The best band
management apps in 2026
There's no single best band app — there's the one that fixes what's actually hard for your band. Here's what each of the main options is built for, what it costs, and where it falls short.
Full disclosure: we make Bandloop. We've tried to be fair to everyone else, link every price to its source, and say plainly where another app is the better fit.
- Gigging bands that split the payBandloop
- Deepest feature setBandHelper
- Scheduling around availabilityBandMGT
- Wedding & function businessesBack On Stage
- Church-wide volunteer schedulingPlanning Center Services
- Chord charts for one playerOnSong
- Cheapest solo songbookSetlist Helper
| App | Best for | Price | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bandloop | Gigging cover, original, and worship bands that want songs, setlists, gigs, and the pay in one place | Free to start · Pro $7/mo per band | Web, iPhone & iPad, Android (beta) |
| BandHelper | Musicians who want the deepest all-in-one toolkit and don't mind setting it up | $2.25–$40/mo by tier and band size · 30-day trial | iOS, Android, Mac, web |
| BandMGT | Bands whose biggest headache is scheduling around everyone's availability | Free · Pro $8/mo per band | Web (mobile-friendly) |
| Back On Stage | Wedding and function-band businesses booking paying clients | $19–$79/mo · musicians and crew free | Web app (installable) |
| Planning Center Services | Churches scheduling volunteers across many teams and services | Free up to 5 team members · paid by team size | Web, iOS, Android |
| OnSong | Individual players who live in chord charts on an iPad | $29.99–$59.99/yr per account (or $3.99–$5.99/mo) | iPhone, iPad, Mac, web · Android coming soon |
| Setlist Helper | A solo musician's songbook on a budget | Free app · $14.99 one-time full version | iPhone, iPad, Android, web |
| Google Sheets / Excel | A brand-new band with a short song list and one person running things | Free | Everywhere |
Prices & features from each product's public pricing page as of October 2026, to our best understanding — check their sites for the latest. Bandloop is not affiliated with any of these products.
Bandloop
- Best for
- Gigging cover, original, and worship bands that want songs, setlists, gigs, and the pay in one place
- Price
- Free to start · Pro $7/mo per band
- Standout
- Songs fill in their own artist, length, and BPM; setlists run straight into a lyrics teleprompter with your chord notes, click, and count-in; and after the show you split the pay with a tax set-aside. One price covers the whole band, with no member cap.
- Drawback
- No contracts, invoicing, or client CRM, and its chord notes are simpler than a dedicated chart app. It's also the newest app on this list.
BandHelper
- Best for
- Musicians who want the deepest all-in-one toolkit and don't mind setting it up
- Price
- $2.25–$40/mo by tier and band size · 30-day trial
- Standout
- Enormous depth: repertoire with MIDI, documents and recordings, scheduling with availability requests, contacts, income and expense tracking, and stage plots.
- Drawback
- No free plan, a lot to configure, and finances and stage plots are on the top (Pro) tier only.
BandMGT
- Best for
- Bands whose biggest headache is scheduling around everyone's availability
- Price
- Free · Pro $8/mo per band
- Standout
- A shared calendar with member blackout dates, drag-and-drop setlists with PDF printing, and per-member payouts on Pro.
- Drawback
- No native phone app listed, and no lyrics or teleprompter for the stage.
Back On Stage
- Best for
- Wedding and function-band businesses booking paying clients
- Price
- $19–$79/mo · musicians and crew free
- Standout
- The business side: contracts with e-signatures, invoicing with online payments, and auto-booking subs from a call list.
- Drawback
- No free plan for the bandleader, and more booking-agency machinery than a weekend band needs.
Planning Center Services
- Best for
- Churches scheduling volunteers across many teams and services
- Price
- Free up to 5 team members · paid by team size
- Standout
- Volunteer scheduling and rotations inside a full church platform; Music Stand is a $5/mo add-on for charts.
- Drawback
- The free plan stops at five team members, and it's a lot of platform if you mostly plan the worship set.
OnSong
- Best for
- Individual players who live in chord charts on an iPad
- Price
- $29.99–$59.99/yr per account (or $3.99–$5.99/mo)
- Standout
- Best-in-class charts: formatting, transpose and capo, chord diagrams, and wireless sharing between devices.
- Drawback
- Priced per account rather than per band, and no gigs, venues, or money — it's a music-stand app.
Setlist Helper
- Best for
- A solo musician's songbook on a budget
- Price
- Free app · $14.99 one-time full version
- Standout
- ChordPro charts with auto-scroll, Bluetooth page-turn pedals, set-time totals, and it works offline.
- Drawback
- Designed around one personal library — bands are pointed to its separate Band Central app.
Google Sheets / Excel
- Best for
- A brand-new band with a short song list and one person running things
- Price
- Free
- Standout
- Infinitely flexible, and everybody already knows how to use it.
- Drawback
- Everything is typed and maintained by hand, the pay math is a formula someone has to trust, and it's rough on a phone at the gig.
How to choose
- Start from your worst week.Is it the setlist, the scheduling, the money after the gig, or the client paperwork? Pick the app that's strongest there.
- Price it for the whole band. Per-band pricing (Bandloop, BandMGT) stays flat as you add members; per-account apps add up as everyone subscribes.
- Check it on a phone at load-in. The app has to work where the band actually is — on stage and in the parking lot, not just at a desk.
- Make sure you can bring your songs. Most bands start from a spreadsheet; look for an import that doesn't mean retyping the catalog.
What is the best band management app?+
It depends on what's actually hard for your band. For a gigging cover or worship band that wants songs, setlists, a stage teleprompter, gigs, and the pay split in one place, Bandloop is free to start and $7/month per band on Pro. BandHelper is the deepest toolkit if you'll invest in setup. Back On Stage is built for wedding and function businesses with contracts and invoicing. Planning Center fits churches scheduling volunteers across many teams.
Is there a free band management app?+
Yes. Bandloop and BandMGT both have free plans with no member cap listed, Planning Center Services is free up to five team members, and Setlist Helper's app is free for a single songbook. BandHelper and Back On Stage offer free trials rather than free plans.
What's the best app for worship teams?+
If your church needs volunteer scheduling across ministries, Planning Center Services is the standard. If you mostly need to plan the worship set, keep keys per song, and put lyrics and chords in front of the team, Bandloop does that free for the whole team with no five-member cap.
Which band apps split gig pay between members?+
Bandloop (Pro) splits a gig's pay between members with shared costs, reimbursements, and a tax set-aside. BandMGT's Pro plan tracks per-member payouts, BandHelper's Pro tier tracks income and expenses, and Back On Stage handles musician payouts on its Pro and Agency plans.
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