Sibelius vs Melody Scanner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Professional music notation
- Cross-platform synchronization
- High-quality sample library
- Apple Pencil and touch optimization
- Innovative note entry
- Command Search functionality
- Scalable subscription tiers
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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.
Melody Scanner
Convert audio recordings and YouTube videos into musical scores. View transcriptions as classical scores, piano rolls, or guitar tabs, and play them back. Download your creations in various formats or share them with friends.
- Transcribe audio to sheet music
- Support for piano, flute, violin, and guitar
- Multiple transcription views (score, piano roll, tab)
- Playback functionality
- Download sheet music (PDF, MIDI, MusicXML)
- Share compositions
- Desktop version synchronization
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Transcribe piano music recordings to scores and edit them online. SUPPORTED INSTRUMENTS: Piano, Flute, Violin (beta), Accoustic Guitar (beta) Currently only solo instruments are supported, no bands or orchestras. FUNCTIONS » Transcribe YouTube song covers, microphone recordings and audio files to sheet music » View the transcribed music as classical score, piano roll or guitar tab » Playback the sheet music and listen to the result » Download sheet as PDF, MIDI, or MusicXML » Share your compositions with your friends » Synchronize with the desktop version WHAT THIS APP DOESN'T OFFER » Separation of multiple instruments: The note recognition can't separate multiple instruments. If you record multiple instruments playing simultaneously you will get bad transcription results! » Live note recognition: This app is not able to show you live note recognition results. Instead, it will take some time to perform the frequency analysis and show you the results. » 100% match percentage: This app won't detect 100% of the played notes and there will also be wrong detections. But depending on the quality of the input signal, it will give you useful suggests! WHY DO I NEED AN ACCOUNT? You create an account to ensure that only you can access your created sheet music! A lot of computing power is necessary to generate the scores from the audio, so it needs to run on a powerful server in the cloud. Also, you can access your sheets from the desktop version, too, by signing in using the same account. FREE AND PREMIUM » Transcribing audio to sheet music is a computation expensive process and needs to be run on a powerful server in the cloud. Your PREMIUM purchase supports us paying our checks and developing new features for the app. » The FREE version of this app covers Microphone and YouTube transcriptions. Uploading your own files is a PREMIUM feature. » In the FREE version sheets are limited to 40 bars (about 2 minutes). Upgrading to PREMIUM will unlock the full sheet. » PREMIUM subscriptions can be cancelled at any time and you will continue to use PREMIUM features until the end of the subscription period. » All with PREMIUM transcribed songs will stay unlocked forever. REQUIREMENTS » Internet: active internet connection for server connectivity » Microphone (optional) DESKTOP VERSION » There is a desktop version of this app available, which you can access in your browser. » The desktop version covers even more features like editing your sheets, since there is more space available on a bigger screen » You can login with the same account and synchronize your scores between multiple devices Give music your personal note! SUMMARY Transcribe music recordings from YouTube, MP3 or microphone to sheet music and edit them online. With the Melody Scanner App you can create on-the-go recordings of your instrument. Those are uploaded to your personal cloud songbook and transcribed to score. You can record your instrument, import YouTube videos or upload MP3 files. It has never been so easy to create sheet music! CONTACT US We're always happy to hear from you. No matter what comes to your mind, we want to hear it. Would you like another feature? Does something not work as expected? Send us an e-mail at: support@melodyscanner.com This app is actively developed and there are updates on a regular base The Apple Terms of Use apply: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Sibelius at 4.2 against Melody Scanner's 1.7. Sibelius also leads on ratings volume (1.8K vs 35) and review sentiment (36% vs 28%). Melody Scanner'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
Both are free to download. Sibelius sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Melody Scanner sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Sibelius holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 1.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sibelius has 1.8K ratings behind it against 35, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Sibelius's written reviews are positive against 28% of Melody Scanner's.
Sibelius ships an update every 2 months, Melody Scanner fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sibelius | Melody Scanner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (1.8K ratings) — better | 1.7 (35 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 35.9% of reviews — better | 27.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.8K — better | 35 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.4 | 13.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.4 GB | 27 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Avid® | Klangio GmbH |
Customer experience
Sibelius
Melody Scanner
User reviews
Sibelius
From 1.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
- 🚀 Useful for composing on the go
- 💡 Good for making quick edits to existing scores
- 🎨 Stylish and professional-looking app
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes frequently
- 🔒 Difficulty unlocking full version and accessing features
- 💰 Subscription service is very expensive
- 🔇 Limited sound library and poor playback quality
- 📁 Unreliable saving and file management
Melody Scanner
From 35 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use interface
- 🚀 Quick transcription
- 💡 Helps learn music
- ✅ Good for basic songs
- ✨ Clean sheet music layout
Room to improve
- 🐛 Inaccurate transcriptions
- 💸 Premium features not working
- ❌ YouTube import issues
- 🤷♂️ Poor sound quality
- 🚫 No free trial for basic function
Bugs and 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
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- Export options like MusicXML and PDF
- Customizable shortcuts and toolbars
Melody Scanner
Reported bugs
20 issues- Upload function not working
- App doesn't recognize stave lines/notation
- App gives too many notes at once or notes octaves apart
- Errors when generating sheet music
- Premium features not unlocked after payment
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- No sound from transcriptions
- App jams on recording
- White screen when uploading from YouTube
- Cannot log back in after first use
- Transcription errors
- App doesn't detect volume/sound
- Cannot open YouTube to transpose
- Transcription not accurate
- App doesn't work after payment
- Record function jams
- Errors prevent music creation
- Doesn't transcribe music correctly
- Doesn't work at all
- App doesn't recognize simple melodies
- Audio quality is lousy and scratchy
Requested features
10 requests- Single instrument mode on app
- Full song transcription (not just 1 min)
- Ability to export full transcriptions
- More accurate transcription for complex music
- Improved MIDI playback accuracy
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Ability to add YouTube songs
- More instrument options (e.g., drums)
- Better sound quality for transcriptions
- Full song playback without blocking
- Option for one-time purchase instead of subscription
In-app purchases
Sibelius
- Sibelius Artist for iOS1 Month trial$5.991 Month
- Sibelius Ultimate for iOS1 Month trial$12.991 Month
Melody Scanner
- Melody Scanner Premium Monthly$5.991 Month
- Melody Scanner Premium Yearly$44.991 Year








