forScore vs Sibelius
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- PDF sheet music reading
- Cloud sync and import
- Library organization and search
- Annotation tools
- Hands-free page turning
- Integrated metronome and tuner
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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.
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.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Sibelius at Free against forScore's $24.99. Sibelius also leads on iOS requirement (13.4 vs 18.0). forScore's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.2) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Sibelius is free to download; forScore costs $24.99 up front. forScore sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year 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.
forScore holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: forScore has 43K ratings behind it against 1.8K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of forScore's written reviews are positive against 36% of Sibelius's.
forScore ships an update fortnightly, Sibelius every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | forScore | Sibelius |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (43K ratings) — better | 4.2 (1.8K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 49.5% of reviews — better | 35.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 43K — better | 1.8K |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #10 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 13.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 42 MB | 1.4 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | forScore, LLC | Avid® |
Customer experience
forScore
Sibelius
User reviews
forScore
From 43K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Efficient navigation
- 🔒 Reliable performance
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 👍 Excellent organization
- 👍 Seamless annotation
Room to improve
- 🐛 Sync issues
- 🐛 Occasional crashes
- 🔋 Battery drain concerns
- 👎 Unintuitive settings/features
- 👎 Lack of customization options
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
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
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
In-app purchases
forScore
- forScore Pro$14.991 Year
- Brahms: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Haydn: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Händel: The Mutopia CollectionFree
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- 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
Sibelius
- Sibelius Artist for iOS1 Month trial$5.991 Month
- Sibelius Ultimate for iOS1 Month trial$12.991 Month









