Comparison

Staventabs vs ProTabs

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

Head to head
About

Staventabs

Compose and edit musical scores and tablature with a user-friendly interface. Create new pieces from scratch or templates, input notes intuitively, and enhance your compositions with advanced editing tools. Practice your songs with playback and metronome features, and manage your projects seamlessly.

Highlights
  • Score and tablature editing
  • Intuitive note input
  • Virtual piano and fingerboard
  • Instrument previews
  • Playback and metronome
  • AI-powered scale suggestions
  • MIDI and MusicXML import/export
Features
Read full description

A simple notation and tab editor, Staventabs could become your indispensable helper in music creation. Use smart and convenient tools of Staventabs for composing and improving scores on your iPad or iPhone. Get inspired by viewing majestic classics scores or practicing good old jazz. Easily edit sheet music and tablature with user friendly interface like never before. Share musical inspiration with your band using Staventabs files. Create music • Start your new score from the scratch or with one of the two dozen templates² • Enter notes with intuitive instrument-independent interface or virtual Piano Keyboard • Explore and edit your score with sophisticated Piano Roll and Drums Editor • Choose from 22 groups of the instruments (keyboards, guitars, strings, drums, percussions, etc.)² listening their preview fragments • Use context-sensitive selection for bars, chords and tracks • Modify notes with dots, tuplets and ties • Make your music alive with lyrics • Customize clefs, key signatures and time signatures for bars • Change dynamics • Switch between enharmonic equivalents of the notes • Use customizable voices • Setup tunings with the large value of presets • Navigate around the score with Tracks board • Easily copy, paste and remove selected areas • Switch fast between tablature and stave inputs • Edit tabs with easy-to-use numeric keypad or virtual Fingerboard • Input notes by Staff Positions • Set the visibility for instrument parts in the score • Edit title and information about creators • Select and customize horizontal, vertical or page layout for your score • Use Scientific or Helmholtz pitch notation when entering notes • Add repeat signs and volta brackets • Don’t worry about losing data thanks to auto-saving • Connect your MIDI devices to Staventabs Practice your songs • Play the whole composition or selected fragment • Customize metronome clicking and countdown • Change track’s audio properties on-the-fly • Loop the playback of the desired part Improve compositions • Mark non-playable objects with "Highlight issues" • Use the "Starred scales" AI to determine the chromatic scales most similar to the selected area • Adjust the semitones of the selected area notes to the chromatic scale • Customize the chromatic scale for adjustment³ • Diminish, augment and subdivide note values • Transpose pitches by semitones Manage projects • Browse your projects with convenient file manager • Store your compositions in iCloud Drive and keep them up-to-date across all your iOS devices • Create new projects and duplicate existing (up to three editable projects in free version)¹ • Listen to preview fragments of the scores directly from the files menu • Open SNT, MIDI, MusicXML, Compressed MusicXML (MXL), Guitar Pro (GPX, GP5, GP4, GP3) and Karaoke (KAR) files • Edit MIDI, MusicXML, MXL, Guitar Pro and Karaoke files¹ • Organize your files from a desktop computer using iTunes or iCloud Drive • Open files from Mail and other applications (Dropbox, Box, etc.) • Convert files between supported formats¹ Share your brand-new hits with friends • Email your scores and tabs right from Staventabs • Print your score¹ • Export to PDF and MPEG-4 AAC¹ Features marked with superscript numbers are available via the corresponding in-app purchases: ¹ Unlimited Projects ² Additional Instruments ³ Advanced Composing

About

ProTabs

Features
Read full description

Learn the songs you love, note for note — and play along. ProTabs gives you accurate guitar and bass tabs, chords and play-along tools. Follow the tab with the music video, play chords along with the original song and practice every riff at your own pace. EVERY KIND OF SONG • ProTabs – our own interactive tabs, synced to the music video. Watch, listen and follow every note. • Guitar Pro tabs – thousands of songs with built-in playback: loop, slow down and practice. • ProChords – chords that follow the YouTube video in real time, with chord diagrams. • Chords – lyrics with chords, autoscroll, transpose and every chord shape at a glance. • Tabs and bass tabs – play them back in the built-in player. PRACTICE TOOLS • Loop any part and repeat it as often as you like. • Speed trainer: start slow and speed up every repeat until you play at full tempo. • Slow down to 25% without losing the notes, with count-in and metronome. • Circle of fifths with the chords of every key and popular progressions. • Chord changes trainer that listens through your microphone. • Tuner and metronome. YOUR OWN LIBRARY • Save favorites and build playlists for practice or your next gig. • Search by artist or song and filter by type, difficulty and style. • Missing a song? Request ProChords right in the app. PROTABS PREMIUM Unlock every song and all practice tools. Try it free for 2 weeks with the yearly plan. • Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase (after the free trial, if applicable). • Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. • Manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.gitaartabs.nl/voorwaarden?lang=en Privacy Policy: https://www.gitaartabs.nl/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Staventabs4 screens
ProTabs4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Staventabs at none against ProTabs's shown. ProTabs's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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. Staventabs sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and ProTabs sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Staventabs ships an update every 3 weeks, ProTabs every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Staventabs versus ProTabs: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStaventabsProTabs
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (71 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews64.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings71 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.415.0.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size128 MB72 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIvan KorovinJan van der Heide

Bugs and requests

Staventabs

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Imported MIDI files lose instrument assignments
  • Disappearing projects after updates
  • Inability to adjust note lengths in piano roll
  • Metronome not audible over instrument playback

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for grace notes and ornaments
  • Implement repeat/coda symbols
  • Allow custom font and layout options
  • Integrate MIDI input and output
  • Improve chord recognition accuracy

ProTabs

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Staventabs

One-time3
  • Advanced composing$9.99
  • Unlimited projects$10.99
  • Additional instruments$10.99
2 purchases

ProTabs

Subscriptions2
  • Play music$9.991 Month
  • ProTabs - Guitar Tabs14 Days trial$34.951 Year

Questions

Is Staventabs free?
Staventabs is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ProTabs free?
ProTabs is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Staventabs or ProTabs have ads?
ProTabs shows ads; Staventabs does not.
Which is updated more often, Staventabs or ProTabs?
Staventabs ships an update every 3 weeks, and ProTabs every 5 days. Most recently, Staventabs was updated on November 1, 2026 and ProTabs on November 4, 2026.

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