# PitchMe vs other ear training apps

> Ear training apps are not really competing on features — they are competing on method. Most of them drill intervals in the abstract: two notes, name the distance. PitchMe establishes a key first and asks what you heard inside it, which is the way musicians actually hear music. This page compares PitchMe with the apps people most often weigh it against, including where those apps are the better choice.

Facts about other apps last verified 2026-08-25. Where another app
is the better choice, this page says so.

"Not found" means we could not find the feature when we reviewed the app on 2026-08-25, not that it certainly does not exist. Apps change, and we do not track every release. Each app links to its own site — check anything that matters to your decision at the source.

All product names, trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. PitchMe is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the products compared here. They are named only to identify them.

## What the comparison is scored on

- **Trains notes in a key** — Whether you identify what you hear relative to a tonal centre, or as an isolated distance between two notes. This is the difference between an ear that works on real music and one that only works on quizzes.

- **Trains chords by function** — Whether chords are drilled by their role in a key (the 4, the 5, the 6) rather than only by quality (major, minor, diminished). Function is what you need to hear a progression.

- **Trains hearing inside a chord** — Whether you practise picking out individual notes within a sounding chord — the skill behind transcribing voicings, harmonising, and singing a part.

- **Trains intonation in cents** — Whether you practise hearing that a note is slightly sharp or flat. Naming intervals is a labelling skill; hearing tuning is a resolution skill, and they train separately.

- **Removes crutches on a schedule** — Whether difficulty escalates on its own — dropping the reference note, adding inversions, widening the range — rather than leaving you to pick settings you are already comfortable with.

- **Built around a daily habit** — Ear training is decided by how many days you show up, not by how much content the app has. Whether the app is shaped like something you open every day.

- **Leaderboards** — Whether progress is visible against other people, which is what keeps a practice habit alive past the first fortnight.

- **Price** — Cost to start and to keep going.

- **Platforms** — Where it runs.

## The matrix

| What it trains | PitchMe | Functional Ear Trainer | EarMaster | Tenuto | Perfect Ear | ToneGym |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Trains notes in a key** | Yes — Every mode establishes a key first, then asks what you heard inside it, labelled as scale degrees or solfège. | Yes — The cadence-then-scale-degree exercise is its entire design. | Partial — Includes functional and scale-degree work, but much of the syllabus is abstract interval and chord-quality identification. | No — Interval and chord drills are presented without a key centre. | Partial — Includes solfège and some in-key work, but the core drills are abstract. | Partial — Some in-key games, but most identify intervals and chords in the abstract. |
| **Trains chords by function** | Yes — Chords are drilled as Nashville numbers — the 1, 4, 5, 6, then the 2, 3 and 7 — with inversions and non-diatonic chords unlocking later. | No — Single notes only. | Partial — Extensive chord identification, mostly by quality and inversion rather than by role in a key. | Partial — Chord identification by quality and inversion, not by role in a key. | Partial — Chord identification by quality; progressions can be built manually. | Partial — Chord and progression games, mostly by quality. |
| **Trains hearing inside a chord** | Yes — A dedicated Harmony mode plays a chord and asks which note inside it you heard, including complex chords. | No — No chord-tone identification. | Partial — Chord and progression dictation, rather than picking a single note out of a sounding chord. | No — No chord-tone identification. | No — No dedicated chord-tone identification mode. | Partial — Chord-tone games exist alongside a broad mixing-ear syllabus. |
| **Trains intonation in cents** | Yes — A dedicated Intonation mode asks whether a note is in tune, tightening from 15 cents to 5 cents as you improve. | No — No tuning or cents work. | No — No cents-level tuning drills. | No — No cents-level tuning drills. | Partial — Microphone singing exercises; no cents-level tuning discrimination found. | No — No cents-level tuning drills. |
| **Removes crutches on a schedule** | Yes — Levels unlock a second octave, inversions, complex chords and extra scale degrees, and take the reference note away at level 3. | Yes — Levels widen from part of a scale to multiple octaves. | Yes — Guided courses set the order and the difficulty. | No — Every exercise is manually configured; nothing escalates on its own. | Partial — Structured units exist, but difficulty is mostly yours to set. | Yes — The daily workout picks the games and the level for you. |
| **Built around a daily habit** | Yes — Rounds run about a minute, with three lives, a combo multiplier and optional daily reminders. | Partial — Structured drills, but no game loop pulling you back. | No — Designed as study software for longer sittings. | Partial — Challenge Mode adds a timer and a personal high score. | Partial — Practice reminders, but no game loop. | Yes — A five-game daily workout is the centre of the product. |
| **Leaderboards** | Yes — Global leaderboards and shareable scores. | No — No leaderboards. | No — No leaderboards. | No — Scores are private to you. | No — No leaderboards. | Yes — Weekly contests, a performance index and a large community. |
| **Price** | Free to download; optional subscription. No ads. | Free, with in-app purchases. | Subscription, with in-app purchases for individual courses. See their site for current pricing. | One-time purchase. See their site for current pricing. | Free with ads; premium subscription. | Limited free account; subscription or lifetime purchase. See their site for current pricing. |
| **Platforms** | iOS and Android. | iOS and Android. | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. | iOS and macOS. | Android, with a more limited iOS build. | Web browser only — no native mobile app. |

