Comparison

Sibelius KeyPad vs Goodnotes

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Sibelius KeyPad

Transform your iPhone or iPad into a virtual keypad for your computer to enhance creativity and productivity within Sibelius. Connect wirelessly via Wi-Fi for seamless control, with a slick interface and quick setup.

Highlights
  • Virtual keypad for Sibelius
  • Wi-Fi connectivity
  • Automatic keypad switching
  • Slick user interface
  • Personal Hotspot support
  • Easy 3-step setup
Features
Read full description

Sibelius KeyPad turns your iPhone or iPad into a dedicated notation keypad for Sibelius. Keep the controls you use most close at hand while you compose, arrange, and edit. Connect over Wi-Fi, choose the keypad you need, and send notation shortcuts to Sibelius on your Mac or Windows PC. Made for scoring - Common Notes - More Notes - Beams and Tremolos - Articulations - Jazz Articulations - Accidentals Customize your workflow - Assign keyboard shortcut actions to keypad buttons - Choose the shortcut sent when switching each keypad tab - Reset keypads to factory settings any time - Automatically switch keypads in Sibelius based on your selection Simple setup - Works with Sibelius for Mac and Windows - Connect over Wi-Fi or Personal Hotspot - Set up in three quick steps - No direct line of sight required System Requirements - iPhone or iPad - Sibelius for Mac or Windows - Mac: macOS 10.13 or later with helper app - Windows: Windows 7 or later with helper app - Shared Wi-Fi network or Personal Hotspot Helper app Requires the free helper app for Mac or Windows: https://rs.ltd/get Ratings are like gold for indie developers like me - please give the app a quick rating on the App Store. • Privacy policy can be found at https://www.cherpake.com/privacy • Terms and Conditions can be found at https://www.cherpake.com/terms

About

Goodnotes

Capture ideas, enhance productivity, and unlock insights with advanced AI features. This app offers tools for professionals, students, and creatives, including infinite whiteboards, AI-powered transcription and summarization, and customizable digital notebooks.

Highlights
  • AI-powered transcription and summarization
  • Infinite whiteboard canvas
  • Digital notebooks with customizable templates
  • Study Sets for flashcards
  • Presentation mode with laser pointer
  • Real-time collaboration
Features
Read full description

Goodnotes has always been the place to capture your ideas — from quick notes to big plans. Now, it goes further. With powerful AI and new ways to capture information, Goodnotes helps you connect the dots, unlock insights, and turn ideas into action. *Existing Goodnotes 5 users can continue to use Goodnotes 5 indefinitely or upgrade to the new Goodnotes. Either way, your notes are safe!* For professionals: Increase productivity at work ■ Whiteboard + Goodnotes AI: Brainstorm, mind-map, and diagram freely on an infinite canvas that grows with your ideas. Enhanced diagramming tools and real-time collaboration make it easy for teams to workshop & ideate together, while Goodnotes AI helps you capture and organize key takeaways instantly. ■ Goodnotes AI Audio & Meetings: Stay fully present in every conversation while Goodnotes does the work for you. AI-powered transcription and live summarization automatically capture discussions and turns them into clear meeting minutes. After the meeting, merge transcripts with your own handwritten or typed notes to create polished, shareable documents in seconds. ■ Text Documents + AI: Create documents that think with you. Enjoy a superior typing experience with rich inline blocks, build on ideas with external insights, and collaborate seamlessly with teammates. With AI-powered summarization, automated note generation, and transcript support, turn rough notes and meetings into finished content faster than ever. ■ Present your notes, slides, and content directly from Goodnotes when you connect your device via AirPlay or HDMI to an external screen. ■ Use Laser Pointer to guide your audience's attention during your presentation. ■ Export your handwritten and typed notes to email, print, or share them anywhere as PDFs. ■ Send a link to your notebooks to work on the same notes. ■ Import documents by emailing them to your custom Goodnotes email. For students: Ace your exams with ease ■ Record audio notes that are magically synced to your iPhone or iPad exact moment you write: perfect for lectures, seminars, and presentations. ■ Take handwritten notes that stay fully searchable: instantly find any word across every class notebook, even mid-lecture. ■ Study and practice straight from your notes with study Sets: flashcards built on active recall and spaced repetition. ■ Use AI to summarize, shorten, change the tone of your words, and turn messy handwritten or typed student notes into polished, structured study material. For planners and journalers: Let your creativity flow ■ Plan your week, month, or year on your iPhone/ iPad with built-in and importable planner templates, fully customizable to match how you plan. ■ Keep a daily journal alongside your planner. Combine handwriting, typed reflections, photos, and stickers on the same page. ■ Use Goodnotes AI to summarize a week's worth of journal entries on your iPhone or iPad into key themes and takeaways. ■ Customize the size and color of your paper templates to create the planner or journal you want. ■ Add, create, or import stickers, stamps, washi tapes, images, and more on your iPad. Digital notebooks: unlimited notebooks for the price of a single physical one ■ Combine handwriting and typed text on one page, alongside images, stickers, diagrams, and doodles. ■ Create digital notebooks, planners, and journals with customizable paper templates, including Blank Paper, Ruled Paper, Cornell Paper, Checklists, Planners, and more. ■ Navigate long documents with ease. PDF tables of contents are automatically imported, or create custom outlines yourself. ■ Back up all your handwritten and typed notes to Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive, and use iCloud to sync across iPad, iPhone, and Mac — so your notes are always safe. ■ Edit your handwriting by resizing it, changing the text color, or moving it to another spot on the page. Privacy Policy: https://www.goodnotes.com/privacy-policy Terms and Conditions: https://www.goodnotes.com/terms-and-conditions

