Rocksmith turned practice into a game you played with a real guitar. Then in October 2023 Ubisoft pulled Rocksmith 2014 from every store because its music licences had run out. It came back on Steam in December 2024, renamed Rocksmith 2014 Edition Remastered Learn & Play, but without the licensed songs. So if you’re looking for something else to plug your guitar into, you’re not alone.
Everything below uses a real guitar, not a plastic controller, which rules out most of the “games like Rocksmith” lists out there. For each one I’ve noted how it hears you (a cable, an audio interface, a microphone, or not at all), where it runs, and what you get for free, checked on 29 September 2026.
If you haven’t connected a guitar to your computer before, my guide to playing electric guitar through a PC or laptop covers the cables and interfaces.
Where Rocksmith Stands In 2026
Before replacing it, it’s worth knowing what’s still on offer, because Rocksmith hasn’t completely gone:
- Rocksmith 2014 Learn & Play is on Steam for $9.99, Windows only. Ubisoft swapped the licensed songs for its own tracks and exercises, and kept Guitarcade, Session Mode and Riff Repeater. The Real Tone Cable isn’t included.
- Song packs are still sold on Steam. On 29 September 2026, 777 Rocksmith 2014 downloadable songs still had a price (singles sampled at $2.99), and they work in Learn & Play. You buy them on the Steam store, not inside the game.
- If you already own the original Rocksmith 2014 Remastered, you can’t download Learn & Play; Ubisoft says that protects your original licensed songs.
- Rocksmith+ is Ubisoft’s subscription successor, free to start since June 2024. More on it below.
The original still has a Very Positive rating on Steam from more than 25,000 reviews. People liked it. They just can’t buy the songs they want anymore.
Quick Comparison
| App | Works on | How it hears you | Free version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rocksmith+ | Windows, PlayStation, iPhone, Android | Phone app, Real Tone Cable or interface | Lessons and 20 songs |
| Yousician | Windows, Mac, iPhone, Android | Microphone or interface | Guided path, limited |
| Fender Play | Browser, iPhone, Android | Microphone | 7 or 14 day trial |
| StringTheory | Windows | Cable, interface or microphone | Free |
| fee[dB]ack | Windows, Mac, Linux | Interface or microphone | Free |
| Soundlane | Browser | Microphone or interface | Free |
| Songsterr | Browser, iPhone, Android | Doesn’t listen | Every tab, with pauses |
| Guitar Tricks | Browser, iPhone, Android | Doesn’t listen | 24 lessons |
| JustinGuitar app | iPhone, Android | Some exercises | Some lessons |
| Simply Guitar | iPhone, Android | Microphone | First part of a course |
| ImmerRock | Meta Quest headsets | Cable or interface | No, $14.99 |
Rocksmith+
- Works on: Windows PC (Ubisoft Connect or Steam), PlayStation, iPhone, Android
- How it hears you: the free Rocksmith Tuner phone app, a Real Tone Cable, or an audio interface
- Free version: lessons and 20 songs
- Paid: US App Store prices from $19.99 a month or $139.99 a year
Rocksmith+ is the obvious first stop, since it’s the official successor. It still scores you on a note highway or a tab view against real recordings, it covers guitar, bass and piano, and since June 2024 it starts free with lessons and 20 songs. A subscription unlocks the whole licensed catalogue, and every plan includes everything; they only differ in length.
The PC version has three ways to hear you: the free Rocksmith Tuner app, which uses your phone’s microphone and syncs to the PC, a Real Tone Cable, or an audio interface, although Ubisoft says not all interfaces are supported.
Now the catches. It needs an internet connection at all times. The 7 day free trial only comes with the 12 month plan, and you’re charged for the full year unless you cancel in time. There’s no Mac or Xbox version. And Steam players aren’t happy: its Steam reviews were Overwhelmingly Negative when I checked, 386 positive against 1,744 negative.
Yousician
- Works on: Windows 10 or later, macOS 12 or later, iPhone, Android
- How it hears you: your device’s microphone, or an audio interface
- Free version: the guided learning path, without unlimited lesson time or popular songs
- Paid: US App Store from $19.99 a month or $119.99 a year for one instrument
Yousician is the closest thing to Rocksmith that also runs on a Mac. It listens as you play and scores your accuracy and timing, through a guided path of lessons and song play alongs for guitar, bass, piano, ukulele and singing.
It hears you through the microphone by default, which means an electric guitar has to go through an amp, set clean and quiet. For the best recognition, plug in through an audio interface instead.
