Comparison

Song7: a cross-platform alternative to OnSong

OnSong is an Apple-only chord chart app for individual musicians — a deep, hardware-rich tool for reading and performing songs on iPad, iPhone, or Mac. Song7 is a cross-platform, team-first worship platform that manages your song library, setlists, transposition, and live presentation in one browser-based tool that runs on any device, including Windows and Android.

Last updated June 2026 · Honest comparison · Updated quarterly

Song7

All-in-one worship platform — chord charts, setlists, transposition, real-time team sync, and presentation. Web-first, works on any device with a browser.

  • Platforms: Any browser; installable as a PWA (incl. Windows & Android)
  • Built for: Whole worship teams
  • Pricing: Free for personal use; paid team plans
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OnSong

Apple-only chord chart and performance app for individual musicians. Deep hardware support — foot pedals, MIDI, backing tracks, autoscroll — with optional team sharing.

  • Platforms: iPad, iPhone, Mac (no Windows, no Android)
  • Built for: Individual musicians first
  • Pricing: Free version, then $29.99–$59.99/year per person
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Quick verdict

The short answer for the people who just want to know.

Choose OnSong if…

  • You and your team are entirely on Apple devices — iPad, iPhone, and Mac — and have no Windows or Android in the mix.
  • You want deep performance hardware: foot-pedal page turns, MIDI automation, DMX stage lighting, programmable autoscroll, and backing-track playback.
  • You work primarily as an individual musician and want a feature-rich personal chart reader at a low per-person price.

Choose Song7 if…

  • Your team is mixed: laptops, phones, tablets, Mac, Windows, Android. OnSong can't run on Windows or Android; Song7 runs in any browser.
  • You want everyone in sync — one shared library, setlists and key changes that push to the whole team in real time, not a per-device personal app.
  • You want one team subscription instead of buying a seat (with device limits) for every musician.

At-a-glance comparison

Feature-by-feature snapshot of how Song7 and OnSong line up.

FeatureSong7OnSong
Product structure
Standalone product (no other subscription required)
Team-first model (shared library & sync at the core)
Free tier availablePersonal tierFree version
One subscription covers the whole team
No per-device limit on standard plans2–4 devices
Platforms
Runs in any browser
Windows desktop support
Android phone & tablet
macOS supportBrowser / PWANative Mac app
iPad
iOS (iPhone)
Native Apple app (App Store)
Installable as PWA (home-screen)
Usable without any Apple device
Song & chart management
Your own private song library
Edit chord charts in-app
ChordPro import
Plain-text lyrics + chord brackets import
PDF import / PDF chord charts
Document scanner for printed sheetsPhoto-to-chart OCR
Photo OCR to an editable chart
Built-in chord diagrams
Capo support
Nashville number-system display
Integrations with licensed chart sources (MultiTracks, SongSelect)
Setlists & planning
Drag-and-drop setlist builder
Setlists shared with the whole team in real timeVia OnSong Connect
Per-song key in setlist
Set history (see what was played before)Not documented
Transposition
One-tap transposition into any key
Key change pushes to the whole team in real time
Live use & performance
Congregation-facing lyrics projection
Autoscroll
Programmable autoscroll / timeline
Built-in metronome
Built-in tunerNot documented
Backing-track / audio playback (Apple Music, Spotify, import)
Foot-pedal page turn (AirTurn hardware)
MIDI automation & DMX stage lighting
Free-form annotations (drawings, clips, sticky notes)Notes only
Native offline modePWA cache
Team & collaboration
Real-time team sync of plan & chart changes
Multi-team / multi-campus separationMulti-SpaceMultiple libraries
Browser-based access (no app install)OnSong Console (Premium)
Shared team storageGroup plan (OnSong Drive)
Personal notes per song

Sources: onsongapp.com, onsongapp.com/pricing, OnSong support docs. Verified June 2026.

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What is OnSong?

OnSong is a chord chart and performance app for musicians, often described on its own site as "the Swiss Army Knife of apps for musicians." It stores your songs, displays chord charts, and gives a performer deep control on stage — transposition, autoscroll, foot-pedal page turns, backing tracks, and MIDI/DMX stage automation.

OnSong is an Apple-only product. Per OnSong's support documentation it runs on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch (iOS/iPadOS 15+) and on Intel or Apple Silicon Macs. A previous Android build was removed from the Play Store in 2022, and there is no Windows version. If anyone on your team isn't on Apple hardware, OnSong isn't an option for them.

Its center of gravity is the individual musician. Team sharing exists — through OnSong Connect and Group plans with shared OnSong Drive storage — but it's layered on top of a personal app, and standard plans cap the number of devices per account.

What is Song7?

