WAVE vs Musicboard: Which Music Rating App Is Right for You?

If you're looking for the most social music rating experience — something closer to Letterboxd than to a music encyclopedia — your two main options are WAVE and Musicboard. Both are modern, well-designed, and focused on the social side of rating music. They're also genuinely different in important ways.

Here's an honest side-by-side.

Rating system

Musicboard: 0.5 to 5 stars in half-star increments (effectively a 10-point scale, since .5 increments across 5 stars = 10 values). Clean and familiar if you already use Letterboxd.

WAVE: 0–10 integer scale. No half-points — each number means something distinct. A 7 is different from a 6 in a way that 3.5 stars vs 3 stars sometimes isn't.

Edge: Tie. Both are effective 10-point systems presented differently. WAVE's integer scale is slightly easier to reason about; Musicboard's star display is more recognizable.

Social features

Musicboard: Follow-based feed, lists, reviews. The community is growing and the Letterboxd-style social experience is well-executed. You see what the people you follow are rating, and the discovery via lists is strong.

WAVE: Feed shows only people you follow, chronologically, with no algorithmic ranking. The emphasis is on your real social graph — people you actually know — rather than a community of music enthusiasts you've never met.

Edge: Depends on what you want. Musicboard has a larger existing community. WAVE is better if you want to share music specifically with your actual friends and see their activity, not strangers'.

Concert and live music rating

Musicboard: No concert rating feature. Album-only.

WAVE: Supports rating concerts and live shows alongside albums on the same 10-point scale. Your concert ratings live in your profile next to your album collection.

Edge: WAVE — it's the only option here.

Mobile app

Musicboard: Native iOS and Android apps, both well-regarded.

WAVE: iOS app available on the App Store. Also works as a web app at wavemusic.app on any device.

Edge: Musicboard for cross-platform (Android). WAVE for iOS-only users.

Album catalog

Musicboard: Uses Spotify as its data source, which means integration is smooth but requires Spotify access for some features.

WAVE: Uses MusicBrainz, the open music encyclopedia. Essentially any album ever released is searchable — no Spotify account required.

Edge: WAVE for catalog breadth. Musicboard if you're a Spotify user and want smooth integration.

The verdict

If you want a polished social experience with an existing community of music enthusiasts worldwide, Musicboard is excellent. If you want to rate albums and concerts alongside the specific people you know in real life — your actual friend group, not a community of strangers — WAVE is built for that. The two apps can genuinely complement each other: Musicboard for the broader community, WAVE for your real-world social graph.