Every list like this is written by someone selling something, and so is this one. So here is the deal: the facts come from each app’s own site and App Store listing, checked in October 2026; the price is the first thing we say about each; and for every app we tell you who should pick it over ours. Seven apps, one paragraph each, then how to choose.
| What it is | How you pay | Runs on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OnSong | The deep chord-chart app | $29.99 or $59.99 a year | iPad, iPhone, Mac |
| SongbookPro | The basics, cross-platform | About $7 once, per platform | Android, iOS, Windows |
| SongSheet Pro | A true chart editor with OCR | $59.99 a year, or $129.99 lifetime | iPad, iPhone, Vision |
| BandHelper | Band management with songs inside | $16 to $32 a year solo; $40 to $80 for a 2–5 piece | iOS, Android, Mac, web |
| forScore | The PDF sheet-music reader | $24.99 once; optional Pro $14.99 a year | iPad, iPhone, Mac, Vision |
| MobileSheets | The cross-platform PDF reader | One purchase per platform | iOS, Mac, Android, Windows |
| SongCharter | Photos, links and PDFs become charts that transpose | $19.99 once, every device | iPad, iPhone |
US prices from each developer’s site or App Store listing, 22 October 2026. Every one of these turns pages from a Bluetooth pedal; see the pedal guide if that is the part you are unsure about.
The standard for a decade and still the deepest product here. Essentials is a complete songbook: unlimited songs, books and sets, autoscroll, pedals, transpose with capo and chord diagrams, imports from Dropbox, Drive and the worship catalogues (SongSelect, PraiseCharts, Planning Center). Premium makes it a stage controller: MIDI and lighting, MultiTracks with click and cues, lyrics projection, and a scanner that turns a photographed page into text. Pick it over us if you lead a worship team, run tracks or MIDI, or need a Mac app. The cost is that it is a subscription, and the deepest features sit on the $59.99 tier. There is a page about leaving it, with the reasons not to.
The answer when the band is not all-Apple, and the cheapest serious app on the list. ChordPro and OnSong-format charts come in as text that transposes with a capo; PDFs are viewed and annotated with a stylus; pedals, metronome, chord diagrams and handwritten notes are in. Groups, for a shared band library with a web dashboard, is $30 a year for six people. Pick it over us if your library is already tidy ChordPro, or anyone in the band is on Android or Windows. We are iPad and iPhone only and it is cheaper. Our OnSong vs SongbookPro page goes deeper.
A real chord-chart editor rather than a viewer: place chords from a palette that follows the key, drag verses around, transpose with one tap, and — the feature that matters for people with binders — OCR that turns scans and photos into editable text at every tier. It projects lyrics over AirPlay, plays backing tracks, has a free iPhone remote for page turns, and as of its October 2026 release imports OnSong archives and backups directly. Rated 4.7 from 2,700 App Store ratings. Pick it over us if you want to stay on Apple, want off a yearly bill, and want projection or backing tracks: the $129.99 lifetime unlock is the way to do that. The honest limit is the price of that unlock against ours.
Not a chart app, and that is the point. It is band management — repertoire, schedule, contacts, finances, checklists, stage plots, practice log — and the songs live inside it, typed or pasted in and transposable, with documents attached as documents. Two ideas here are the best in the category: a master copy plus a personal version of every song, and a per-member transpose amount. Priced by headcount, every platform covered. Pick it over us if the problem is Saturday’s roster and who got paid, not the chart on the stand. Many bands run it alongside a chart app; OnSong vs BandHelper explains how.
If your music is PDFs — real notation, lead sheets, charts you already laid out — this is the reader, and 43,000 App Store ratings averaging 4.8 say so. Apple Pencil annotation that just works, layers, setlists, half-page turns, Bluetooth pedals, MIDI, and a privacy label that reads Data Not Collected. One purchase covers iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro. Pick it over us if you read notation or your charts are finished PDFs you never need to change. The honest limit: forScore does not know what a chord is. It cannot transpose a chord chart; it can only show you the page you gave it.
The forScore of the non-Apple world, and a strong choice for a mixed band that reads PDFs: annotation layers, setlists, pedals, MIDI, cloud import, and the ability to link tablets so one controls the others. One App Store purchase covers iPhone, iPad and Mac; Android and Windows are bought separately, and there is even an e-ink build. Pick it over us if you read PDFs and not everyone is on Apple. Same honest limit as forScore: it is a page reader, not a chord engine. We have not stated a price because the developer’s site does not; check the store for your platform.
Ours, and the narrowest thing on this list on purpose. Every app above assumes your charts already exist as text or as a finished PDF. SongCharter is for when they don’t: photograph a page of the band book, screenshot or paste a link from a chord site, drop in a PDF, or sing a hook into your phone, and what comes back is one clean chart with every chord anchored to a word — which means all of it transposes, including the photograph. Sets run as one book that pages itself, a pedal or a tap on the edge turns the page, and the whole set goes to the band as one link that opens in a browser. No accounts, no analytics. Do not pick it if you need MIDI, projection, tracks, Android, or your library is already tidy ChordPro — SongbookPro is cheaper for that. Fifteen songs and a set free; then $19.99, once.
The row-by-row table — imports, editing, capo, sharing, accounts — is on the comparison page. For the stand, the pedal and what breaks at a gig, there is the iPad gig setup guide. And the capo chart is free and needs no app at all.
Judge ours on one song. Photograph a page of the band book — fifteen songs free, no account, and the chart it hands back is yours to keep either way.