Song7 is a standalone worship music platform built for the whole team's workflow — managing your song library, building setlists for Sunday, transposing on the fly, syncing the team in real time, and running the presentation. One tool, one team subscription.

It runs in any modern browser and installs as a Progressive Web App on iOS, Android, macOS, ChromeOS, and Windows. No app-store gatekeeping and no platform exclusions — every team member gets access directly in their browser, on whatever device they already own.

Song7 is a private worship-planning tool. The songs, lyrics, and chord charts you add live only inside your own team's Space — Song7 does not ship a public catalogue of copyrighted worship music. You are responsible for holding the licenses you need for the content you store and share.

Feature-by-feature deep dive

Where each product wins, where each one falls short.

Platform support

OnSong: Apple-only. iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Mac. No Windows version, and the Android app was withdrawn from the Play Store in 2022. For an all-Apple team this is a non-issue; for a mixed team it's a hard wall.

Song7: Any modern browser — desktop or mobile — and installable as a Progressive Web App on iOS, Android, macOS, ChromeOS, and Windows. The volunteer who shows up with an Android phone or a Windows laptop is covered without a second thought.

Individual app or team platform

OnSong: Designed around one musician and their library. It's excellent at that. Sharing across a team is possible through OnSong Connect and Group plans, but it's an add-on to a fundamentally personal app, and individual plans limit you to 2–4 devices.

Song7: Built team-first from the start. One shared song library, setlists the whole team sees, and changes that sync in real time. There's no per-device seat math — members open it in a browser and they're in.

Song and chord chart management

OnSong: Mature chart handling — ChordPro, PDF chord charts, a document scanner for printed sheets, Nashville number-system display, chord diagrams, and integrations with licensed chart sources like MultiTracks and SongSelect. PDF support in particular is a real OnSong strength Song7 doesn't match.

Song7: Built-in editing of your own charts. Import from ChordPro or plain text with chord brackets, or snap a photo of a printed sheet and Song7's photo-to-chart OCR turns it into an editable chart (not just a stored PDF). Song7 does not import PDFs directly. The library is yours and your team's — Song7 doesn't provide a public database of copyrighted songs.

Setlist creation and planning

OnSong: Supports sets you build on your device. Sharing a set with bandmates runs through OnSong Connect; the planning model is still rooted in the individual's app rather than a shared team plan.

Song7: Drag-and-drop setlist builder is core. Pick songs, reorder by dragging, set the key per song, publish the set, and the whole team sees it instantly — no per-device syncing step to think about.

Transposition and key changes

OnSong: Strong, fast transposition and capo formatting on a per-device basis. Change the key on your iPad and your chart updates — but it's your copy.

Song7: One-tap transposition into any key, and because the library is shared, changing a song's key for Sunday updates every musician's chart in real time. No "did everyone re-sync?" moment.

Live performance hardware

OnSong: This is OnSong's home turf. Foot-pedal page turns (including AirTurn), programmable autoscroll with a timeline, backing tracks linked to Apple Music or Spotify, audio click and visual metronome, MIDI automation, and DMX stage lighting. For a performance-heavy setup, OnSong goes deeper than Song7.

Song7: Covers the essentials — autoscroll, a built-in metronome, and a built-in tuner — but doesn't ship curated foot-pedal hardware, MIDI/DMX automation, or backing-track playback. If hands-free pedals and stage automation are central to your service, OnSong wins this category today.

Annotations and notes

OnSong: Rich annotation tools on Premium — drawings, clips, and sticky notes layered onto charts. One of its stronger areas for musicians who mark up heavily.

Song7: Personal notes per song are supported. Heavy free-form drawing on top of a chart isn't the focus — Song7 favors structured editing of the chart itself over overlay markup.

Live presentation and projection

OnSong: Premium includes lyrics projection, stage monitors, and Google Cast output to an external display — driven from an Apple device.

Song7: Has a congregation-facing presentation mode that displays clean, full-screen lyrics on any screen with a browser — no Apple hardware required to drive it. Both products can project; Song7 does it without tying you to the Apple ecosystem.

Team collaboration and sync

OnSong: Collaboration happens through OnSong Connect and Group plans with shared OnSong Drive storage. It works, but it's a sharing layer on top of individual libraries rather than a single shared source of truth.

Song7: Real-time team sync is the core model. Multiple editors manage one shared library and setlists, members see published sets instantly, and multi-Space support lets multi-campus churches keep separate teams under one account.

Offline access

OnSong: As a native Apple app, charts are stored on-device and read offline without a thought. This is a genuine strength of a mature native app when the church Wi-Fi drops mid-service.

