forScore vs The Strad
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.
The Strad
Access the world's leading string music magazine, featuring interviews, in-depth articles on instruments, and masterclass sheet music. Explore the latest news, commentary, and analysis for makers, musicians, and teachers.
- Interviews with star string players
- In-depth articles on instruments
- Masterclass sheet music section
- News, comment, and analysis
- Exclusive videos and audio clips
- Interactive links
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The Strad is the most authoritative and influential string music magazine, read by makers, musicians and teachers since 1890. Every month it brings you the latest news, commentary and analysis, in-depth articles, interviews with star string players and retrospectives on great musicians of the past, masterclass sheet music section and much more. It is essential reading for anyone in the string music world. Subscribe today and get: • Interviews with star string players and retrospectives on the great musicians of the past • In-depth articles examining important and unusual instruments by master makers • Reports on the latest advances in science and technology, by leading contemporary luthiers • Trade Secrets contemporary luthiers share their innovative techniques for parts of the making process • In Focus: articles examining important and unusual instruments by master makes of the past • Making Matters: contemporary makers examine themes relevant to instrument and bow making today • Meet your Maker: players and makers give accounts of the commissioning process and its results • Masterclass sheet music section with commentary and annotations by international concert artists • News, comment and analysis from the string music world • Supplements including Cremona 2017, String Courses 2017, Degrees 2018 and Accessories 2017 Subscribe to the digital issue today: - Try before you buy with our FREE 30-DAY TRIAL available exclusively for Apple users. - Enjoy exclusive VIDEOS, AUDIO CLIPS and INTERACTIVE LINKS. - Download your issues INSTANTLY - Exclusive subscriber only SUPPLEMENTS ---------------------------------------------- This is a free app download. Within the app users can purchase the current issue and back issues. Subscriptions are also available within the application. A subscription will start from the latest regular issue at the time of purchase. -The subscription will renew automatically unless cancelled more than 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will be charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period, for the same duration and at the current subscription rate for the product. -You may turn off the auto-renewal of subscriptions through your Account Settings, however you are not able to cancel the current subscription during its active period. -Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase and any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when a subscription to that publication is purchased. -If a subscription offers a free trial, at the end of the trial period, you will be charged the full price of the subscription. You may cancel a subscription during its free trial period via the subscription settings on your iTunes account. This must be done 24 hours before the end of the subscription period to avoid being charged. Users can register for/ login to a pocketmags account in-app. This will protect their issues in the case of a lost device and allow browsing of purchases on multiple platforms. Existing pocketmags users can retrieve their purchases by logging into their account. We recommend loading the app for the first time in a wi-fi area so that all issue data is retrieved. If your app will not load past the splash page after a first install or an update, please delete and reinstall the app from the App Store Help and frequently asked questions can be accessed in-app and on pocketmags. If you have any problems at all please do not hesitate to contact us: help@pocketmags.com -------------------- You can find our privacy policy here: http://www.pocketmags.com/privacy.aspx You can find our terms and conditions here: http://www.pocketmags.com/terms.aspx
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: The Strad at Free against forScore's $24.99. The Strad also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). forScore's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.3) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 7 months). On review sentiment, 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
The Strad is free to download; forScore costs $24.99 up front. forScore sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year and The Strad sells 24 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per 3 months. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
forScore holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: forScore has 43K ratings behind it against 37, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 49% of forScore's written reviews are positive against 52% of The Strad's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
forScore ships an update fortnightly, The Strad every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | forScore | The Strad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (43K ratings) — better | 4.3 (37 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 49.5% of reviews | 52.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 43K — better | 37 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #9 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 42 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | forScore, LLC | Newsquest Specialist Media Limited |
Customer experience
forScore
The Strad
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
The Strad
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
forScore
- forScore Pro$14.991 Year
- Brahms: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Haydn: The Mutopia CollectionFree
- Händel: The Mutopia CollectionFree
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- 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
The Strad
- The Strad1 Month trial$14.993 Months
- The Strad1 Month trial$59.991 Year
- June 2012 (id:736861)$4.99
- September 2012 (id:736003)$4.99
- May 2013 and De... (id:738002)$4.99
Show 19 moreShow fewer
- February 2014 (id:738506)$4.99
- December 2013 (id:736381)$4.99
- November 2013 (id:735750)$4.99
- March 2016 (id:738737)$4.99
- May 2020 And De... (id:771419)$4.99
- December 2017 (id:757689)$4.99
- December 2024 (pp:1024896)$4.99
- January 2019 an... (id:762634)$4.99
- April 2016 (id:745918)$4.99
- July 2017 (id:757679)$4.99
- November 2017 (id:757687)$4.99
- February 2019 (id:766008)$4.99
- September 2020 (id:771411)$4.99
- October 2018 (id:762640)$4.99
- July 2024 (pp:1024926)$4.99
- January 2025 a... (pp:1110854)$5.99
- The Strad Magazine 2 back issue bundle$7.99
- Great Instruments (id:810171)$14.99
- The Strad$179.99