The free plan gives you the learning path, but not unlimited lesson time, and not the popular songs. Premium covers one instrument with Yousician’s own songs; you need Premium+ for the 10,000 plus lessons and famous songs. Yearly plans come with a 7 day free trial that rolls straight into the yearly charge, with no refund if you cancel afterwards.
Fender Play
- Works on: web browser on Windows 11 and macOS 11 or later, iPhone, Android, Samsung smart TVs
- How it hears you: your device’s microphone, in Feedback Mode
- Free version: a free trial, 7 days monthly or 14 days yearly
- Paid: prices vary by offer; check at sign up
Fender Play is a video course first and a game second. It has a level by level path, more than 3,000 short lessons and over 1,000 songs, plus a Practice Mode with a metronome and tempo control.
The Rocksmith part is Feedback Mode, which listens through your microphone while you play a song or riff and gives you a score to beat. It runs in a browser, so there’s nothing to install on your PC.
There’s no free plan, only a trial: 7 days on the monthly plan or 14 on the yearly one, and then it rolls over into the paid plan automatically. Fender lists a lot of different prices across offers, so check the price when you sign up.
StringTheory
- Works on: Windows 10 (Mac only as test builds)
- How it hears you: a guitar cable, an audio interface or a microphone
- Free version: all of it; free on Steam and open source
- Paid: nothing
StringTheory is the most Rocksmith like of the free options, and it only arrived on Steam on 21 August 2026. It shows a 3D note highway or a tab view, detects single notes and chords live as you play, and scores you.
The practice modes are genuinely useful: Loop Mode, a Note By Note mode that stops at each note or chord until you play it right, speed control, and a built in pedalboard for your tone. The developer recommends a direct cable or an audio interface for the best detection.
It’s a one person project with only a handful of Steam reviews so far, so expect some rough edges. It plays the songs that come with it and songs you import from Guitar Pro or MusicXML files. Its GitHub version also loads Rocksmith’s own song files, but that’s exactly what got another project, Slopsmith, taken down after a Ubisoft copyright notice in June 2026, so I’d stick to Guitar Pro files.
fee[dB]ack
- Works on: Windows, Mac (Apple silicon), Linux
- How it hears you: an audio interface, or a decent microphone
- Free version: all of it; free and open source
- Paid: nothing (donations welcome)
fee[dB]ack is another free, open source note highway game, and the only one here with a proper Linux download. It follows every note, bend and chord as you play, supports alternate tunings and a capo, and has a tuner, slow down and looping built in. It covers bass, electronic drums and keys too.
There’s no song catalogue. You import Guitar Pro or MusicXML files, use charts other people have shared in its own format, or write your own in the built in editor.
It’s still early software, with version 0.3.0 released in July 2026, so treat it as a promising project rather than a finished game. The site promises it will stay free.
Soundlane
- Works on: any web browser on a computer; phone apps promised
- How it hears you: a microphone, or a cable through an audio interface
- Free version: all of it, with no account
- Paid: a Pro tier is planned
Soundlane turns any Guitar Pro tab into a scrolling note highway in your browser, then listens to your real guitar and grades every note on timing and pitch. Its own pitch against Rocksmith sums it up: no Real Tone cable, no console and no plastic controller.
The note recognition runs on your own computer inside the browser, and your audio is never uploaded. It even switches its built in amp between clean and distorted where the tab says, and has a tuner, a Learn mode and exercises.
You bring the songs, though. Only one comes with it, and the rest have to be Guitar Pro files. It’s a brand new one person project, and I couldn’t find a video of it yet, so the picture above shows its website.
Songsterr
- Works on: any web browser, iPhone, Android
- How it hears you: it doesn’t; it plays the tab for you to follow
- Free version: every tab, but playback pauses every 10 bars
- Paid: Plus at $9.90 a month on the website
Songsterr is here for one reason: if what you miss about Rocksmith is the songs, Songsterr has hundreds of thousands of tabs that play in sync with the original recording. It won’t score you, but for learning a song you love, that matters less than you’d think.
The free version lets you view and play every tab, with a pause every 10 bars. Plus removes the pauses and adds slow down without changing the pitch, looping, and muting or soloing parts, all for $9.90 a month; monthly is the only option. The tabs come from users, so the odd one has mistakes.
