Comparison

AudioTheory Guitars vs SheetScope

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

Head to head
About

AudioTheory Guitars

This app serves as a comprehensive reference for guitarists, offering interactive chord and fretboard diagrams. It simplifies music theory by allowing seamless transcription between piano and guitar, with customizable tuning and note exclusion features.

Highlights
  • Interactive chord and fretboard diagrams
  • Piano to guitar transcription
  • Customizable tuning and capo settings
  • Chord sheet playback
  • Note exclusion for playing in key
  • Left-handed mode
Features
Read full description

AudioTheory Guitars is the ultimate reference tool for guitar notes and chords. Featuring a built-in keyboard, each note reacts to your input across the customisable chord and fretboard diagrams. For anyone who's ever wished music theory was that little bit more straightforward – this is the software you need. Features: –Seamlessly transcribe between piano and guitar using a straight-forward colour coding system and notation highlighting. Play a note on the keyboard, or directly from the chord and fretboard diagrams to see where it is across all formats. –Set your tuning and capo. Everything else adjusts accordingly – no need for a chord transposition chart. –Choose your chords with open, power, barre, sus2 and dim7 chord sheets with fullscreen diagrams and playback options. –Exclude notes and never play out of key again. Your fretboard diagram now only shows the notes you need and your keyboard doesn't play the ones you don't. –Full customisation. Select the chords you want. Left-handed mode for left-handed players. Set your fretboard size, number of strings, start fret and per-string tuning.

About

SheetScope

Transform sheet music PDFs, photos, or scans into editable digital scores. Convert MIDI files into sheet music. Recognition and editing occur directly on your device, with exports in MusicXML, MIDI, and PDF formats.

Highlights
  • Sheet music recognition from PDF, photo, or scan
  • MIDI to sheet music conversion
  • On-device editing of scores
  • Playback of recognized scores
  • Export to MusicXML, MIDI, and PDF
  • Supports lead sheets, piano, SATB, and drum notation
Features
Read full description

Turn a sheet-music PDF, photo, or scan into an editable digital score. Drop in a MIDI file and get sheet music the other way round. Recognition runs entirely on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and results export as MusicXML, MIDI, and PDF. ■ Free · Score recognition — the first page of a PDF, photo, or camera scan, shown on screen to check and edit · MIDI → score — MIDI files exported from a DAW become sheet music, with no bar limit · Editing — select notes, move them up or down, fix accidentals, listen · Add and delete notes, change durations, swap rests and notes, set repeats and 1st/2nd endings by hand · Playback — hear the recognised score right away ■ Pro (one-time lifetime purchase, not a subscription) · Recognise every page of a document · Export — MusicXML (opens in MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale and others), MIDI, PDF ■ What it reads · Lead sheets and single-line melodies with chord symbols · Piano grand staff · SATB choir systems · Drum notation · Key and time signatures, ties, slurs, triplets, chord symbols · Repeat barlines (1st/2nd endings are only partly read — treat them as a guide; missed endings can be entered by hand in the editor. D.C. and coda are not read) ■ About accuracy — please read before buying Measured against scores with known answers (our own tests, September 2026). · Clean printed lead sheets: notes (pitch and duration) 90-99%. Dense sixteenth-note songs around 80% · SATB choir: about 93% · Piano: simple pieces 95%+, complex pieces around 80% — treat as a guide · Drums: hi-hat and snare nearly exact; kick drum misses about half the hits in busy bars — treat as a guide · Ties about 87%, slurs about 60% · Photos: straight, well-lit photos match PDF results; tilted or blurry photos drop sharply · Handwritten and tablature scores are not supported · MIDI → score: quantised MIDI is exact. Piano with up to two voices is accurate; three or more voices and performed (unquantised) MIDI are a guide only Automatic recognition is a first draft. The app is built for checking and correcting in the editor, and it removes most of the time you would spend entering notes by hand. Try your own scores in the free tier before you decide. ■ No internet needed Recognition, editing, and export all happen on your device. Score images are never uploaded. No account, no ads. ■ Copyright Convert only scores you own the rights to, public-domain scores, or scores you have permission to use. The app is made for personal study and practice and has no sharing or upload features. ■ Made for · Players and arrangers moving paper scores into editable files · Producers turning lead sheets into MIDI for a DAW · Choir directors and singers making part-practice audio · Composers tidying MIDI sketches into notation

Screenshots

SheetScope4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: SheetScope at Free against AudioTheory Guitars's $6.99. SheetScope also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 months). AudioTheory Guitars's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (67% vs 50%). On ads and device support 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

SheetScope is free to download; AudioTheory Guitars costs $6.99 up front. SheetScope sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. AudioTheory Guitars asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

AudioTheory Guitars ships an update every 3 months, SheetScope every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
AudioTheory Guitars versus SheetScope: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAudioTheory GuitarsSheetScope
Price$6.99Free — better
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size412 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFraser MackenzieHYO SEOP LEE

Customer experience

AudioTheory Guitars

Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

SheetScope

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

AudioTheory Guitars

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

SheetScope

One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime$5.99

Questions

Is AudioTheory Guitars free?
AudioTheory Guitars costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is SheetScope free?
SheetScope is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do AudioTheory Guitars or SheetScope have ads?
Neither AudioTheory Guitars nor SheetScope shows ads.
Which is updated more often, AudioTheory Guitars or SheetScope?
AudioTheory Guitars ships an update every 3 months, and SheetScope every 2 days. Most recently, AudioTheory Guitars was updated on October 29, 2026 and SheetScope on October 30, 2026.

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