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Comparison

Music practice apps for teachers and students, compared

There are fewer good options than the app stores suggest — especially since Tonara, the longtime category leader, shut down in December 2023. Here is how the current tools differ and how to pick one. Full disclosure: we make Maestro Planner, so read our entry with that in mind. The rest we have tried to describe the way their own users would.

Maestro Planner

Teacher–student assignment and practice loop

Our product, so judge this entry accordingly. Maestro Planner is built around one loop: the teacher assigns focused work tied to the student’s actual pieces, the student logs sessions (duration, tempo, improvements, weak spots), and the teacher reviews follow-through before the next lesson. Students get a practice-day streak and earned milestones, but no points economy and no leaderboards — and teachers can switch that off per student. Free for teachers during pre-launch; students are always included through their teacher.

Practice Space

Studios that want a full rewards economy

A teacher-and-student practice app that many studios adopted after Tonara closed. Teachers organize assignments and see student practice detail, and students earn gems, badges, and streaks for practicing. A good fit if a full points-and-rewards system is what motivates your students; less minimal than a shared-notebook approach.

Modacity

Self-directed and advanced musicians practicing alone

A structured practice organizer aimed at the individual musician rather than the teacher–student pair: practice plans, session timers, recording clips, and notes. Strong for conservatory students and adults who run their own practice; it is not primarily built around a teacher reviewing student follow-through.

Vivid Practice

Another teacher–student option worth evaluating

One of the practice apps teachers evaluated when migrating off Tonara, with assignment and practice tracking for studios. Worth including in a trial alongside the others to see which workflow your students actually keep using.

Tonara (shut down)

No longer available

For years the best-known practice app for music teachers, Tonara shut down its apps in December 2023. Teachers who relied on it migrated to Practice Space, Vivid Practice, Modacity, and newer tools like Maestro Planner. If you are searching for a Tonara alternative, any of the teacher-student apps on this list covers the core assignment-and-tracking workflow.

How to choose

  • •Match the tool to the relationship. Teacher-student apps (Maestro Planner, Practice Space) center on assignments and review; solo tools (Modacity) center on organizing your own practice.
  • •Optimize for what students will keep using. The best feature list loses to the app a twelve-year-old actually opens after school. Logging a session should take under a minute.
  • •Check who pays. Most tools bill the teacher or studio. Avoid anything that requires every student family to manage a separate subscription.
  • •Trial with real students. Two weeks with three students tells you more than any comparison page — including this one.

Common questions

What happened to Tonara?

Tonara, long the best-known music practice app for teachers, shut down its apps in December 2023. Teachers who used it for assignments and practice tracking have since migrated to alternatives such as Practice Space, Vivid Practice, Modacity, and Maestro Planner.

What is the best music practice app for teachers and students?

It depends on what you need. For a shared teacher-student loop of assignments, session logs, and review, Maestro Planner (our product) is built for exactly that, with practice streaks and milestone badges kept deliberately light. Practice Space goes further into gamification with a full gems-and-awards economy. Modacity is strongest for self-directed musicians practicing alone. The honest answer: trial two of them with real students for a couple of weeks and keep the one students actually open.

Do I need a practice app, or is a metronome and a notebook enough?

If practice is consistent and lessons flow well, a metronome and a notebook are genuinely enough. A practice app earns its place when the problems are forgotten assignments, invisible effort between lessons, or fading motivation — the things shared visibility fixes.

Do practice streaks and badges actually help students?

For many students they help, because the hard part of practice is showing up on the ordinary days. They can also backfire: a streak that punishes a missed day, or points awarded for logged minutes, can push a student to log practice they did not do. Maestro Planner counts practice days rather than sessions or minutes, forgives the day in progress, and lets the teacher switch streaks off per student. Practice Space offers a fuller rewards system if that is what your students respond to.

Are music practice apps free?

Most have a free tier or trial, with paid plans typically billed to the teacher or studio rather than students. Maestro Planner is free for teachers during pre-launch, with paid teacher and studio plans; students are included through their teacher at no separate charge.

Still deciding between digital and analog? Read paper practice journal vs. practice app, or browse the music practice FAQ.

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