Song7: As a PWA, Song7 caches content for offline reading, but the offline experience is currently lighter than a fully native app. For situations where rock-solid offline is non-negotiable, OnSong's native caching has the edge.

— Beyond the comparison

Things Song7 does that OnSong can't

The six things teams moving from OnSong mention most.

Runs on Windows and Android too

OnSong is Apple-only — iPad, iPhone, and Mac. Song7 runs in any browser, so the volunteer with a Windows laptop or Android phone is covered without a second device.

Real-time team sync

Change a key or publish a setlist and every musician sees it instantly. OnSong shares across devices, but it layers sync on top of personal libraries rather than one shared source of truth.

Photo-to-chart OCR import

Snap a picture of a printed chord sheet and Song7 turns it into an editable chart. OnSong's document scanner stores a PDF; Song7 gives you a chart you can actually edit and transpose.

Shared drag-and-drop setlists

Build, reorder, and publish Sunday's setlist and the whole team sees it live — no per-device sharing step to remember.

Multi-Space for multi-campus churches

Run separate song libraries, setlists, and teams per campus or worship team, all under one account.

One team plan, no per-device caps

Everything is part of a single team subscription. OnSong is priced per person and caps standard plans at 2–4 devices each.

Pricing comparison

What you actually pay, and what you get for it.

OnSong cost

OnSong is priced per person. The plans below are what one musician pays; a full band means a seat each.

  • Free version: $0 — basic library and song viewing
  • Essentials: $29.99/year (or $3.99/mo) — unlimited songs, sets, autoscroll, foot pedals, transposition, cloud integrations, 2 GB OnSong Drive, up to 2 devices
  • Premium: $59.99/year (or $5.99/mo) — everything in Essentials plus annotations, backing tracks, document scanner, lyrics projection, MIDI/stage lighting, browser access, 5 GB OnSong Drive, up to 4 devices
  • Group plans: per-user pricing with shared OnSong Drive storage

Source: onsongapp.com/pricing, verified June 2026. Numbers may change.

Song7 cost

Song7 is priced as one plan for your team — not per individual musician, and without per-device limits to manage.

Song7 is free for personal use, with paid team plans based on what your team needs — free trial, no credit card required.

See Song7 pricing

One subscription for the whole team. No per-seat math.

Where the pricing models actually differ

For a single user, Song7 is actually free — its Personal tier costs nothing for an individual, while OnSong has a free version and charges $59.99/year for Premium, which adds its deeper performance tools. The models really diverge on teams: OnSong is priced per person with a device cap, so a six-piece band is six seats; Song7 stays free for an individual and moves to one flat team plan only when you add members — no per-seat math. If you're equipping a mixed-device team, compare OnSong's per-seat total against Song7's single team plan.

Migrating from OnSong to Song7

Moving from OnSong to Song7 means taking your charts out of a personal Apple app and into a shared team library. The practical steps:

  1. Export your songs from OnSong. OnSong can export and share your library; save your charts in a portable format Song7 accepts — ChordPro or plain text with chord brackets. ChordPro preserves chord positions and parses cleanly. For charts you only hold as a PDF or printed sheet, Song7's photo-to-chart capture is the fallback path (Song7 doesn't import PDFs directly).
  2. Create a Song7 account and a Space for your church. Free trial, no credit card required.
  3. Import your songs into Song7. Paste in ChordPro or text with chord brackets; Song7 parses the chord positions and renders the chart.
  4. Invite your team. Members get instant access in their browser — on any device, including the Windows and Android users OnSong couldn't serve.
  5. Recreate one upcoming setlist to test the workflow before fully switching. Run a midweek rehearsal on Song7 to surface anything specific to your team's habits.

If you're a solo musician who just wants a feature-rich personal reader with foot pedals and MIDI on your iPad, OnSong is doing the right job and Song7 isn't the swap for you. Song7 earns its place when a team needs to share one library across devices.

Which one should you pick?

A short decision guide based on your situation.

Stay with (or pick) OnSong if

  • Everyone on your team is on Apple hardware.
  • Foot-pedal page turns, MIDI automation, or DMX stage lighting are part of how you play.
  • You rely on backing tracks, programmable autoscroll, or PDF chord charts.
  • Heavy chart annotation is core to how you rehearse.
  • You're an individual musician who wants a deep personal reader at a low price.

Switch to (or pick) Song7 if

  • Your team mixes Windows, Android, Mac, iPad, and phones.
  • You want one shared library and setlists that sync to everyone in real time.
  • You'd rather buy one team plan than a seat-with-device-limit per musician.
  • You want to onboard volunteers in a browser without app-store friction.
  • Drag-and-drop setlist building and shared transposition matter more than stage automation.

Frequently asked questions

The questions worship leaders actually ask before switching.

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