Comparison

forScore vs Music Calculator

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

Music Calculator

This app allows musicians to input musical notation and instantly hear it played back with accurate pitch and timing. It's designed for practicing difficult passages, improving sight-reading, and building musical confidence through features like slowing down playback and looping sections.

Highlights
  • Input and play back musical notation
  • Accurate pitch, timing, and tempo playback
  • Slow down and loop passages for practice
  • Calculator-style interface for intuitive input
  • Supports complex rhythms and tuplets
  • 25 realistic instrument sounds
  • Save and load musical passages
Features
Read full description

A sketchpad for music, for practice and for composing. Notes go in on a keypad as quick as a calculator, and play back exactly as written. FOR PRACTICE Copy out what you're learning: an exercise, a few difficult measures, the piece your teacher assigned. Hear how it should sound, then slow it down, loop it, and raise the tempo as you improve. Pianists can write both hands on a grand staff, and choirs can write out all four parts and hear them together. Check your rhythm counting or your harmony homework by ear. The keypad is simple enough for children to use, and the selected note's name, such as F#, shows on its key as you write. FOR COMPOSING Write down a melody, a chord progression or a four-part harmony before you forget it, and hear every part played back with real instrument sounds. Use one instrument or several, with up to four voices on each staff, and keep every idea in your library. HOW IT WORKS Tap a note value to add a note, drag up or down to set its pitch, and drag sideways for sharps and flats. The keys are large, so there are no toolbars of tiny icons and no stylus. WRITE IT • Notes and rests from double whole notes to 128th notes, with up to three dots • Chords, and up to four voices per staff, each in its own color with stems placed for you • Several parts, each with as many staves as it needs: a piano grand staff, SATB on two staves, a duet, a small group • Treble, bass, alto and tenor clefs, with clef changes anywhere • Every key signature, chosen from an interactive circle of fifths, with key changes anywhere • Simple and compound time signatures, and a pickup measure where a piece starts with one • Ties, accidentals, staccato, accents and tenuto • Triplets, quintuplets and nested tuplets • Automatic beaming HEAR IT • Precise playback in pitch, rhythm and tempo, looping continuously • Long-press play to set the tempo, from 30 to 240 BPM, even while the music plays: slow a passage down as far as you need, then raise the tempo as your playing improves • 25 instrument sounds, from grand piano and harpsichord to strings, brass, woodwinds, harp and guitar • Two metronome channels and a volume for every part • The score glides along as it plays and each note lights up as it sounds KEEP AND SHARE IT Every passage is saved to your library and named for you. Import MusicXML (.musicxml, .xml, .mxl) from other notation apps, with its notes, rhythms, keys and clefs, and export MusicXML to finish a piece in desktop notation software. Built for iPhone, one-handed, and for iPad, with a full-width keypad and a library sidebar. Pinch or double-tap to zoom. There are no ads and no account to create, and your music stays on your device. WHAT IT ISN'T Music Calculator is built for short passages and ideas, not symphonies. It doesn't do dynamics, slurs, lyrics or chord symbols, print or export PDFs, export audio or MIDI, or scan sheet music. If you need those, a desktop engraving program is the right tool. If you want to write a passage down and hear it in seconds, this is. TRY IT FREE To use Music Calculator, choose a monthly or annual subscription, each with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers, or a one-time lifetime purchase. The subscription is called Music Calculator Pro on Apple's purchase sheet and in your Apple Account settings. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase, or at the end of the free trial. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. You can manage or cancel subscriptions in your Apple Account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you buy a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://music-calculator.app/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

forScore4 screens
Music Calculator4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Music Calculator at Free against forScore's $24.99. Music Calculator also leads on review sentiment (67% vs 50%). forScore's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (43K vs 2). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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

Music Calculator is free to download; forScore costs $24.99 up front. forScore sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year and Music Calculator sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

forScore holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: forScore has 43K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of forScore's written reviews are positive against 67% of Music Calculator'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, Music Calculator every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
forScore versus Music Calculator: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterforScoreMusic Calculator
Price$24.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (43K ratings) — better4.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings43K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
Best chart rank#13 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB53 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperforScore LLCJET Powered Apps Ltd.

Customer experience

forScore

All ratings43,219 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral1.6%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews910 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral11.6%
Negative38.4%

Music Calculator

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%

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

Music Calculator

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
3 purchases

Music Calculator

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Annual7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Music Calculator Pro$49.99

Questions

Is forScore free?
forScore costs $24.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Music Calculator free?
Music Calculator is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, forScore or Music Calculator?
forScore is rated higher. forScore averages 4.8 out of 5 from 43K ratings, while Music Calculator averages 4.0 from 2 ratings.
Do forScore or Music Calculator have ads?
Neither forScore nor Music Calculator shows ads.
Which is updated more often, forScore or Music Calculator?
forScore ships an update every 9 days, and Music Calculator every 10 days. Most recently, forScore was updated on October 27, 2026 and Music Calculator on October 25, 2026.

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