Dead Sets vs The Dead Archive
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Dead Sets
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Every Grateful Dead setlist. And now, the music. Dead Sets is the fastest way to dive into the Dead's live catalog: 1,600+ shows from 1972 to 1995, every setlist searchable by song, venue, city, or year โ entirely offline, no account, no ads. LISTEN โ Almost every show links to its recordings in the archive.org Grateful Dead collection. Dead Sets auto-picks the best-rated soundboard and streams it right on the setlist page โ or flip between every tape of the night, soundboards, audience recordings, and matrixes, even mid-song. The mini-player follows you through the app, and playback continues with the screen locked. SEARCH โ Type "Scarlet Begonias" and see every performance. Filter by year, state, or country. Tap any song in a setlist to trace it across two decades. TODAY IN DEAD HISTORY โ What did the band play on this date in '77? In '89? One tab, every year. SAVED โ Heart your favorite shows, and mark the ones you attended with a ticket stub. Your whole trip, tallied, stored only on your device. CHAT WITH A DEAD HEAD (subscription) โ A virtual dead head who's seen 300+ shows and followed the whole Europe '72 tour. Ask him anything โ "best Dark Star of '73?", "what happened today in Dead history?" โ and tap the shows he mentions to jump right to them. $1.99/month after a 7-day free trial, 30 messages a day, cancel anytime. Setlist data from the Grateful Dead Setlist Archive (cs.cmu.edu), cross-checked against archive.org and setlist.fm, with hundreds of hand-restored corrections. Recordings stream from the archive.org Grateful Dead collection, where the band has long blessed fan recordings. Not affiliated with Grateful Dead Productions. Just built by someone who gets it. Terms of Use: https://bowtiedjungle.dev/terms Privacy Policy: https://bowtiedjungle.dev/privacy
The Dead Archive
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Every Grateful Dead concert from 1965 to 1995: setlists, community-ranked best versions, and streaming straight from Archive.org's live music collection. Browse by era, year, or venue. Read the setlist for any night, see where a song debuted and where it peaked, and play full shows with background audio, lock-screen controls, AirPlay, and Bluetooth in the car. On This Day surfaces the shows the band played on today's date. Heady Picks collects the versions the community voted best. Tributes adds Jerry Garcia Band and other related acts. Sign in to save shows and songs, keep listening history, and join the board: a shared feed of comments on shows, songs, and exact moments in a recording. Notifications are optional and off by default. Audio streams from Archive.org, home of the band's taper-friendly live collection. The app hosts no recordings.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: The Dead Archive at none against Dead Sets's 1. On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Dead Sets sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $1.99 per month. The Dead Archive asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dead Sets | The Dead Archive |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No โ better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Matt Selph | John D'Attoma |
In-app purchases
Dead Sets
- Dead Sets7 Days trial$1.991 Month
The Dead Archive
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Dead Sets free?
Is The Dead Archive free?
Do Dead Sets or The Dead Archive have ads?
Which is updated more often, Dead Sets or The Dead Archive?
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