Guitar Tricks
- Works on: any web browser, iPhone, Android
- How it hears you: it doesn’t listen live; you can send a video for an instructor’s feedback
- Free version: 24 lessons
- Paid: Full Access at $29.95 a month on the website
Guitar Tricks is the opposite of a game: a huge library of more than 11,000 video lessons, organised into a step by step Core Learning System, genre courses and song lessons with tabs. If Rocksmith taught you songs but never really taught you guitar, this fills that gap.
It doesn’t listen to you in real time. Instead, you can send a video of your playing and an instructor replies with advice. The free membership gives you 24 lessons, and the iPhone app offers a 7 day free trial that becomes $19.99 a month. I’ve compared it in more detail in Guitar Tricks vs Yousician and Guitar Tricks vs Fender Play.
JustinGuitar App
- Works on: iPhone, iPad, Android
- How it hears you: the tuner and some chord change exercises use the microphone
- Free version: a free download with some lessons; the full course is free on JustinGuitar.com
- Paid: Full Access; US App Store plans from $8.99 a month
Justin Sandercoe’s beginner course is famous for being free on his website, and the app packs it into your phone: 210 video lessons across Grades 1 to 3, a daily practice routine and more than 1,500 songs with adjustable tempo.
It listens only a little. The tuner and some chord change exercises use the microphone, and since May 2026 the Perfect Fast Changes exercise detects your chords. For songs, you rate yourself from one to three stars rather than being scored.
There’s no computer version of the app. The honest setup for a PC player is Justin’s free website course on the computer, with the app on your phone for practice.
Simply Guitar
- Works on: iPhone, iPad, Android
- How it hears you: your phone’s microphone
- Free version: the first part of the Guitar Basics I course
- Paid: a subscription; the price varies by country
Simply Guitar is the most beginner friendly app here. You put your phone in front of you, play, and it recognises what you’re playing, with short video lessons and songs along the way.
It’s phones and tablets only, and it hears you through the microphone, so an electric guitar needs an amp or it probably won’t hear you at all. On iPhone it also works with the iRig HD2 interface. The free part is the start of the Guitar Basics I course, and the 7 day free trial only comes with the yearly plan.
ImmerRock
- Works on: Meta Quest 3, Quest 3S and Quest Pro headsets
- How it hears you: a Real Tone Cable with an adapter, a small guitar interface, or a wireless clip on microphone
- Free version: none
- Paid: $14.99 once, in Early Access
If you own a Meta Quest headset, ImmerRock is the strangest and most fun idea here. It’s a mixed reality course: finger positions, lessons and more than 400 exercises appear around the real guitar in your hands.
Two things to know. It isn’t on PC anymore; it’s a Quest app now. And the headset’s own microphone can’t hear a guitar, so note detection needs a Real Tone Cable with a USB C adapter, a small guitar interface or a wireless clip on mic. It costs $14.99 once while it’s in Early Access, and the price goes up at full release.
Common Questions
Can You Still Buy Rocksmith 2014?
Yes, on Steam, as Rocksmith 2014 Edition Remastered Learn & Play for $9.99 on Windows. It comes without the licensed songs, but song packs are still sold separately on Steam and work with it. The Real Tone Cable is sold separately too.
Can I Play Rocksmith Without The Real Tone Cable?
Rocksmith+ can hear you through its free phone app or an audio interface, no cable needed. For Rocksmith 2014, there’s an unofficial community mod called RS_ASIO that lets the Steam version use an audio interface. It patches the game while it runs, only works with interfaces that have 32 bit ASIO drivers, and isn’t supported by Ubisoft, so it’s for the confident.
Is Rocksmith+ On Mac Or Xbox?
No. Ubisoft lists Windows, PlayStation, iPhone and Android. On a Mac, look at Yousician’s desktop app, fee[dB]ack, or the browser based Fender Play and Soundlane.
What’s Best For A Complete Beginner?
A structured course matters more than a scoring game at the start. I’d pair Justin’s free website course, or my list of free YouTube guitar lesson channels, with Yousician or Simply Guitar for the game side.
Conclusion
There isn’t one perfect replacement, so pick by what you miss most. If it’s playing official songs on a note highway, Rocksmith+ is still the closest, as long as you accept the subscription and the always online catch. If you want that feeling for free on a PC, StringTheory or fee[dB]ack will get you there with your own Guitar Pro files. And if what you really want is to get better, Yousician, Fender Play or Guitar Tricks will teach you more than any highway.
If you’d rather follow a book at your own pace, with a real song to play in every chapter, my book From First Chord to First Solo takes you from your first two chords to your first solo.
Good luck and keep on rockin’!
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