← Back to blog

Chord progression apps for songwriting: free, iPhone, Android

Published

Hookpad, Suggester, ChordBot, Scaler, Piano Companion, Demo and Chord ai compared by platform, free plan, price and exports, plus a free chord player.

A guitarist frets a chord on an acoustic guitar while looking at his phone

The best chord progression app depends on the job you need done:

  • Hear and loop a progression: a free browser player like our chord progression player, or ChordBot on a phone ($4.99 on iPhone and Android).
  • Get the next chord suggested: Suggester 2, a free download on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android, or Hookpad in the browser.
  • Write chords and melody on a timeline: Hookpad; inside a DAW, Scaler 3.
  • Learn theory while you write: Piano Companion or Hookpad.
  • Chord charts for rehearsal: a lyric-and-chords sheet you can transpose and print, such as the free chord sheet maker.
  • Find the chords of a recording: Chord ai or Chordify.

None of them writes the song for you. The melody and the words are still your job, and the last section shows how to get from a loop to a first verse in 15 minutes.

Chord progression apps compared

Every cell was checked on September 27, 2026 on official websites, help pages and store listings; this compares what each product documents, not a hands-on test. Store prices are US prices in dollars, before tax. Hookpad and Chordify show prices in the visitor’s currency, so theirs are the euro prices, VAT included, that their pages showed from Europe. Zoundroom lists its prices in euros.

AppBest forPlatformsFree planPaid from (Sep 27, 2026)Exports
Chord progression player (Zoundroom)Hearing, looping and singing over a progressionAny browser, phone or computerFree, no accountNo paid tier.txt chart, audio take, link
HookpadChords and melody on a timeline, with theory guidesWeb; touch mode on tabletsChords, melody, looping, cloud save; no exportsStandard €7.99/month or €209.99 lifetimeMIDI, MP3, sheet music
Suggester 2Suggesting chords that fit your progressioniPhone, iPad, Mac, AndroidFree download with in-app purchases$5.99/month, or iOS Key $24.99 onceAudio, MIDI, text
ChordBotBacking tracks built from your chordsiPhone, iPad, AndroidChordbot Lite: same features, no saving or export$4.99 onceMIDI, WAV
Scaler 3Chord suggestions and arranging inside a DAWMac and Windows (plugin or standalone); iPad appFree trial$99 desktop; $19.99 iPadMIDI
Piano CompanionChords, scales and theory, with a progression builderiPhone, iPad, Android, MacCore chord and scale lookupsPro $5.99/month, $39.99/year or $99.99 lifetime; single unlocks from $1.99MIDI, PDF
DemoSinging a melody and getting chords under itiPhone, iPad, MacFree download; Demo+ unlocks 100+ featuresDemo+ $5.99/month or $39.99/yearMix, stems, MIDI, chord sheet
Chord aiFinding the chords of a recording or of what you playiPhone, iPad, AndroidCommon chords; advanced chords in ProPro $10.99/month or $69.99/yearPDF, MIDI
ChordifyChords of existing songs to play alongWeb, iOS, AndroidChords for any song, with diagramsPremium €36/year (€3/month billed yearly)MIDI, PDF (Premium)
ZoundroomKeeping the song after the chord app: lyric with chords, takes, notesiPhone, Android, web2 active projects, basic recordings and notesPro €7.99/month or €59.99/yearNot a chord app; imports the audio and PDFs these apps export

Two warnings the table cannot show. ChordBot was last updated in 2022 on both stores, so try the free Lite version on your device before paying. And Hookpad is a web app: its FAQ says it works on tablets in touch mode, but a phone is not suitable for editing.

The apps one by one

Free chord progression player: loop, sing and record in the browser

Our chord progression player plays a progression in your browser with nothing to install. Pick one of 12 keys, major or minor, and one of 16 presets, from I–V–vi–IV to the Andalusian cadence, or change any bar. Choose keys on the beat, arpeggio, guitar strum or a sustained pad, add pop, rock, ballad, dembow, trap or boom bap drums, and loop it. You can write the lyric bar by bar, download the chart with the words and copy a link that reopens the same progression. With headphones, record a take over the chords and download it.

  • Choose it if: you want to try a progression under your voice in the next minute, on any device. Open C–Am–F–G at 88 BPM with a soft pad.
  • Limits: no MIDI export and no chord suggestions: you choose every chord. Nothing is saved to an account; the take stays in your browser until you download it.

Hookpad: chords and melody on one timeline

Hookpad, from Hooktheory, is songwriting software built on music theory. You pick chords that work in your key and write a melody above them; chords and notes are color-coded by function and scale degree, and melody guides show which notes fit. Magic Chords shows the most popular next chord, from data on over 75,000 songs, and Aria, a paid AI add-on, can write chords for your melody or the reverse.

