Comparison

Pro Guitar Tuner vs Helix Tuner

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

Head to head
About

Pro Guitar Tuner

This app provides real-time audio analysis for tuning a wide variety of stringed instruments. It offers a vast library of custom tunings and an intuitive interface with visual feedback to ensure accurate intonation. Users can also tune by ear using high-quality instrument samples.

Highlights
  • Real-time audio analysis
  • Chromatic tuning for multiple instruments
  • Over 200 custom tunings
  • Tune by ear with instrument samples
  • Intuitive interface with visual feedback
  • Save favorite tunings
Features
Read full description

The guitar tuner app used by professional guitar makers, guitar repair shops and musicians around the world. The app listen and analyze the sound in real time from the built-in mic, headset, guitar clip on or from any other external microphone. It is so accurate that it will be your best friend for guitar intonation! Because Pro Guitar Tuner is chromatic you can tune most types of stringed instruments. High-quality samples of real instruments are also accessible (i.e. tune by ear if preferred!). A massive library of different tunings for guitar, bass, balalaika, violin, ukulele and more makes it easy to find more qualities and characteristics from your instrument. The interface: To make it more intuitive, we give you information about the current pitch in many different ways: *Cents for the current pitch *A red/green light indicating the closest pitch *A note wheel corresponding to the chromatic scale *A fretboard with the current tuning setting displayed Standard guitar is set as default but the guitar tuner can be used to tune many different instruments, such as: *Guitars - Standard, 4-string, 5-string, 7-string, 8-string , 9-string, 10-string, 11-string, 12-string, and 13-string guitar *Bass guitars - Standard, 5-string bass and 6-string bass *Ukuleles - std (Soprano), Pocket, Concert, Tenor, Baritone, Bass, and Contrabass *Banjo - 4-string, 5-string, 6-string *Mandolin family - Mandolin (Soprano), Piccolo, Mandola (alto), Octave Mandolin (tenor), Mandocello (Baritone), Mandobass, Irish Bouzouki, Cittern, and Greek Bouzouki *Violin family - Violin, Viola, Cello (violoncello), Double bass and 5-string Double bass *Balalaika family - Prima, Piccolo, Secunda, Alto, Tenor, Bass and Contrabass After you have selected an instrument you choose a specific tuning. The app provides you with over 200 custom tunings. The tuning options are divided into groups to make them easier to find. For guitar, the categories are: *General tunings *Raised tunings *Lowered tunings *Dropped tunings *Double dropped tunings *Major open tunings *Minor open tunings (cross-note) *Modal tunings *Miscellaneous tunings If you have certain tunings that you often use, you can save them as favorites. This gives you easy access to them under favorite tunings. In the app, you can choose to subscribe to Pro Guitar Tuner Premium. It´s a monthly subscription that gives you the following features: *No Ads *All Tunings *All Instruments *Extra Settings Privacy Policy: https://www.proguitar.com/about/policies/privacy Terms of Service: https://www.proguitar.com/about/policies/terms

About

Helix Tuner

This app offers a novel approach to instrument tuning by visualizing sound as an interference pattern. It avoids pitch detection, instead creating an optical illusion of motion that indicates sharpness or flatness, appearing stable when in tune. This method is highly resistant to background noise and harmonics, providing clear tuning information even in noisy environments.

Highlights
  • Visual interference pattern tuning
  • No pitch detection
  • Optical illusion of motion for tuning
  • Stable visualization when in tune
  • Resistant to background noise
  • Useful in noisy environments
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Helix Tuner is a completely new way to tune your instrument. Unlike all other tuning apps, it does not detect your pitch at all. Instead, it combines the sound coming into the microphone with the desired tuning pitch to create a beautiful interference pattern on the screen. The interaction between your sound and the reference pitch creates an optical illusion of motion when your note is sharp or flat, and it appears stable when you're in tune. If you are tired of digital tuners that jump around erratically, have slow or delayed response to changes in your tuning, or in general just don't give you good tuning information, then Helix Tuner is the one you are looking for. When you manually select the tuning note, as opposed to letting the app detect it automatically, Helix Tuner is extremely resistant to background noise and higher string harmonics that confuse other tuners, causing them to jump around to higher notes and give wrong tuning information. Because the visualization system naturally responds more clearly to sounds near the selected tuning pitch, it is useful even when other musicians are playing nearby.

Screenshots

Pro Guitar Tuner4 screens
Helix Tuner4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pro Guitar Tuner at Free against Helix Tuner's $15.99. Pro Guitar Tuner also leads on ratings volume (10K vs 164) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months). Helix Tuner's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and ads (none vs shown). On rating 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

Pro Guitar Tuner is free to download; Helix Tuner costs $15.99 up front. Pro Guitar Tuner sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Helix Tuner asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Pro Guitar Tuner against 4.8 for Helix Tuner. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pro Guitar Tuner has 10K ratings behind it against 164, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 65% of Pro Guitar Tuner's written reviews are positive against 90% of Helix Tuner's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pro Guitar Tuner ships an update every 2 months, Helix Tuner every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Pro Guitar Tuner versus Helix Tuner: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPro Guitar TunerHelix Tuner
PriceFree — better$15.99
Rating4.7 (10K ratings)4.8 (164 ratings) — better
Positive reviews64.7% of reviews89.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings10K — better164
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank—#193 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB198 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPro Guitar Sweden ABBlue Mangoo Consulting Company Limited

Customer experience

Pro Guitar Tuner

All ratings10,222 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral3.0%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews479 reviews
Positive64.7%
Neutral2.7%
Negative32.6%

Helix Tuner

All ratings164 ratings
Positive97.0%
Neutral0.6%
Negative2.4%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive89.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.3%

Bugs and requests

Pro Guitar Tuner

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when changing tuning modes
  • Tuner not responding to some strings
  • Microphone not working on certain devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Custom tuning options
  • Support for more instrument types
  • Landscape mode support
  • Ability to save tuning profiles

Helix Tuner

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Pro Guitar Tuner

Subscriptions4
  • Pro Guitar Tuner Premium$2.991 Month
  • Premium Membership$24.991 Month
  • Pro Guitar Tuner Premium3 Days trial$24.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • ProGuitar Academy7 Days trial$79.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium Tuner$59.99
None

Helix Tuner

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pro Guitar Tuner free?
Pro Guitar Tuner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Helix Tuner free?
Helix Tuner costs $15.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pro Guitar Tuner or Helix Tuner?
Helix Tuner is rated higher. Pro Guitar Tuner averages 4.7 out of 5 from 10K ratings, while Helix Tuner averages 4.8 from 164 ratings.
Do Pro Guitar Tuner or Helix Tuner have ads?
Pro Guitar Tuner shows ads; Helix Tuner does not.
Which is updated more often, Pro Guitar Tuner or Helix Tuner?
Pro Guitar Tuner ships an update every 2 months, and Helix Tuner every 4 months. Most recently, Pro Guitar Tuner was updated on September 26, 2026 and Helix Tuner on September 24, 2026.

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