Looking for a free online guitar tuner? There are bucket-loads of them out there, and I’ve tried them all in order to find the best ones!
In this article I will list all of the best choices for tuning via your computer or smartphone’s microphone, as well as a few which you can use to tune manually by ear.
Can I Tune A Guitar Online?
Yes! There are a ton of free online guitars tuners which you can use to get your guitar to correct pitch. These will generally use your computer or mobile device’s microphone to tune, and range from very simple options to more complex choices with support for alternate tunings and additional instruments.
These are a great quick and dirty option for people who may not have access to app stores, or simply don’t want another app taking up space on their phones.
We are only looking at online guitar tuners here, i.e. applications that can be viewed on a website and that do no require a download to use. Although many of these are available separately as smartphone apps which you may like to also check out if it’s an option for you.
In addition, all of these web-based options are also completely free to use!
The Complete Guitar Tuner Guide
If you would like to learn more about guitar tuner apps, tuner pedals, clip-on tuners, automatic tuners and everything else tuning related, please check out my massive guide to the best guitar tuners.
What Is The Best Online Guitar Tuner?
- TrueFire Chromatic Tuner
- ProGuitar Tuner w/ Microphone Support
- GuitarTune
- GuitarTuna Free Online Tuner
- Drumbot Chromatic Tuner
- Online Guitar Tuner
- Guitar Tricks Tuner
- Fender Tune
- Tune-O-Matic
To really test these I used the (fairly awful!) webcam mic built into my laptop, and I also used my smartphone microphone where possible. I then compared the results with my Snark headstock tuner to check that they were accurate.
All of the tuners listed below are accurate enough to get you in tune to an acceptable level. In saying that, the accuracy is going to be dependant on the quality of your microphone (unless you tune by ear, then it’s all down to you!).
I’ve tried my best to list quite a few options with different features, so that there is hopefully something for everyone in here. Let’s dive in!
TrueFire Online Chromatic Guitar Tuner
This online guitar tuner from TrueFire is about as simple as they come in terms of learning how to use it, but it’s also very capable. Simply grant the site access to your microphone and away you go – no options, no fuss!
This is a chromatic tuner, which means that it will automatically detect and display the note that you are playing. Since it will detect any note from the chromatic scale (A, A#, B, C, C# etc) you are able to tune to standard pitch, or almost any alternate tuning that you like – as long as you know the notes!
When at the correct pitch, the middle light will turn green. Red lights either side will indicate if you are either flat or sharp.
Downsides are that there is no option to be able to tune by ear. Also there is no menu for alternate tunings, so you won’t be able to experiment with exotic new flavors with quite as much ease as some other tuners.
It’s a simple setup, but it works well if these are the only features you need!
Microphone Support? YES
Smartphone/Tablet Support? YES
Tune By Ear? NO
Link – Click Here To Try It Out
TrueFire is also the world’s most popular guitar tuition website, with thousands of video courses for beginners and pros alike.
You can check out TrueFire’s lessons here.
ProGuitar Online Guitar Tuner w/ Microphone Support
The ProGuitar Tuner has more going on than the far simpler TrueFire option above. If you need more options than TrueFire offers then this could be a better choice for you.
The ProGuitar Tuner affords you three different ways to gauge your pitch: use the needle display at the top, the digital display in the middle, or the note wheel at the bottom. See what works best for you!
In addition, you can also train your ear and tune manually by clicking each string on the right-hand display to hear the notes.
This online tuner has support for a huge range of instruments – guitar, bass, ukulele, banjo, even violin and exotic choices such as bouzouki.
Each instrument has a ton of different tuning presets to pick from, making this a great tuner for trying out new and exotic flavors. For example, if you select standard 6-string guitar, you will be presented with over 100 alternate tunings!
By the way, it took me a few minutes to figure it out, but if you’re wondering where the menu with tunings is hidden, you need to click the current tuning text overlaid on the strings.
One slight downside is that it does not function on a smartphone or tablet, however you can download the Android or iOS app to get around this.
This is the one to go for if you need plenty of options and features! Avoid it if you need smartphone functionality however.
Microphone Support? YES
Smartphone/Tablet Support? NO
Tune By Ear? YES
Link – Click Here To Try It Out
Guitar-Tuner
This is the new kid in the online guitar tuner world, and sports a very clean and modern aesthetic.
The tuner has support for 6-string acoustic and electric guitar, 4-string bass, as well as ukulele. At the moment it only offers standard tuning for each instrument, although the website does claim that more are on the way.
Tuning options include ‘by ear’, where you can listen to the note and tune manually.
Alternatively you can toggle it into ‘auto mode’ so that the site can access your microphone and tune that way. The tuner will automatically detect which string you are playing, and then give you a satisfying audio alert when the correct pitch is reached. I thought the alert was a really nice feature!
The only real downside of this tuner is the lack of support for alternate tunings.
A very simple, and clean tuner which works very well if you just need something to accurately get you to standard pitch.
Microphone Support? YES
Smartphone/Tablet Support? YES
Tune By Ear? YES
Link – Click Here To Try It Out
Guitar Tuna Free Online Guitar Tuner
Guitar Tuna is the world’s most popular guitar tuning app, but they do also have a very limited web-based version of their tuner.
I say limited, because this online guitar tuner only offers standard tuning on a 6-string guitar. So move on to the next option if you need more than this!
The website will automatically detect which string you are playing, and indicate if you are ‘too high’ or ‘too low’. Similar to the previous tuner in this list, Guitar Tuna gives a satisfying audio cue when correct pitch is reached.
Tuning by ear is also an option, simply click the note name to hear the note through your speakers.
Guitar Tuna is a very simple online guitar tuner, but if all you need to do is tune to standard pitch it could be a good option for you. And if you require additional features the smartphone app will give you those as well.
