Comparison

Simple Music Note Workout vs Sibelius

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

Head to head
About

Simple Music Note Workout

Practice note recognition on your instrument with this app. It helps you learn your fretboard or keyboard by identifying notes you play and offering three difficulty levels. Additional music notation and ear training exercises are available.

Highlights
  • Note recognition by ear
  • Instrument fretboard/keyboard learning
  • Pitch recognition feedback
  • Three difficulty levels
  • Music notation exercises (in-app purchase)
  • Ear training exercises (in-app purchase)
Read full description

Simple Music Note Workout lets you practice where your notes are on your instrument, music notation reading, and note recognition by ear. Learn your guitar fretboard or your piano keyboard, with a teacher that’s always available and never tired. The app will pick a note at random and wait for you to play it back on your instrument. Through pitch recognition, it will tell you if it’s the right one, and if not, which note you played. There are 3 levels of difficulty : first one will pick notes among C, E, G. 2nd will pick notes from the C major scale, and 3rd one will pick notes from the chromatic scale. Two exercises (music notation and ear training) are available through an in-app purchase.

About

Sibelius

Professional music notation software is now available on mobile devices. Create, edit, and hear your compositions anywhere with a full suite of tools optimized for touch and stylus input. Seamlessly sync across platforms and access different feature tiers to suit your needs.

Highlights
  • Professional music notation
  • Cross-platform synchronization
  • High-quality sample library
  • Apple Pencil and touch optimization
  • Innovative note entry
  • Command Search functionality
  • Scalable subscription tiers
Features
Read full description

Sibelius brings professional music notation to iPad and iPhone, putting the workflows used by countless composers, orchestrators, and arrangers at your fingertips. Seamlessly move between iPad, iPhone and desktop, and from studio to coffeeshop to scoring stage, and write anywhere inspiration strikes. # Work on scores anywhere Sibelius for mobile puts the #1 selling music notation program at your fingertips—literally. Work with the same tools and features used by countless composers and production houses every day on your iPad and iPhone. Whether writing down ideas, creating full-blown compositions, or reviewing scores, you have the freedom to create wherever you’re comfortable. #Take your portfolio to go Forget having to bring and break out your laptop when meeting with clients and collaborators. Instead, you can conveniently take the world’s most powerful notation toolset and your entire music portfolio with you wherever you go—ideal for those unexpected opportunities. And for tandemly working through last-minute revisions. # Hear your music in stunning detail Sibelius includes a high-quality sample library filled with a variety of musical instrumentation, so you can hear what your music will sound like when performed by real musicians. The Espressivo advanced notation interpretation even lets you adjust rhythm and swing to create a more humanistic feel. # Speed your workflow Sibelius for mobile is designed to take full advantage of Apple Pencil and iPad touch capabilities. Its elegant, streamlined interface provides the most intuitive and efficient workflows possible while supporting the same keyboard shortcuts you know and love from working on the desktop version, so you’ll feel right at home. # Get innovative note entry Experience the pen and paper workflow reimagined. Enter notes with the onscreen Keypad or a keyboard, and Sibelius takes care of all note layout. Touch a note and drag up or down to change its value, or drag left or right to add a flat or sharp. With an Apple Pencil, tap a note and tilt up or down to add a flat or sharp, or tilt left or right to choose the note value. # Have everything you need In addition to the Keypad, Sibelius for mobile features a Create menu that’s optimized for iOS, making it easy to add clefs, key signatures, time signatures, barlines, symbols, text styles, and more to your score from searchable galleries. You can also quickly search through all Sibelius commands using the Command Search, putting the entire app at your fingertips. # Move tiers to meet needs Sibelius is designed to grow with you to support your creative aspirations and project needs. From the introductory (and free) Sibelius First to the industry-standard Sibelius Ultimate, you can add more notation capabilities and instrument parts to take on more creative opportunities by simply upgrading your subscription tier. # Have everything on one creative platform Seamlessly move from desktop to tablet and back without ever having to import or export files. That’s because whether on mobile or desktop, you’re always in Sibelius. With files saved to iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or other iOS-supported cloud service, you have easy anywhere access to all your ideas and scores. # Enable a hybrid workflow While Sibelius for mobile is fully featured, providing many of the same tools as its desktop counterpart, there are some notation and layout features only available in the desktop version, making it an integral part of a complete workflow (compare versions). Plus, the mobile version comes free with the desktop version, enabling you to work where and how you want.

Screenshots

Simple Music Note Workout3 screens
Sibelius4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Sibelius at 4.2 against Simple Music Note Workout's 3.0. Sibelius also leads on review sentiment (36% vs 0%) and ratings volume (1.8K vs 1). Simple Music Note Workout's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, ads, 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. Simple Music Note Workout sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Sibelius sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sibelius holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sibelius has 1.8K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Simple Music Note Workout's written reviews are positive against 36% of Sibelius's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simple Music Note Workout ships an update fortnightly, Sibelius every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Simple Music Note Workout versus Sibelius: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimple Music Note WorkoutSibelius
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (1 ratings)4.2 (1.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews35.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11.8K — better
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.0 — better13.4
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB1.4 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGuillaume LaurentAvid®

Customer experience

Simple Music Note Workout

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

Sibelius

All ratings1,796 ratings
Positive78.2%
Neutral5.3%
Negative16.5%
Written reviews591 reviews
Positive35.7%
Neutral11.3%
Negative53.0%

Bugs and requests

Simple Music Note Workout

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Sibelius

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Scores disappearing or not saving properly
  • Subscription issues and inability to log in
  • Crashes when performing basic actions
  • Compatibility problems with newer iPad OS versions

Requested features

7 requests
  • Ability to enlarge chord symbols
  • More time signature options
  • Support for MIDI input
  • Better Apple Pencil integration
  • Autosave and improved file management
Show 2 more
  • Export options like MusicXML and PDF
  • Customizable shortcuts and toolbars

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Simple Music Note Workout

One-time1
  • Music Notation and Ear Training Exercises$0.99
2 purchases

Sibelius

Subscriptions2
  • Sibelius Artist for iOS1 Month trial$5.991 Month
  • Sibelius Ultimate for iOS1 Month trial$12.991 Month

Questions

Is Simple Music Note Workout free?
Simple Music Note Workout is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sibelius free?
Sibelius is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Simple Music Note Workout or Sibelius?
Sibelius is rated higher. Simple Music Note Workout averages 3.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Sibelius averages 4.2 from 1.8K ratings.
Do Simple Music Note Workout or Sibelius have ads?
Neither Simple Music Note Workout nor Sibelius shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simple Music Note Workout or Sibelius?
Simple Music Note Workout ships an update fortnightly, and Sibelius every 2 months. Most recently, Simple Music Note Workout was updated on October 20, 2026 and Sibelius on October 22, 2026.

Other comparisons