forScore vs Show|Ready
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.
Show|Ready
This app provides essential music rehearsal tools for musical theater productions. It offers playback features on iOS devices and director's editing on iPads. A license from a theatrical publisher is required to use the app.
- Music playback
- Director's editing (iPad)
- iOS compatibility
- License integration
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Show|Ready Mobile is the ultimate music rehearsal solution for musical theater. Show|Ready Mobile gives you all the playback features of the desktop Show|Ready on your iOS device. Additionally The director's editing features are available only on the iPad. A valid license of Show|Ready must be purchased first from Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Samuel French, Steele Spring or Plays for Young Audiences before you can use Show|Ready Mobile. Show|Ready Mobile only needs to be purchased once and then can be used with multiple Show|Ready licenses.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Show|Ready at Free against forScore's $24.99. Show|Ready also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 11) and iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.0). forScore's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 2.8) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 4 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
Show|Ready is free to download; forScore costs $24.99 up front. forScore sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. Show|Ready asks for nothing beyond the download.
forScore holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: forScore has 43K ratings behind it against 81, 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 26% of Show|Ready's.
forScore ships an update every 9 days, Show|Ready every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | forScore | Show|Ready |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $24.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (43K ratings) — better | 2.8 (81 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 49.8% of reviews — better | 26.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 43K — better | 81 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #11 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 42 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | forScore LLC | Right On Cue Services, LLC |
Customer experience
forScore
Show|Ready
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
Show|Ready
From 81 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Handy tool for learning parts
- 👍 Useful for theater kids
- 👍 Good for practicing songs
- 👍 Helpful for learning harmonies
- 👍 Can layer voices in/out
Room to improve
- 🐛 Constantly crashing
- 🐛 Glitchy and buggy
- 🐛 App freezes often
- 🐛 Hard to play transition tracks
- 🐛 Sound stops instead of restarting
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
Show|Ready
Reported bugs
31 issues- App crashes constantly
- App freezes frequently
- App glitches
- App randomly kicks user out
- Buttons not visible on iPhone screen
Show 26 moreShow fewer
- Passcode entry crashes app
- Settings do not save
- App disappears from phone
- App needs to be reloaded
- Crashes when trying to repeat songs
- Music stops playing, only click track
- Tempo changes disappear after freeze
- Glitches on vamps/repeats/cesuras
- Needs complete reboot
- UI issues on iPhone/iPad
- No vocal tracks
- App crashes on login
- Tracks not loading
- App closes immediately upon opening
- Audio freezes
- Tempo issues or song stops briefly
- Song comes in/out at specific measures
- Adjustments do not save
- Parts not playing sometimes
- Cannot play parts after repeat/fermata
- Constantly crashing when opening app
- Doesn't show music
- Randomly mutes everything
- New update hides song title
- Instruments sound bad
- Laggy performance
Requested features
10 requests- More musical sounds than synth
- Minute/seconds counter for song length
- Ability to move tab bar to bottom
- Mobile view score
- Ability to make notes on the score
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Option to mute metronome in mixer tab
- Score in the app
- Ability to loop sections
- Dark mode option
- Better quality instruments
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
Show|Ready
No in-app purchases