Microphone Support? YES
Smartphone/Tablet Support? YES
Tune By Ear? YES
Link – Click Here To Try It Out
Drumbot
Drumbot is another very simple online chromatic tuner. As it is chromatic, the display will show whatever note you are playing. So you can use this for almost any tuning as long as you know the notes. For this reason it will also work for almost any other instrument as well.
A nice plus point of the Drumbot tuner is that the display is really large and easy to read. While many of the displays in this list are fairly compact, you should comfortably be able to read this one from across a room when maximized.
There is also the option of switching between sharp and flat notes depending on your preference.
The needle will display how far away from pitch you are, and a readout on the left will also show this measurement in cents.
There is no option to tune by ear on the DrumBot.
Although the page does load on a smartphone, I could not get it to register any sounds at all on my Android phone. So this isn’t a good option for those on mobile devices.
Drumbot is a simple option for those after a chromatic tuner. It also has one of the largest, easiest to read displays of all options in this list.
Microphone Support? YES
Smartphone/Tablet Support? MAYBE
Tune By Ear? NO
Link – Click Here To Try It Out
Online Guitar Tuner
This chromatic tuner is very similar to the DrumBot above in terms of layout, i.e. a very large and simple layout.
The needle display automatically detects the note, and shows how far away from pitch you are. And that’s it – very, very simple!
While I had trouble getting the DrumBot to function on my Android phone, this one had no such issues. Another plus is that it also has support for tuning by ear.
Downsides include no support for alternate tuning presets, but if you already know the notes you need to tune to this isn’t an issue anyway. The display is also not as large as the DrumBot tuner if this is important to you.
A great alternative to DrumBot if a large display and smartphone compatibility, and/or tuning by ear is important to you.
Microphone Support? YES
Smartphone/Tablet Support? YES
Tune By Ear? YES
Link – Click Here To Try It Out
Guitar Tricks
The Guitar Tricks tuner does not have microphone support, but is a pretty nice option if you’d like to practice tuning by ear.
It has a handful of common guitar tuning presets built in, which you can either have the site strum, or play each note one at a time.
It is also possible to use this site for tunings other than the options that are baked-in. Each string can be manually tuned to any note, so this could also be a great option for alternate tuning aficionados.
A slight annoyance is the inability to have each note repeat, so you are forced to continually click until you reach pitch.
This tuner does load and function on a smartphone, however it doesn’t resize to fill the screen. This makes it very difficult to use on anything smaller than a larger tablet.
A nice option for those looking to work on their ear-training on a laptop or desktop computer.
Microphone Support? NO
Smartphone/Tablet Support? KIND OF
Tune By Ear? YES
Link – Click Here To Try It Out
Fender Tune
It’s surprising that Fender’s online guitar tuner doesn’t offer microphone support, however it is a great option for tuning by ear. FYI the smartphone app is free and adds microphone support.
It has support for acoustic and electric guitar, bass, and ukulele, and also has a selection of common tuning presets that you can select from.
The notes produced linger for quite a while, giving extra time for you to fine tune your guitar. There is also the option to loop each note if you require additional time. This makes tuning a little easier than on the Guitar Tricks tuner above, where the notes are fairly short lived.
Unlike the Guitar Tricks tuner there is no option to manually change the tuning of each individual string. So unfortunately you’re out of luck if the tuning you need isn’t one of the included options.
For what it is, the Fender online guitar tuner is well designed and works perfectly on any device. A great choice if all you require is standard 6-string guitar tuning and occasional common alternate tunings.
Microphone Support? NO
Smartphone/Tablet Support? YES
Tune By Ear? YES
Link – Click Here To Try It Out
Tune-O-Matic
Another excellent option for those of you looking to work on your ear-training.
The Tune-O-Matic combines the strengths of both the Guitar Tricks and Fender tuners to make a very useful manual guitar tuner. It has beautiful, long notes that you can set to repeat as many times as you’d like, and it also has support for a huge number of alternate tunings.
In addition, there is a ‘custom mode’ which allows you to change each string to whatever note you’d like. So the world is your oyster as far as alternate tunings go!
There is also instrument support for anything between 4 and 12 strings, and you can even load different guitar sounds such as a distorted electric, or bass guitar.
It also works great on a desktop computer or laptop, as well as on your smartphone or tablet device.
This free online guitar tuner has a ton of options, and is probably the best choice for alternate tuning aficionados who would like to tune by ear.
Microphone Support? NO
Smartphone/Tablet Support? YES
Tune By Ear? YES
Link – Click Here To Try It Out
The Complete Guitar Tuner Guide
If you would like to learn more about guitar tuner apps, tuner pedals, clip-on tuners, automatic tuners and everything else tuning related, please check out my massive guide to the best guitar tuners.
If you feel that a good option is missing from this list, please send me an email! You can find the contact form in the footer below.
PS – Ever wondered why standard guitar tuning is EADGBE? Find out here!
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Online Guitar Tuners Accurate?
Although online tuners aren’t going to be as accurate as a good tuner pedal or headstock tuner, they are perfectly acceptable for general practice. The accuracy will also depend upon the quality of your device’s microphone.
When testing these I used the very basic webcam microphone on my computer, and afterwards, when compared against my headstock tuner they were pretty much spot on.
If you require more accuracy, check out my huge tuner guide at the link above.
Why Tune A Guitar By Ear?
Tuning your guitar by ear will improve your ability to instantly know whether your guitar is in tune or not. Over time you will naturally gain an understanding of the pitch relationships between notes, a good starting point for developing perfect pitch.
It’s a great skill to be able to strum your guitar and immediately recognise a slightly out of tune string. So while using one of the microphone tuners above is super handy, it’s also a good idea to get into the habit of also tuning by ear!