Screenshots

Sibelius KeyPad4 screens
Goodnotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

Sibelius KeyPad and Goodnotes both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 88% of Sibelius KeyPad's written reviews are positive against 34% of Goodnotes's. Goodnotes's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (455K vs 142). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Sibelius KeyPad sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Goodnotes sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Sibelius KeyPad against 4.7 for Goodnotes. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Goodnotes has 455K ratings behind it against 142, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 88% of Sibelius KeyPad's written reviews are positive against 34% of Goodnotes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sibelius KeyPad ships an update every 3 weeks, Goodnotes weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 7, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Sibelius KeyPad versus Goodnotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSibelius KeyPadGoodnotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (142 ratings)4.7 (455K ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.1% of reviews — better33.6% of reviews
Number of ratings142455K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#100 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size74 MB794 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRemote Sunrise LTDGoodnotes Limited

Customer experience

Sibelius KeyPad

All ratings142 ratings
Positive91.5%
Neutral1.4%
Negative7.0%
Written reviews109 reviews
Positive88.1%
Neutral1.8%
Negative10.1%

Goodnotes

All ratings454,853 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral1.9%
Negative4.7%
Written reviews6,458 reviews
Positive33.6%
Neutral11.3%
Negative55.0%

User reviews

Sibelius KeyPad

From 142 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Significantly speeds up Sibelius workflow and note input
  • 👍 Easy to install and set up
  • ⚡ Minimal lag and responsive performance
  • 🎯 Intuitive user interface aligned with Sibelius keypad
  • 💰 Affordable alternative to physical keypads

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Accent symbol and grace note keys non-functional
  • 🔌 WiFi-dependent, causes issues on public networks
  • 🔄 Connection drops requiring history workaround to reconnect
  • ⏱️ Occasional latency when changing rhythm values
  • 🎵 Missing voice selector buttons

Goodnotes

From 455K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent note-taking experience
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Smooth writing with Apple Pencil
  • 📁 Powerful organization with folders and notebooks
  • 🖼️ Ability to annotate PDFs and documents

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitches and crashes
  • 🔍 Syncing and iCloud issues
  • 🔍 Lack of flexibility with text input
  • 🔍 Limited eraser and highlighting options
  • 🔍 Subpar performance on Mac app

Bugs and requests

Sibelius KeyPad

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Accent symbol key does not function
  • Grace note key non-functional
  • Main screen shows 'no computer found' despite prior connection
  • App crashes on iPhone with certain iOS versions
  • Buttons trigger Mission Control or desktop reveal instead of intended functions
Show 5 more
  • Incorrect note duration symbols displayed on some keys
  • App occasionally inputs notes automatically after 30 minutes of use
  • Tab switching not working properly
  • Inconsistent button functionality on certain pages
  • Connection issues on public WiFi networks

Requested features

9 requests
  • Voice selector buttons for editing different voices
  • Piano keyboard option for note input
  • Numeric display on keys for dual numpad functionality
  • Sync between Sibelius keypad clicks and app display
  • iPad Sibelius compatibility
Show 4 more
  • Custom key mapping/settings
  • Upstroke/downstroke articulation symbols
  • Customizable skins and themes
  • Better button positioning for smaller hands

Goodnotes

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Text box issues - unable to edit, resize, or move properly
  • Handwriting recognition problems, especially with cursive
  • Unreliable scrolling and page navigation
  • Inconsistent behavior when using the zoom feature

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add bullet point and formatting options for typed text
  • Implement a full-screen writing mode
  • Improve the straight line and shape tools
  • Integrate audio recording and synchronization
  • Allow more customization of the toolbar and interface

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Sibelius KeyPad

Subscriptions2
  • Sibelius KeyPad Pro - 1 month$0.991 Month
  • Sibelius KeyPad Pro - 1 year$4.991 Year
One-time2
  • Sibelius KeyPad Pro - lifetime$2.99
  • Sibelius KeyPad Pro - forever$9.99
16 purchases

Goodnotes

Subscriptions5
  • AI Pass (Monthly)7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Goodnotes 6 (1 Year)1 Year trial$9.991 Year
  • Essential (Yearly)7 Days trial$11.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Essential (Yearly)1 Year trial2 variants$11.991 Year
  • Goodnotes Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$35.991 Year
One-time11
  • Bunny Oasis StickersFree
  • Medicine-Academia Sticker SheeFree
  • Goodnotes 6 Free TrialFree
Show 8 more
  • Marketplace Content$1.99
  • Marketplace Content$6.99
  • Marketplace Content$8.99
  • GoodNotes 5 Unlock$9.99
  • Marketplace Content$9.99
  • Marketplace Content$10.99
  • Goodnotes 6 One-Time Payment$28.99
  • Special Edition$35.99

Questions

Is Sibelius KeyPad free?
Sibelius KeyPad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Goodnotes free?
Goodnotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sibelius KeyPad or Goodnotes?
Goodnotes is rated higher. Sibelius KeyPad averages 4.6 out of 5 from 142 ratings, while Goodnotes averages 4.7 from 455K ratings.
Do Sibelius KeyPad or Goodnotes have ads?
Sibelius KeyPad shows ads; Goodnotes does not.
Which is updated more often, Sibelius KeyPad or Goodnotes?
Sibelius KeyPad ships an update every 3 weeks, and Goodnotes weekly. Most recently, Sibelius KeyPad was updated on September 7, 2026 and Goodnotes on September 27, 2026.

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