  • Choose it if: you think in chords and melody together, want to see why a progression works and write on a laptop or tablet.
  • Limits: browser only, with no iOS or Android app. The free plan has a piano sound, no lyrics and no exports, and tools such as Magic Palette are a 1-minute preview; MIDI, MP3 and sheet music come with Standard.

Suggester 2: the next chord, suggested

Suggester 2 lets you choose chords by harmonic function, in Roman numerals, and suggests chords that fit what you already have. It includes a library of classic progressions, adapts to piano, guitar or ukulele, and exports your song as audio, MIDI or text. On iPhone and iPad it also works as an AUv3 plugin inside other music apps.

  • Choose it if: you have two chords, are stuck on the third and want to hear options before you commit. Unlike Hookpad or Demo, it has an Android app.
  • Limits: it is a chord tool, not a place for melody or lyrics. Its official pages do not detail what the free download includes; the App Store lists a $5.99 monthly subscription and one-time keys from $24.99.

ChordBot: a backing band for your chords

ChordBot plays your progression back with instruments and comping patterns: 60+ chord types in all keys and inversions, 400+ instrument tracks and song sections with their own arrangement. Song-O-Matic generates a song automatically, with pop, jazz or experimental profiles, when you want a starting point. The full version exports MIDI and WAV.

  • Choose it if: you want a backing track to sing or practice over on an Android phone or iPhone, with verse and chorus arranged differently.
  • Limits: no updates since 2022, according to both stores. Chordbot Lite has every feature, but saving and exporting are disabled.

Scaler 3: chord suggestions inside your DAW

Scaler 3 is a music theory workstation for producers, as a plugin (VST, VST3, AU or AAX) or standalone on Mac and Windows, with over 1,000 chord sets by mood, artist and genre. It suggests chords that work next, detects keys and chords from MIDI or audio, turns chords into melodies, basslines and arpeggios, and sends the result to your DAW as MIDI.

  • Choose it if: you produce in Ableton, Logic, FL Studio or another DAW and want the harmony to land directly on a MIDI track.
  • Limits: it is built for production and costs $99 after the free trial. The iPad app ($19.99) is sold separately, and there is no phone version.

Piano Companion: chords, scales and theory in your pocket

Piano Companion is a reference with 1,500+ chords and 10,000+ scales: press keys on screen or on a MIDI keyboard and it names the chord. Its Chord Progression Builder suggests chords that fit your key and plays them looped or arpeggiated, and its songbook exports lead sheets with lyrics and chords as PDF.

  • Choose it if: you want to understand what you play: the notes of a chord, its degree in the key and which scales fit.
  • Limits: the free version covers the core chord and scale lookups; the progression builder and the circle of fifths need Pro. It has no Windows version.

Demo: sing a melody, get chords

Demo is a songwriting studio for Apple devices built around chords. Suggest in Chords listens to a melody you sing and proposes chords, offline and without AI, according to its release notes. It also loops progressions, records multitrack and exports a mix, stems, MIDI or a chord sheet. The compose apps comparison covers Demo as a full songwriting studio.

  • Choose it if: you have a melody but no chords, especially if you do not play an instrument.
  • Limits: iPhone, iPad and Mac only.

Chord ai and Chordify: the chords of a recording

These two answer another question: what are the chords of this recording? Chord ai analyzes a file, a YouTube or SoundCloud link, or your microphone in real time, including your own playing, and shows the chords in bars with guitar, piano or ukulele diagrams; it exports PDF and converts audio to MIDI. Chordify gives you the chords of songs from its catalog or YouTube on the web, iOS and Android; Premium adds transposing, capo, MIDI and PDF.

  • Choose them if: you learn songs by ear, want to check what you played on a voice memo or study how a song you love moves.
  • Limits: they transcribe the harmony already in a recording. For a new melody that has no chords yet, a suggestion tool such as Demo or Hookpad fits better.

Which one should you choose?

Best free chord progression app

To sing over a loop: our chord progression player, with no account. To write chords and melody together: Hookpad Free, if you do not need to export. For suggestions on your phone: Suggester 2’s free download.

Best chord progression app for Android

Suggester 2 for suggestions, Piano Companion for theory and Chord ai to find chords by ear; the browser player also works in Chrome on Android. For recording and lyrics on the same phone, see the Android songwriting apps guide.

Best chord progression app for iPhone

Demo if you start from a sung melody, Suggester 2 if you start from chords, and Piano Companion to learn what you are playing. GarageBand, free from Apple, also has Chord Strips you can play; the iPhone songwriting apps comparison covers it.

For beginners

Loop a preset in the player, sing over it and change one bar at a time. To learn why a progression works, Hookpad’s color-coded degrees or Piano Companion’s theory views show the numbers behind the chords, and the guide to chord progressions for songwriting plays 11 common ones with audio.

