Reviewing The Best Metronome Apps Of 2023

How fancy of a metronome do you really need? As long as it keeps steady time, it is good enough, right? That might have been true for a traditional metronome, but today's apps offer tons of cool and advanced features that can take your practice sessions to the next level. I downloaded dozens of them to find the best metronome apps.

Metronome by Soundbrenner

The Metronome by Soundbrenner app is designed to be used with a Soundbrenner Bluetooth wearable, but the app works great as a stand-alone metronome.

What I love: The design is nice and the metronome supports a huge range of tempos, time signatures, and subdivisions. There is also a feature that allows you to create a song playlist and set tempos/subdivision combinations for each song. I think this is designed for drummers who want to practice a complete set or have songs they frequently rehearse. I imagine this would work just as well to break up sections in a larger work.

What I dislike: The volume/pitch of the emphasis isn't loud enough and is hard to hear when practicing. There is a visual strobe when a beat is being played, but on my device, it didn't line up with the beat and was a little confusing. Adjusting the tempo with the dial is also a little cumbersome.

Store Rating: 4.6/5 Price: Free My rating: 4/5

Metronome Beats

What makes the Metronome Beats by Stonekick app unique is its "tempo trainer" feature. The tempo trainer will allow you to program measures where the tempo accelerates or slows down at set intervals. This app also has the ability to turn the metronome off automatically after a certain number of measures.

What I love: There are some neat and unique features inside the app. The user interface is pretty easy to use - you can use the slider to quickly adjust tempo and tapping the colored lights allows you to change the pitch or silence beats. The metronome will display the beats-per-minute and the tempo marking as you adjust tempos.

What I dislike: First, there is a serious lack of subdivision functionality, which I think is critical for any metronome. Secondly, all the ads. Beyond the banner ads at the bottom of the screen, there are a lot of features inside the app that force you to pay or download a second app to access. With so many better

Store Rating: 4.6/5. Price: Free, but with ads. The pro version is ad-free.
My Rating: 2/5

Pro Metronome

Pro Metronome by EUMLab has a ton of features. Honestly, it might be a little overwhelming how much control you have. That said, they do a great job of trying to keep things organized with a clean design.

What I love: The number of features. This app will do anything you want it to do. You can change the tone of the metronome, tap a tempo, use complicated subdivisions, load a playlist of songs to work on, and even set up programs to adjust the tempo while you're practicing. You might not need this as a beginner, but for experienced musicians, this is an amazing option.

What I dislike: It basically forces you to upgrade to the pro version. I can understand restricting some cool features, like the tempo trainer, for a pro version, but you will need to pay to even use subdivisions. That feels like pretty basic and critical functionality, so they lose points in my book for that.

Store Rating: 4/5 Price: Free version, Pro is $2.99. My Rating: 3/5

Tonal Energy

I had high hopes when downloading Tonal Energy. First, it was one of the few apps that didn't have a free version and my good friend swears by it.

Tonal energy is much more than a metronome. There are a ton of tools to help you practice smarter, like a tuner, a drone, and a sound wave analyzer. The metronome is also feature-rich; You can change tempo, subdivisions, time signature, and the sound of the metronome beats.

All in all, I was not disappointed with my purchase and I think this is a great option for music students.

What I love: All of the advanced features and the wide range of different sounds that can be used for the metronome; There are even drum machine and human voice options.

What I dislike: While it is cheap, this is not a free app. I'm a big believer in not putting valuable student tools behind a paywall, so this is a small issue for me. That said, the app does offer a ton of value. My biggest issue with this app is the design - I think things could be organized a little better and there is something about the design that just feels a little corny.

Store Rating: 4.6 / 5. Price: $3.99 My Rating: 4.5 / 5

Dr. Betotte

This is probably the most complicated and sophisticated digital metronome on the list. There are more metronome settings than you will ever use; you can customize things like polyrhythm settings and set sound samples.

What I love: This is more metronome than you will need, no matter what your skill level. It lets you customize so much about the metronome so you can practice really complicated rhythms or songs and it saves the settings for future use. The other thing I like is the ability to build chord progressions that you can play along with the metronome. This is especially handy for learning to play in tune and in time.

What I dislike: The best thing about the app is also the worst thing - its complexity. This is not an app for younger students. Even experienced musicians might feel that this is too complicated. It is also one of the most expensive apps on the market.

Store Rating: 4.7 / 5 Price: $9.99 My Rating: 4 / 5

Metronome Plus

This app used to just be a metronome but has now been bundled with several other features to help with your daily practice session, like a tuner, the ability to record, and a drone tool. These other features come at a cost, but it is a nice suite of tools for music students.

What I love: It has a very simple interface that is easy to use and you can use the tuner and the metronome at the same time - no need to open a separate app. You can also keep the app running in the background, so if you use an iPad to read sheet music, you can keep it running in the background.

What I dislike: Like most of the apps that have a paid and free version, there are a lot of features that will prompt you to pay. While there are customization options, those do not get saved between practice sessions.

Store Rating: 4.5 / 5 Price: Free, but with paid upgrades
My Rating: 4.5 / 5

Tempo Advance

If you've checked out this app in the app store, you will see that it is "approved and used by Mike Mangni" the drummer of Dream Theater. I'm a fan of Dream Theater, and I know that Mike is an insanely good drummer... so this app must be good?

It is, especially if you want a metronome that supports polyrhythms.

What I love: While several other apps on this list support time signatures like 7/8, this is the only app that had the built-in beat emphasis. For example, I could choose if I wanted 3+2+2 or 2+3+2 or 2+2+3.

What I dislike: The free version is the most ad-heavy app on the list. It puts the ads large and in the center of the metronome, making it almost unusable.

Store Rating: 4.8
Price: Free for the lite version, $1.49 for the Advance version
My Rating: 4.5

My Pick For The Best Metronome

For a simple metronome that is ad-free and worked on both Android and iOS devices, my favorite is the Metronome by Soundbrenner. It is simple and very easy to start using.

If you want an awesome paid option that supports everything you'll need during a practice session, go for the Tonal Energy app.