Built for the whole band.

1) Sharing with your band is a tier there, and the whole point here

Songbook Pro's band sharing is Groups: a separate annual subscription priced per user, sized by seats - Band covers 6, Ensemble 12, Orchestra 20, with paid add-ons past that - and the shared library is administered from a browser dashboard.

In BandBinder the band isn't a tier, it's how the app works. One band code, members join free, and the shared library syncs inside the app itself. There's no dashboard to log into and no seats to count. Add a second guitarist and a sub on keys and your bill doesn't move.

2) Rehearsal is where the songbook actually gets built

Songbook Pro gives you annotations on a chart. What it doesn't have is a note pinned to a line. BandBinder's practice notes attach to the exact lyric line they're about - come in on the 3, harmony starts here, we cut this verse - and they're still sitting on that line at the next rehearsal. Keep a note private, or pin it and it travels with the chart to everyone in the band.

Practice Mode adds reference playback beside the chart, a count-in at the song's own tempo, and a display for the rehearsal-room screen. Performance Mode strips all of it back for the gig: big type, fully offline, pedal-friendly. That run from rehearsal to the stage is the part we actually set out to build.

3) If your rehearsals run off a laptop

Songbook Pro runs on Android, Windows, iOS, and Amazon Fire. There's no macOS build and no Linux build at all. Its Windows version carries the touch design across - their own documentation tells you to change the info bar by tapping it, "or swipe it on Windows" - and the desktop companion, SongbookPro Manager, is a browser page that connects to the phone running the app over WiFi to manage the library.

BandBinder's desktop app is designed keyboard-first. Every action has a shortcut, and every control names its shortcut when you hover it, so the app teaches itself while you use it. Windows, macOS, and Linux are straight downloads, and it's the same app as the one in your pocket. If a laptop runs your rehearsals, that's a difference you feel every week.

4) What's free, and what you actually pay for

Songbook Pro is free for 12 songs, then Solo is a one-time in-app purchase of roughly $7 - bought separately on each platform. Their licensing page puts it plainly: "The app is sold separately on different platforms (e.g. iOS, Android, Windows, Amazon Fire)."

BandBinder's app is free on every device you own, on all five platforms, forever. Not a trial, no song limit, no ads, and you can export everything back out any time. What you pay for is keeping your devices in sync, sharing a library with your band, and continuous versioned backup: $2.49 a month for the whole band rather than per person, or $22 a year if you'd rather pay once and save. Founder pricing, month to month, cancel any time.

Be fair about the comparison, though: Groups is priced per user per year, and for a small band it lands near our flat band price. Price isn't the reason to switch. The shape is.

Open the pricing calculator →

Step 1: Export your songs as ChordPro

In Songbook Pro's songs menu, turn on the multi-select toggle, select everything, and export in ChordPro format. A batch comes out as a zip archive - unzip it into a folder.

Worth knowing before you start: ChordPro is the portable format, so your charts, chords, keys, and structure come across, but as their own docs warn, "some information may be lost" - freehand ink annotations in particular. Chart-level work travels. Pen marks don't.

Step 2: Import the whole folder at once

In BandBinder's Songs list, choose Import folder of songs... and pick the folder you just unzipped. It scans every file, flags anything already in your library so you don't get duplicates, and imports everything you leave checked in one action. Single-file import works the same way for ChordPro, OnSong, plain text, or PDF - a text-layer PDF converts into an editable chart, or keep the original and perform straight from it.

Read the import-formats guide →

Step 3: Share it with the band

Invite members with a band code and keep one agreed arrangement for everyone. See how that works for cover bands and worship teams. Coming from OnSong instead, or as well? There's a separate comparison for that.