Chord Player vs iReal Pro
A free iReal Pro alternative, with a band for every style.
Type the chords, pick one of 545 rhythms, and drums, bass, piano, guitar and synth play them, on iPhone, Android or in the browser. Free, with nothing to buy inside. For jazz standards and lead sheets iReal Pro is still the one to beat; this page says where each wins.
Every figure about iReal Pro below is from Technimo’s own pages and store listings, read on 26 October 2026. Sources.
The short answer
Pick Chord Player if
- You want a backing band without paying for it, on every device you own
- You play Latin, worship, gospel or pop, not only jazz
- You want arranger-style parts: intro, two grooves, fills and an ending
- You want to change the groove note by note and mix every instrument
Stay with iReal Pro if
- You practise jazz standards and want thousands of charts ready to download
- You read and share lead sheets, or export them as PDF or MusicXML
- You play a horn and want Eb, Bb or F charts, key cycling and automatic tempo increase
Side by side
Chord Player and iReal Pro, point by point.
 Chord Player
| iReal Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free: the app, the browser version and every rhythm | $21.99 once per platform (iPhone and iPad together); extra style packs $6.99 each |
| iPhone | Yes, iOS 15.0 or later | Yes, iPhone and iPad, iOS 16.6 or later |
| Android | Yes, Android 8.0 or later | Yes, Android 10 or later, bought separately |
| Computer | Runs in any browser: nothing to install | Mac, Windows and Linux apps, bought separately |
| Styles | 545 rhythms, nearly all with intro, A and B grooves and an ending | 50 styles included, 40 more in paid packs (blues, salsa, Brazilian) |
| Sounds | 261 sounds and 16 drum kits for drums, bass, piano, guitar and synth | Piano, Rhodes, guitars, upright or electric bass, drums, vibraphone, organ |
| Song library | The chordsequence.com catalogue, plus 11 songs and 8 progressions in the app | Thousands of free charts shared by its community |
| The chart | Song sections of chord blocks, with guitar and piano shapes | A lead sheet, with an editor, playlists and guitar, ukulele and piano fingerings |
| Practice tools | Loop a section, 40–200 BPM, any key, count-in | Loop, tempo, any key, automatic tempo increase, key cycling, horn transposition |
| Change the groove | Every step of every instrument, bar by bar | Choose the instruments, adjust the mix, mute one |
| Export | M4A, WAV, MIDI | Audio and MIDI; charts as PDF or MusicXML |
| Languages | English and Spanish | English and ten more |
Price
iPhone
Android
Computer
Styles
Sounds
Song library
The chart
Practice tools
Change the groove
Export
Languages
marks the one ahead on that row, where one is. iReal Pro’s figures as of 26 October 2026.
Where iReal Pro wins
What it does that Chord Player doesn’t.
The library
Thousands of chord charts shared by iReal Pro’s community, jazz standards above all, free to download. Chord Player’s catalogue is far smaller.
Made for reading and sharing charts
A real lead sheet with an editor and playlists, PDF and MusicXML export, and Eb, Bb and F charts for horn players. Chord Player shows a song as sections of chords, not as a lead sheet.
Jazz practice, and a track record
Key cycling and automatic tempo increase, in an app around since 2008, with 500K+ downloads on Google Play and a 4.9 rating from about 11,000 people on the App Store.
Where Chord Player wins
A backing band made for the phone.
Free, on every device
No price on iPhone or Android, no second purchase for the other phone or the computer, no style packs: every rhythm and sound is in. On a computer it runs in the browser, free as well.
A band for more than jazz
545 rhythms: cumbia, bachata, vallenato, norteño, salsa, worship, gospel, pop, rock, funk and jazz, with the hand percussion the Latin ones need.
Built like an arranger keyboard
Nearly every rhythm has a way in, a groove for the verse, a fuller one for the chorus, a fill when you call it and an ending. Change any of it, step by step.
Mix it like a band
A fader, pan, mute and solo for every instrument, a three-band EQ and compression on each, and reverb on the mix.
Switching
Coming from iReal Pro
- 1 Chord Player cannot open iReal Pro charts or MusicXML. You bring a tune over by typing its chords: one section at a time, a chord per tap, its length on a slider.
- 2 Make each part of the form a section (an A, a B, the bridge) and set how many times it repeats.
- 3 Pick a rhythm (Jazz Swing, BeBop, Bossa Nova or any of the others), then set the key and the tempo.
What carries over is the tune: chords, form, key and tempo. Your downloaded charts, playlists and lead sheet layout do not.
Questions
Before you switch
Is Chord Player really free?
Yes. The app on iPhone and Android and the browser version are free, with nothing to buy inside and no account to make.
Is there a free version of iReal Pro?
Its store listings show $21.99, paid once per platform: one purchase covers iPhone and iPad, and Android, Mac and Windows are bought separately. There is no subscription; extra style packs cost $6.99 each.
Can Chord Player open my iReal Pro charts?
No. You type the chords in, section by section. It exports MIDI and WAV for any DAW, and M4A from the app.
Which one is better for jazz?
For jazz standards, iReal Pro: its library, lead sheets and horn transposition are built for it. Chord Player has swing, bebop, big band and jazz waltz grooves for practising over changes.
Does Chord Player have a song library?
A catalogue of song chord charts on chordsequence.com that the app opens, plus 11 example songs and 8 classic progressions. It is much smaller than iReal Pro’s community library.
Try the band before you decide.
Free on the App Store and Google Play. No account, no connection needed.
Sources
iReal Pro is a trademark of Technimo. Its figures were read from these pages on 26 October 2026; prices are in US dollars as Technimo lists them. Chord Player’s are from its own code.