Sibelius vs CueFlip
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.
CueFlip
This app automatically turns sheet music pages as you play, adapting to your tempo and musical cues. It learns your scores by listening or from recordings, offering manual control and annotation features. Ideal for musicians practicing or performing, it ensures a seamless musical experience without interruption.
- Automatic page turning
- Learns scores from playback or recordings
- Adapts to tempo and musical cues
- Manual page turn option
- PDF import
- Annotation tools
- Metronome
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CueFlip is a sheet music reader for iPad and iPhone that listens as you play and turns the page for you — no pedal, no timer. For as long as there has been sheet music, someone has had to turn the page — you, reaching over, or a friend who caught your eye. CueFlip does that job. Play a piece through once so it learns the score. After that, just play: when you reach the last bar of a page, the next one is already there. It is not a timer. Hold the fermata and it holds with you. Take the repeat and so does it. Slow the final four bars as you always do, and nothing moves until you finish. And when it is wrong — one day it will be — tap the edge of the page, as you always have. If it was following well, it steps aside a few seconds, then picks you back up. If it had lost you, that same tap tells it where you are. ◆ TEACHING IT A PIECE Import any PDF you own — Files, iCloud Drive, AirDrop, another app. It opens straight in the reader: read now, teach it when you are ready. To teach it, play the piece through and tap the page edge whenever you turn. That is the whole setup. No instrument to hand? Import a recording and mark the turns as it plays. Turn backwards while teaching and it learns the jump: repeats, D.S., first and second endings. ◆ ON STAGE A small marker low on the screen shows its state: Listening, Auto, Paused, Manual. Nothing else moves. Tapping the page edge always works, and so does a Bluetooth page-turner pedal, on every plan. A pedal is what you reach for when you stop trusting the software; charging for that would be indecent. ◆ ON THE STAND Apple Pencil markings with the full system tool palette, clear at any zoom. Keep them on layers — fingerings, bowings, your teacher's notes — and switch each on or off. A metronome with tap tempo, any time signature, 1–500 BPM, count-in and a tempo trainer. In silent mode it pulses the screen edge instead of clicking; it stops itself before a performance begins. In an ensemble, every device can lock to the same beat. A tuner beside it: how many cents off, which way to go, and a concert pitch you can move to 442 or 415. And a piano, voiced key by key from recorded concert grands, with a sustain pedal — check a note or chord without leaving the page. Default, Sepia and Night, for the rehearsal room, the pit and the 6am service, with adjustable warmth. Rehearsing together? Share your markings live with a nearby iPad — no router, no internet. On iPad, a rail down the edge scans the whole score: drag, watch the page ahead, let go. ◆ WHAT STAYS HERE No account, ever. Your scores, recordings and markings never leave this device unless you send them yourself or turn on iCloud Sync (your own iCloud only). Nothing from the microphone is uploaded unless you choose to send us a page-turn report. ◆ WHAT IT COSTS Automatic page turning is free. So are importing PDFs, learning from a recording, pedal and manual turns, and restoring a backup — with one score performable at a time. CueFlip Pro lifts that limit and adds iCloud sync, annotation layers, the metronome and ensemble sync, the tuner, the piano, folders, page editing, live annotation sharing, multi-movement scores, performance history, and export — a learned score someone else can perform straight away, or your whole library as one backup. CueFlip Lifetime is all of it, bought once, yours for good. A score beyond your plan is never deleted or locked — it just stops turning pages. Students and teachers: discounted Pro, details in-app. Subscriptions renew automatically through your Apple Account unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel in Settings. --- ※ CueFlip contains no sheet music: bring the scores you already have. iPhone and iPad, iOS 16.4 or later. Even without automatic page turning, it is still a perfectly good score reader. Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula Privacy: https://cueflip.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: CueFlip at 100% against Sibelius's 36%. CueFlip also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.2) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). Sibelius's advantage is ratings volume (1.8K vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.4 vs 16.4). 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 CueFlip sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
CueFlip holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. 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: 36% of Sibelius's written reviews are positive against 100% of CueFlip's.
Sibelius ships an update every 2 months, CueFlip fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.
| Parameter | Sibelius | CueFlip |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (1.8K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 35.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.8K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.4 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.4 GB | 116 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Avid® | 文君 王 |
Customer experience
Sibelius
CueFlip
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
CueFlip
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Sibelius
- Sibelius Artist for iOS1 Month trial$5.991 Month
- Sibelius Ultimate for iOS1 Month trial$12.991 Month
CueFlip
- CueFlip Pro (Monthly)$4.991 Month
- CueFlip Pro (Annual)14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- CueFlip Lifetime$69.99









