Rekwest vs SpecialRequest: Which song request app for DJs in 2026?

The short answer

• Price. SpecialRequest Premium costs US$6.99 a month or US$59.99 a year (CA$9.99 and CA$79.99 in Canada), and includes everything we offer. Rekwest Pro is listed at US$8.99 a month or US$69.99 a year on the App Store, and features like BPM and key, kiosk mode or a TV screen sit in Enterprise, at US$32.99 a month.
• Played songs. Rekwest's documentation has you mark each song as played by hand. SpecialRequest listens to what you play and marks requests played for you.
• Private events. Rekwest hides an event from its public listings and lets you approve guests one by one. SpecialRequest adds an access code, on the free plan.
• Tips. Both take 10% plus 30 cents on a tip. Rekwest charges the guest once you accept the request; SpecialRequest charges only when the song actually plays.
• Only at SpecialRequest. Song previews, refusal reasons shown to guests, a booking page with a form, reviews from your guests, and a chat with the guest behind each request: none of them appear on Rekwest's pages.

What you pay

Rekwest has three plans. Standard is free, with unlimited events, guests and requests, song search in Spotify, SoundCloud or Apple Music, and a Spotify playlist export, but with ads during your events and without a universal QR code or Tidal. Professional removes the ads and adds Tidal, messages on requests, pausing requests with a note, a repertoire from a playlist, posters and recurring events. Enterprise, the only plan with BPM and key, kiosk mode, a TV screen, custom repertoires and marketing emails to your guests, is listed at US$32.99 a month on the App Store.

SpecialRequest has two. Free covers unlimited events, guests and requests, the QR code and link, live votes, song search in Apple Music, Tidal or Spotify, requests before and during the event, an access code, the explicit filter, tips and song recognition. Premium adds everything else, DJ software sync, BPM and key, previews, a repertoire, the booking page, the agenda, posters, reviews, refusal reasons and the chat, for US$6.99 a month or US$59.99 a year (CA$9.99 and CA$79.99 in Canada). If you'd rather not subscribe, the Season pass is three months of Premium for US$17.99 (CA$24.99), paid once.

Prices are the US dollar amounts listed on the App Store on October 14, 2026, and on our pricing page; both stores show them in your own currency. Rekwest's own pricing page quotes per-month amounts for yearly billing, so compare the yearly totals.

Played songs: on their own, or by hand

Rekwest's guide to managing requests is clear: "After you've played an accepted song, mark it as Played to move it to the Played tab." Every song, every time, in the middle of a set.

SpecialRequest recognizes the music playing in the room and marks the matching requests played for you, so the guest sees their song came up and your list stays clean without you touching the phone. You can still mark a song by hand when you want to.

In SpecialRequest

Turn on song recognition in the event, and accepted requests are marked played as you play them. On the free plan. See the plans

Getting requests into your DJ software

Both apps do this the same way: accepted requests go into a playlist on a streaming service, and your DJ software reads that playlist. Rekwest's own documentation lists the fine print: most DJ software doesn't reload a playlist on its own when songs are added, Spotify's DJ integration needs Spotify Premium and "is only available in a selection of countries", SoundCloud needs Go+, and Apple Music only works with non-collaborative playlists.

To be fair to Rekwest, its free plan exports to a Spotify playlist or queue, while SpecialRequest's sync is part of Premium. Where SpecialRequest differs is after the sync: it also knows the BPM and the Camelot key of every request, so you see which ones mix with what you're playing, and it marks them played once they come up.

In SpecialRequest

Connect your Tidal or Apple Music account once, and every song you accept lands in the event's playlist, ready in Serato, rekordbox, Traktor or VirtualDJ. With Premium. DJ software sync

Tips

Both apps let guests add a tip to a request, through Stripe, and both keep 10% plus 30 cents per tip. The difference is when the guest pays. On Rekwest, the home page says guests "are only charged once you accept" the request. On SpecialRequest, the tip is only charged when the song actually plays: if the night ends before you get to it, the guest keeps their money, and nobody feels cheated.

Rekwest's tips are entered in euros or dollars, with Canadian dollars added in May 2026. SpecialRequest was built for Canadian dollars from the start, and shows every price in your currency.

Private events

For a wedding or an office party, you don't want strangers in the request list. Rekwest offers to hide the event from its public listings, so only people with the link or QR code can join, to approve guests one by one, or to limit the event to people nearby. We found no access code on its pages.

SpecialRequest's events are private by default, and you can add a four-digit access code, on the free plan. The code goes on the invitation or the tables; a link that leaks doesn't let anyone in.

In SpecialRequest

Set an access code when you create the event, and change it any time. Create an event

Saying no, bookings and reviews

A few things we looked for on Rekwest's pages and didn't find. A way to tell a guest why their song was declined: Rekwest offers to hide declined requests, SpecialRequest shows the guest a reason you pick, or your own words. A chat with the guest behind a request: Rekwest added replies to request messages in September 2026; SpecialRequest opens a conversation on each request. A booking page: Rekwest's profile has a booking button that links to your own form or website; SpecialRequest gives you a booking page with a form, and an agenda that holds the bookings next to your events. Reviews from your guests after the event: we found none at Rekwest.

Song previews are the other one. SpecialRequest plays you a clip of a request before you commit to it. We didn't find previews on Rekwest's pages either.

Design

This part is an opinion, and we'll own it. We find Rekwest's app dated and busy: a lot of settings and a look that was clearly built by engineers first. That matters more than it sounds, because your guests see your request page all night, on a table, in a hand, next to your name.

SpecialRequest was designed from the start as something you'd be proud to put in front of a crowd: large type you can read in a dark room, one action per screen, and a request page that looks like a part of your event, not like a form. Try both for a minute with the free plans and judge for yourself.

Closer to home

SpecialRequest is made in Québec, Canada. For Canadian DJs that means prices and tips in Canadian dollars, support by email in English and French, and a company under Québec law, including its privacy law (Law 25). Rekwest is based in the Netherlands, with prices in US dollars or euros, tip fees in euros, and support over Discord and email.

Side by side

Switching from Rekwest

Nothing to migrate: your events are one-night things. Here's how to try SpecialRequest at your next gig without paying anything:

1. 1Create your free account, in the app on iPhone, Android or Mac, or on the web.
2. 2Create your event, set the access code if it's private, and print the QR code.
3. 3Pick a quiet night and watch what guests do: how many scan, how many request, and how the list feels from your side.
4. 4Want DJ software sync, BPM and key and song previews for one busy season? The Season pass gives you three months of Premium, paid once, no subscription.

In SpecialRequest

The free plan covers events, guests and requests without limits, with tips and song recognition, no credit card needed. See the plans