The short answer: A metronome app clicks at a fixed rhythm to set your cadence, which is how many steps you take per minute. Your cadence and your pace are different things, because you can hold 180 steps a minute and still slow from 5:00 to 5:30 per kilometre by shortening your stride. Steady Pace holds your actual pace, your speed over the ground, with a tone that reacts when you drift. It also includes a metronome, so you do not need two apps.
Cadence and pace are different things
Cadence is your step rate, the number of steps per minute. A metronome holds that rhythm steady, which can help your form. But your pace depends on your cadence and your stride length together. If you keep the rhythm and shorten your stride, which is what happens as you tire, your feet stay on the beat while your pace slides. The metronome does not notice, because it does not measure speed.
Steady Pace measures your pace over the ground, using GPS and the phone's sensors, and plays it as a tone at your target. When you slow down the tone rises, and when you speed up it falls, whatever your feet are doing.
A metronome and a pace tone compared
| Steady Pace (pace tone) | A metronome app | |
|---|---|---|
| What it controls | Your pace, your speed | Your cadence, your step rhythm |
| Reacts when you drift | Yes | No, it keeps the same beat |
| Knows how fast you are going | Yes, from GPS and sensors | No |
| Includes a metronome | Yes, built in | That is all it is |
| Good for holding a goal pace | Yes | No, not on its own |
What a metronome is for
A metronome suits cadence work: raising your step rate to reduce over-striding, or holding a rhythm for form. Steady Pace includes one for exactly this, so you get the click without a second app.
What the pace tone is for
If you want to hold a pace, such as not drifting off 5:00s on a long run or blowing up the first mile of a race, a metronome will not get you there, because it does not know your pace. The pace tone tracks your speed and moves when you slip. Because Steady Pace has the metronome built in, you can run to a cadence click and a pace tone at once.
A metronome keeps your step rhythm steady, but it cannot hold your pace, because it does not measure your speed. Steady Pace measures your pace and includes a metronome as well.
Guide
Running cadence
What step rate is, and what it fixes.
Guide
How to run a steady pace
Holding an actual speed over the ground.
Compare
Steady Pace vs a running watch
Reading pace by ear instead of off your wrist.
Will a running metronome keep me at a steady pace?
No. A metronome holds your cadence, your step rhythm, but pace also depends on stride length. You can keep a perfect beat and still slow down by shortening your stride. To hold a pace you need something that measures your speed, which is what Steady Pace's tone does.
What is the difference between cadence and pace?
Cadence is how many steps you take per minute. Pace is how fast you cover ground. At the same cadence you can run faster or slower by changing stride length. A metronome controls cadence; Steady Pace controls pace.
Does Steady Pace have a metronome?
Yes. It includes a cadence metronome alongside the pace tone, so you can run to a step rhythm, a pace target, or both, without a separate app.
Should I train cadence or pace?
Both have a place. Cadence work can improve form and reduce over-striding. Pace control is about hitting the speeds your training or race calls for. Steady Pace covers both.