Comparison

forScore vs GM MIDI Player

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

Head to head
About

forScore

This app digitizes sheet music, offering organization, annotation, and playback tools for musicians. It allows for easy import, library management, and hands-free navigation, enhancing the performance experience.

Highlights
  • PDF sheet music reading
  • Cloud sync and import
  • Library organization and search
  • Annotation tools
  • Hands-free page turning
  • Integrated metronome and tuner
Features
Read full description

Go paperless. Get organized. Download and play something new in seconds. With forScore for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS, your scores have never been better—it’s everything you can do with paper and so much more. As seen in Apple keynote addresses and retail stores worldwide! On your music stand or on the go, it's the complete PDF sheet music reading experience that has wowed musicians all over the world for years: CONNECT • Copy PDFs from other apps like Safari and Mail and sync them to all of your devices with iCloud • Import scores from popular cloud storage services and content providers like Musicnotes.com • Share scores and setlists with colleagues, whether or not they use forScore ORGANIZE • Add metadata to your scores for a perfectly browsable, instantly searchable library • Create smart bookmarks to manage longer files containing multiple parts or pieces • Group scores manually with Setlists to play through them from start to finish PLAY • View full pages in portrait orientation and crop them to better fit your device's screen • Turn your device sideways for bigger scrolling pages or view two pages side by side instead • Use Reflow on smaller screens to lay out systems of music end-to-end like a horizontal teleprompter REFINE • Annotate by drawing, typing text, or placing common symbols onto the page • Separate your annotations into layers and show or hide them at any time • Open scores and setlists in multiple windows or tabs to multitask with ease SIMPLIFY • Create links and buttons to handle repeats or perform common actions with a single tap • Rearrange and duplicate pages of a score to play without jumping back and forth • Connect your Bluetooth page turner for hands-free navigation EXTEND • Access integrated utilities like our metronome, pitch pipe, tuner, and piano keyboard • Link tracks to scores to loop regions, adjust pitch, and even use them to record and play back your page turns • Connect wirelessly to nearby devices and coordinate your page turns and program changes effortlessly There's much more than those highlights, though, so be sure to visit forscore.co to learn all about forScore's incredible features and find out why so many musicians agree that forScore is simply the best! Note: forScore also offers an optional, annual auto-renewing subscription called forScore Pro that unlocks additional features and content (visit forScore.co/pro for complete details). forScore Pro is a 1-year subscription that renews automatically until canceled. Should you choose to subscribe, payment will be charged to your iTunes Account upon confirmation of purchase. Your subscription will then automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage your subscriptions in your iTunes Account Settings after purchase. Complete terms of service are available on our website at: forScore.co/terms-of-serviceGo paperless.

About

GM MIDI Player

Play standard MIDI files on your iOS device with a built-in software synthesizer. Organize your music into playlists and share them seamlessly with other apps. Enjoy background playback and AirPlay support for a versatile listening experience.

Highlights
  • Plays standard MIDI files (.mid)
  • Built-in software synthesizer
  • Create and manage playlists
  • Seamless iOS file manager integration
  • Background Audio playback
  • AirPlay support
Features
Read full description

MIDI Still Lives! (Note: This is one of the first iOS apps we ever made and we still use it very often and want to share this pleasure with you. MIDI files remain fascinating and must never die!) GM MIDI Player is a free app for playing standard MIDI files (SMF) with the file extension *.mid, which integrates seamlessly into the iOS operating system (version 11 and higher). A software synthesizer in GM / GS standard is built-in. Play all the MIDI files from the Internet or the file system of your iOS device and create and manage your own collections and share these with other apps and people. - seamlessly integrated into the iOS file manager (files app) - iCloud and file sharing supported - "Open with" and "Send to" integrated - plays nearly all MIDI files in SMF format 0 and 1 - contains already hand-picked MIDI files in different styles - integrated software synthesizer with sequencer - 16-times mutitimbral, 128-part polyphonic - Over 300 'instruments' and various drum maps - GM / GS standards supported - Background Audio playback and Notification Center Support - AirPlay support of audio playback - supports connected remote controls for pause / resume - Help file and integrated connection to other Internet resources - Creation and management of own playlists possible Note: GM MIDI Player can NOT output MIDI signals via CoreMIDI or somehow interact with other audio apps (IAA). Also, to create and edit GM compatible files, please use an external MIDI sequencer or editor that is specialized for this. For questions and suggestions or problems,  please contact support: support@digitster.com.

Screenshots

forScore4 screens
GM MIDI Player4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: GM MIDI Player at $9.99 against forScore's $24.99. GM MIDI Player also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 11) and review sentiment (78% vs 50%). forScore's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.1) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 52 months). 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

forScore costs $24.99 and GM MIDI Player $9.99 up front. forScore sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. GM MIDI Player asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

forScore holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: forScore has 43K ratings behind it against 19, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of forScore's written reviews are positive against 78% of GM MIDI Player's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

forScore ships an update every 9 days, GM MIDI Player every 52 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
forScore versus GM MIDI Player: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterforScoreGM MIDI Player
Price$24.99$9.99 — better
Rating4.8 (43K ratings) — better4.1 (19 ratings)
Positive reviews49.8% of reviews77.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings43K — better19
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 52 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#12 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB28 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperforScore LLCJens Guell

Customer experience

forScore

All ratings43,219 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral1.6%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews905 reviews
Positive49.8%
Neutral11.7%
Negative38.5%

GM MIDI Player

All ratings19 ratings
Positive73.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative26.3%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive77.8%
Neutral11.1%
Negative11.1%

Bugs and requests

forScore

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Disappearing annotations
  • Unreliable page turning
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
  • Unresponsive touch controls

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to cut and paste sections of scores
  • More flexible page turning controls
  • Customizable metronome
  • Improved backup and restore functionality
  • Easier sharing of annotated scores

GM MIDI Player

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

forScore

Subscriptions1
  • forScore Pro$14.991 Year
One-time9
  • Brahms: The Mutopia CollectionFree
  • Haydn: The Mutopia CollectionFree
  • Händel: The Mutopia CollectionFree
Show 6 more
  • Liszt: The Mutopia CollectionFree
  • Satie: The Mutopia CollectionFree
  • Schumann: The Mutopia CollectionFree
  • Tchaikovsky: The Mutopia CollectionFree
  • Beethoven: The Mutopia Collection$0.99
  • forScore Pro 30-Day Pass$2.99
None

GM MIDI Player

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is forScore free?
forScore costs $24.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is GM MIDI Player free?
GM MIDI Player costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, forScore or GM MIDI Player?
forScore is rated higher. forScore averages 4.8 out of 5 from 43K ratings, while GM MIDI Player averages 4.1 from 19 ratings.
Do forScore or GM MIDI Player have ads?
Neither forScore nor GM MIDI Player shows ads.
Which is updated more often, forScore or GM MIDI Player?
forScore ships an update every 9 days, and GM MIDI Player every 52 months. Most recently, forScore was updated on October 21, 2026 and GM MIDI Player on October 16, 2026.

Other comparisons