music platforms.

Highlights
  • Rate albums and write reviews
  • Discover new music recommendations
  • Create shareable album shelves
  • View music stats and analytics
  • Import data from other platforms
  • Organize music with custom folders
  • Log music with custom metadata
Features
Read full description

SHELVES.FM is your personal music rating database. This is your home for - Rating albums - Discovering new music - Stats & analytics - Creating displays of your favorite albums YOUR TASTE LIBRARY - Rich album info: ratings, reviews, genres, and more - Custom folders for organization - Filter, sort, and select for bulk operations - Song playback and suggested albums for anything you log DISPLAY YOUR MUSIC - Create shelves of albums to share with others - Experience unlimited creative control - Fit 1000+ album covers per shelf STATS & ANALYTICS - See the numbers behind your top genres - Year and decade breakdowns of how your taste spans time - Drill down into filtered sets of music PERSONALIZED DISCOVERY - Browse recommendations based off your library - Preview tracks and add albums during exploration - Limitless scrolling through high-quality suggestions OWN YOUR DATA - Import from Rate Your Music or Album of the Year in one step - Export your full library at any time - Log anything with custom metadata editing - No account or sign-in required - Securely & automatically synced with iCloud

Screenshots

SonarMood4 screens
shelves.fm4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: shelves.fm at none against SonarMood's 1. SonarMood's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.6). On price, update cadence, 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. SonarMood sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. shelves.fm asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SonarMood ships an update fortnightly, shelves.fm every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
SonarMood versus shelves.fm: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSonarMoodshelves.fm
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size19 MB14 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperPal NymoenLuke Spine

In-app purchases

1 purchases

SonarMood

One-time1
  • SonarMood Pro$3.99
None

shelves.fm

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SonarMood free?
SonarMood is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is shelves.fm free?
shelves.fm is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do SonarMood or shelves.fm have ads?
Neither SonarMood nor shelves.fm shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SonarMood or shelves.fm?
SonarMood ships an update fortnightly, and shelves.fm every 10 days. Most recently, SonarMood was updated on November 5, 2026 and shelves.fm on October 31, 2026.

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