For producers

Scaler 3 on desktop: suggestions, voicings and MIDI straight into your DAW. On iPad, Scaler 3 has its own app, and Suggester 2 runs as an AUv3 plugin.

For guitarists

Suggester 2 has a guitar mode that shows each chord’s notes, and Chord ai finds the chords of a song by ear, with guitar diagrams. When the song is written, put the lyric with its chords in the chord sheet maker: it transposes, suggests a capo position for open shapes and prints a clean sheet for rehearsal.

How to write a song with a chord progression app in 15 minutes

A chord app gives you a loop; the song needs a melody and words on top. This order keeps the loop from swallowing the session, with any app in the table. The links use the free player.

  1. Choose the key and loop (2 minutes). If you do not know your key, the vocal key finder gives you a starting point. Then open C–Am–F–G at 88 BPM, a sustained pad with no drums, and let it loop.
  2. Hum before you write (4 minutes). Sing on “da” or “mm” for at least four passes. Look for a short shape you can repeat, not a finished tune.
  3. Record it (3 minutes). With headphones, record two different hummed takes and keep both, or you will forget the one that worked.
  4. Put words on the rhythm (4 minutes). Fit a line to the take you prefer, with the stressed syllables on beats 1 and 3.
  5. Write down what comes next (2 minutes). Key, BPM, the chords, the line, and one sentence about what the next section needs.

This is what step 2 can sound like: a hummed-style melody that moves by step over the same loop.

Stepwise melody · C–Am–F–G · 88 BPM

After the count-in, one chord per bar: E–F–G–E over C at 0:02, E–D–C over Am at 0:05 with the C held, C–D–E–F over F at 0:08 and a long D over G at 0:10; the loop repeats from 0:13. The melody stays within five notes, C to G, like most first hummed ideas. The long D at 0:10 sounds unfinished, which is what makes you want to sing the next line.

Worked example for step 4. The rhythm of that melody is four notes, three notes (the last one long), four notes and one long note. A line that fits it, stress by stress:

COUNT-ing STREET-lights ALL the WAY,
EV-ery ONE’S a NAME.

“COUNT” and “STREET” land on beats 1 and 3 of the first bar, “ALL” and “WAY” on the Am, and “NAME” sits on the long D, the most open note, where the listener waits for more. That is two lines of a verse, with a melody and a loop that fit. The melody guide shows how to shape the rest of the tune, and the chord progressions guide gives you other loops to try the same line on; if it wants a darker color, try one of the sad chord progressions. If the words came first, start from the guide to putting music to lyrics instead, and for rhyme and syllable tools, see the lyric writing apps comparison.

Where Zoundroom fits after the chord app

A chord app is good at the loop, less at what the song becomes a week later: three hummed takes, a lyric that changed twice and a chorus moved from C to D. Zoundroom keeps that material together. Create one project per song and write the lyric in a note with the chords above the words, plus the key, the BPM and the player link. Play the loop on your laptop and record inside that note on your phone: the take is inserted where your cursor is, under the lines it belongs to. Import the audio you export from your chord app (a WAV from ChordBot, an MP3 from Hookpad, a mix from Demo or a take from the player) into the project, and the PDF chord sheet too. When you change the chorus chords, record the new version and write one line about what changed, so next week you know which take is current.

Zoundroom is not a chord app: it does not play progressions, suggest chords from a melody or export MIDI, so keep Hookpad, Suggester or Scaler for that. Its assistant, Auralis, can suggest chords as text, and it does not play or analyze audio. The free plan keeps 2 active projects, and a 14-day Pro trial is offered at the end of the solo artist onboarding. See how notes and lyrics hold audio, and how to record and import ideas.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free chord progression app?

To loop a progression and sing over it with no account, a browser player like ours. To write chords and melody on a timeline, Hookpad Free, which has no exports. On phones, Suggester 2 is a free download with in-app purchases, and Chordbot Lite has every ChordBot feature except saving and export.

Is there an app that suggests chords?

Yes. Suggester 2 suggests chords that fit your progression, Hookpad’s Magic Chords shows the most popular next chord, Scaler 3 suggests what comes next inside your DAW, and Piano Companion’s builder proposes chords in your key. Sing over a suggestion before you keep it.

What is the best chord progression app for Android?

Suggester 2 for suggestions, Piano Companion to learn theory as well, and Chord ai to find chords by ear. ChordBot is still on Google Play at $4.99, but its last update was in 2022.

Can an app find the chords for my melody?

A few can. Demo’s Suggest in Chords listens to a melody you sing and proposes chords, and Hookpad’s paid Aria add-on can write chords for a melody you have entered. Chord ai and Chordify find the chords of a recording that already has harmony. Try two or three suggestions and keep the one under which your long notes sound right.

Sources

Official pages checked on September 27, 2026: