Songsterr vs Ultimate Guitar: Prices, Tabs, AI (2026)

Songsterr vs Ultimate Guitar: which one to use and pay for

The short answer

Use Ultimate Guitar for chords, lyrics and the widest choice of versions. Use Songsterr for note-by-note tabs you can follow while they play. Free, Songsterr is the better player. Paid, UG Pro+ costs less over a year ($39.99 vs $9.99 a month), but only Songsterr's Plus lists AI tabs.

The comparison

SongsterrUltimate Guitar

Best atSongsterrInteractive, note-by-note tabsUltimate GuitarChords, lyrics, many versions of a song
Library sizeSongsterr"Over a million" tabs and chords (its claim)Ultimate GuitarLarge, with "over 29,000" official tabs on Pro (its claim)
Free tierSongsterrView and play back all tabsUltimate GuitarFree text tabs and chords
Price (US App Store)SongsterrPlus: $9.99/monthUltimate GuitarUG Pro+: $9.99/month or $39.99/year
Speed and loopSongsterrPlus onlyUltimate GuitarPro only
Plays withSongsterrOriginal audio, backing track or playthrough on PlusUltimate GuitarBacking tracks and synced lyrics on official tabs
AI tabs from audioSongsterrYes. Plus lists 50 a monthUltimate GuitarNot described in its listing
DownloadsSongsterrMIDI, Guitar Pro, MP3, WAV on PlusUltimate GuitarPrintable tabs on Pro, per a review

Tab quality

Both libraries lean on their users, so quality varies by song. Guitar Chalk calls Songsterr's database mostly accurate and likes its sheet-music layout with time signatures and technique marks. Ultimate Guitar's advantage is variety: several versions, with ratings. Its official tabs are written by professionals, but they sit behind Pro.

A useful test is cheap: open the same song in both, play along for 30 seconds, and keep the one that matches the record. There's more on this in our guide to checking any tab by ear.

Is either one worth paying for?

Mostly chords and singing along: stay free on Ultimate Guitar.
Learning riffs and solos, some of the time: Songsterr's free player may be enough. Guitar Chalk calls Plus overpriced for the extra features.
Practicing with official tabs and backing tracks all year: UG Pro+ is the cheaper subscription. Guitar Chalk also picks Ultimate Guitar for paid users.
Often stuck on songs no one has tabbed: Songsterr Plus covers the library and AI in one plan.

When the song isn't in either

Older comparisons miss this part, because AI tabs are new. If neither library helps, you can get a draft from the audio. Five AI tab generators are compared here, or see how BeatMap compares with Songsterr and with Ultimate Guitar.

Questions

Is Songsterr or Ultimate Guitar more accurate?

Reviewers and forum users often say Songsterr's note-by-note tabs are tighter, and that Ultimate Guitar has more tabs and more versions. Nobody we read tested this at scale. One comparison based its verdict on a limited selection of songs.

Which is cheaper?

On the US App Store, a year of UG Pro+ is $39.99, and a month of Songsterr Plus is $9.99. We saw no yearly Songsterr plan there, and Guitar Chalk's review found none either, so over a full year Ultimate Guitar costs less.

Which is better for chords and lyrics?

Ultimate Guitar. Songsterr is built around full note-by-note tabs. A Justin Guitar forum user noted that most of its tabs have no lyrics, though some do.

What if neither one has my song?

Songsterr's AI can make a tab from a YouTube link or a file on its Plus plan. Other apps do it too, including BeatMap, which is ours. You can also work it out by ear, and our guide explains how.

How we made this page

We make BeatMap, a different kind of app, and sell neither of these. Prices come from the US App Store, and other facts from each app's own pages or the reviews linked below, read on the date shown. Reader opinions are labeled as opinions. We did not test tab accuracy across the two libraries.

By the BeatMap team, who make one of the products mentioned here. Facts last checked November 7, 2026.