Compared · October 2026
Bandstand, BandHelper and OnSong
All three keep a band’s charts and setlists. They differ in what else they do and in who pays. Bandstand is one place for the band’s own charts, setlists and rehearsals, in step on everyone’s devices, for one price however many of you there are. Here’s how it stacks up, including where the others do more.
What a year costs
| Players | Bandstand | BandHelper Plus | BandHelper Pro | OnSong Essentials |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Just you | $24 | $24 | $32 | $30 |
| A band of 5 | $24 | $60 | $80 | $150 |
| A band of 8 | $24 | $90 | $120 | $240 |
| A big band of 20 | $24 | $90 | $120 | $600 |
Bandstand: one band, up to 25 people, $24 a year; three bands $48, ten $96, each band with 2 GB for its files and recordings (extra storage from $1 a month). BandHelper prices by how many are in the band; Basic ($40 for up to 5) has no scheduling. OnSong is bought by each player (Premium, with more devices and wireless sharing, is $59.99 each). Prices as each company’s site or App Store listing gave them in October 2026: check theirs for today’s.
What each does
| Feature | Bandstand | BandHelper | OnSong |
|---|---|---|---|
| One payment covers the whole band | Yes | Yes | Each player |
| Chord charts, transposed to any key | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Horn lines and riffs in notation, guitar and bass tab, right in the chart and moving with its key | Yes | – | – |
| Sheet music and parts (PDFs, pictures) kept with a song | Yes, printed after its chart | Yes | Yes |
| Setlists, and a full-screen stage mode with page-turn pedals | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works on stage with no signal | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| A change anyone makes reaches everyone | Yes, instantly | Yes | Shared with your team |
| Every version of every chart kept, with who changed what | Yes | – | – |
| Harmonies in each singer’s color, in the words | Yes | – | – |
| Rehearsals from everyone’s available days | Yes | Plus and Pro | – |
| Rehearsals that repeat | Yes | Plus and Pro | – |
| Recordings kept with a song, slowed down to learn | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Record a take in the app | Yes | Yes | – |
| Paste or share a song from any app or web page, made into a chart, in whichever of your bands it’s for | Yes | – | – |
| A metronome at the song’s tempo, to count in (with a flash, or the flash alone) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| The starting pitch | Yes | Yes | – |
| The band proposes songs and votes them in | Yes | – | – |
| Ask Claude or ChatGPT to write and fix charts | Yes | – | – |
| Where it runs | Android app (Google Play), iPhone, iPad, any web browser | iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and Windows apps, web, Apple Watch | iPhone and iPad |
| Room for files and recordings | 2 GB a band | 5 to 50 GB, by plan | On each device |
| MIDI, lighting and effects control | – | Yes | Yes |
| Income, expenses and invoices | – | Pro | – |
| Contacts and follow-ups | – | Plus and Pro | – |
| Stage plots and input lists | – | Pro | – |
A dash means we didn’t find it among their published features in October 2026. Tell us at hello@bandstand.info if we’ve got something wrong and we’ll fix it.
Where the others do more
BandHelper runs a working band as a business: money in and out, invoices, each member’s share, contacts, stage plots, and MIDI that changes your patches and lights song by song. If that’s what you need, it’s the better fit. Bandstand has the metronome, the starting pitch and recordings to learn from, but stops short of running your rig. OnSong is a deep chart reader for one player on an iPad, with stage tools to match.
Bandstand leaves those out on purpose. It does the part every band shares (the charts, the set, the next rehearsal) and keeps it simple enough that everyone in the band uses it from the first day, with nothing to learn.
Moving over
Import takes an OnSong backup with its sets, ChordPro files, Google Docs and spreadsheets. Your band’s charts stay plain-text ChordPro, and one click downloads the whole band to keep, so you’re never locked in.
BandHelper and OnSong are trademarks of their owners, who have nothing to do with Bandstand.