L.E.D. Lab vs BCheckbook
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
L.E.D. Lab
Create dynamic visual experiences for LED displays without custom programming. Animate images, videos, and particles, and synchronize them with music or external audio inputs. Ideal for artists, designers, and hobbyists looking to add animated color to various projects.
- Create and animate scenes with images, videos, and camera feeds
- Animate particle color, velocity, and brightness for LED strips
- Synchronize visuals with music from your library
- Audio reactivity for parameter control
- External control via MIDI, DMX, ArtNet, OSC
- Color keying and tiling for advanced compositing
- Supports various LED controllers and external monitors
Read full descriptionHide full description
L.E.D. Lab is the quickest, easiest, most powerful way to drive your LED display! Custom programming is no longer required to get up-and-running. It is ideal for artists, professional display designers, architects, VJs, lighting designers, hobbyists, and anyone wanting to add a little animated color to their sculpture, art car, home, business or wardrobe. L.E.D. Lab allows you to create a list of Scenes, which can be played back in order or shuffled. There are currently two kinds of Scenes: ● Pictures Scene - A montage of still images, videos, and live camera feeds is designed. The position, velocity, rotation, size, and coloring of each picture can be animated. You can use your own photos and videos, and the iPad camera. Rendering to odd-shaped displays is made possible with photographically-generated map files. ● Strips Scene - Particles of color are sent down each strip. The velocity, hue, saturation, and brightness of each particle can be animated. Other features include: ● Music - Create lists of Tracks. Each track plays a song from your music library, along with any number of Scenes. You can elaborately choreograph a song, or let the Scenes play in random order. ● Audio Reactivity - Any animatable parameter may be controlled by the amplitude of audio in a specified frequency range. ● External Control - Any animatable parameter may be controlled by MIDI, DMX, ArtNet, or OSC. ● Color Keying - An image, video file, or live video feed can be made selectively transparent, making it easy to mix in with other images. ● Tiling - Any image, video file, or live video feed can be tiled in any or all directions, with adjustable spacing and fade-out. ● Display Modes - Editing can be performed with or without the LEDs connected. The editing UI can also be hidden, allowing operation in a "kiosk" mode. So what kind of LED display can you make with L.E.D. Lab? Some Examples: http://ledlabs.co Any iOS device can be used to play Scene Lists. An iPad is best for full editing. L.E.D. Lab works with the following LED controllers: ● PixelPusher (our favorite) ● Art-Net ● sACN ● DDP/Minleon/TekLights ● RGB-123 ● FadeCandy/FCServer ● OpenPixel It can also display to an external monitor or projector, serving as a VJ app. Extensive help information is provided for the rich user-interface: ● Help Explorer - Displays help text for any knob, slider, button, popup, list, or view inside a magnifying glass you drag around the screen. (See this in the last screen shot.) ● Help Topics - Little chapters to read about some of the more detailed functionalities. ● Help Tutorials
BCheckbook
Manage a single account's finances with this straightforward checkbook ledger. Access your financial data from any device without needing an internet connection. Ideal for users who prefer a simple, offline approach to tracking their money.
- Single account tracking
- Offline access
- Cross-device synchronization
- Simple ledger interface
- No internet required
Read full descriptionHide full description
A simple checkbook ledger for those that only need to keep track of one account that they can access from anywhere without Internet.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: L.E.D. Lab at 81% against BCheckbook's 33%. L.E.D. Lab also leads on price (Free vs $0.99) and rating (4.6 vs 3.0). BCheckbook's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 11) and update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 4 months). On 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
L.E.D. Lab is free to download; BCheckbook costs $0.99 up front. L.E.D. Lab sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. BCheckbook asks for nothing beyond the download.
L.E.D. Lab holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: L.E.D. Lab has 15 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of L.E.D. Lab's written reviews are positive against 33% of BCheckbook's.
L.E.D. Lab ships an update every 4 months, BCheckbook every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | L.E.D. Lab | BCheckbook |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (15 ratings) — better | 3.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.3% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 15 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Christopher Schardt | Bryce Campbell |
Customer experience
L.E.D. Lab
BCheckbook
In-app purchases
L.E.D. Lab
- Live Microphone$9.99
- Live Video$9.99
- LED Display$19.99
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- External Control$19.99
- Music$19.99
- External Screen$39.99
- Authoring$49.99
- LED Artist Pack$59.99
- VJ Pack$79.99
- Advanced Mapping$84.99
- Everything Pack$209.99
BCheckbook
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is L.E.D. Lab free?
Is BCheckbook free?
Which has better reviews, L.E.D. Lab or BCheckbook?
Do L.E.D. Lab or BCheckbook have ads?
Which is updated more often, L.E.D. Lab or BCheckbook?
Other comparisons















