Hymnal vs ELS Hymnbook
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hymnal
Access the United Church of God hymnal with this application. Search for songs by title and listen to piano recordings to aid in worship and musical practice.
- Searchable song titles
- Piano recordings
- United Church of God hymnal
- Worship aid
- Musical practice tool
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App for United Church of God hymnal, with searchable song titles and piano recordings
ELS Hymnbook
Access and search a comprehensive collection of hymns. View songs in sheet music or lyrics-only format, with options to browse by topic, author, or composer. Find specific hymns quickly through powerful search capabilities.
- View sheet music
- Lyrics only mode
- Search by title, lyrics, topic, author, composer
- Browse by number, alphabet, topic
- Offline access
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ELS Hymnbook is an app for viewing and searching the Evening Light Hymnal, a Church of God hymnbook. Browse songs in numerical and alphabetical order, as well as by topic, author, or composer. View songs in sheet music or lyrics only mode. Searching is enabled for titles, lyrics, topics, authors, and composers.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ELS Hymnbook at 5.0 against Hymnal's 4.3. ELS Hymnbook also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 72%) and update cadence (every 4 months vs every 14 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ELS Hymnbook holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 26 and 34 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Hymnal's written reviews are positive against 100% of ELS Hymnbook's.
Hymnal ships an update every 14 months, ELS Hymnbook every 4 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Hymnal | ELS Hymnbook |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (26 ratings) | 5.0 (34 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 72.2% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 26 | 34 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 14 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 12.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 33 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | United Church of God | Joseph Gellenbeck |
Customer experience
Hymnal
ELS Hymnbook
In-app purchases
Hymnal
No in-app purchases
ELS Hymnbook
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Hymnal free?
Is ELS Hymnbook free?
Which has better reviews, Hymnal or ELS Hymnbook?
Do Hymnal or ELS Hymnbook have ads?
Which is updated more often, Hymnal or ELS Hymnbook?
Other comparisons