## The verdict, app by app

### PitchMe vs Functional Ear Trainer

The free, single-purpose app that made functional ear training popular: a cadence establishes the key, then you name the scale degree you heard.

- Choose PitchMe if you want the same functional method applied to chords, harmony and intonation as well as single notes, wrapped in a game that gets you back tomorrow.
- Choose Functional Ear Trainer if you want one free, primarily focused on scale degrees.
- Full comparison: https://pitchme.moosedev.app/compare/functional-ear-trainer
- Functional Ear Trainer is made by Kaizen9: https://www.kaizen9.com/fet

### PitchMe vs EarMaster

The textbook of ear training software: a large, structured curriculum covering intervals, chords, scales, rhythm, melodic dictation and sight-singing, on desktop and mobile.

- Choose PitchMe if you want the specific skill of hearing notes and chords by their function in a key, trained in short daily rounds on your phone, without paying a subscription to start.
- Choose EarMaster if you need a full aural curriculum — rhythm, dictation and sight-singing included — for an exam or a degree, you want to sing and play your answers, and you will sit down at a desktop to work through it.
- Full comparison: https://pitchme.moosedev.app/compare/earmaster
- EarMaster is made by EarMaster ApS: https://www.earmaster.com/

### PitchMe vs Tenuto

A clean, offline toolkit of about two dozen customisable music theory and ear training drills from the makers of musictheory.net, sold once rather than rented.

- Choose PitchMe if you want your ear trained in a key rather than in the abstract, with the difficulty decided for you and a reason to come back tomorrow.
- Choose Tenuto if you want a precise, offline theory and drill toolkit you buy once, especially for notation, keyboard and fretboard work, and you are happy to design your own practice.
- Full comparison: https://pitchme.moosedev.app/compare/tenuto
- Tenuto is made by musictheory.net: https://www.musictheory.net/products/tenuto

### PitchMe vs Perfect Ear

A broad, long-established Android-first trainer covering intervals, scales, chords, rhythm, solfège, note reading and custom exercises, free with ads and a premium tier.

- Choose PitchMe if you would rather have one method that escalates on its own, no ads, and chord, harmony and intonation training built on hearing in a key.
- Choose Perfect Ear if you want the widest possible free feature list on Android, you want rhythm and notation drills in the same app, and you like configuring your own exercises.
- Full comparison: https://pitchme.moosedev.app/compare/perfect-ear
- Perfect Ear is made by Crazy Ootka Software: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evilduck.musiciankit

### PitchMe vs ToneGym

A browser-based, heavily gamified ear training platform aimed at producers, with a daily workout of short games, weekly contests and a large community.

- Choose PitchMe if you want functional relative pitch on your phone, free to start, with chord, harmony and intonation training that ToneGym's pitch games do not cover.
- Choose ToneGym if you are a producer at a desk who wants mixing-focused ear training — EQ, compression, stereo field — alongside pitch, and a paid plan suits you.
- Full comparison: https://pitchme.moosedev.app/compare/tonegym
- ToneGym is made by ToneGym: https://www.tonegym.co/

## Download PitchMe

- [PitchMe on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/sg/app/pitchme-train-relative-pitch/id1281567190)
- [PitchMe on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moosedev.pitchme)