Comparison

forScore vs Newzik

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

Newzik

Digitize your sheet music with AI-powered tools. Listen to your scores, collaborate with musicians in real-time, and transpose PDFs instantly. Access your music library from any device with cloud storage.

Highlights
  • AI music recognition for scores
  • Real-time collaboration with musicians
  • PDF score transposition
  • Embedded metronome, tuner, and recorder
  • Bluetooth pedal compatibility for hands-free page turning
  • Cloud storage for music library access on any device
Features
Read full description

Go paperless and discover the power of digital sheet music with our musical pdf reader. Listen to your scores thanks to our AI, collaborate instantly with your band, and benefit from all the tools you need in just one app. Approved by 400K+ users. > AI MUSIC RECOGNITION FOR YOUR SCORES Import your PDF sheet music or scan your scores and convert them to LiveScores, using our artificial intelligence. You can then listen to your score, generate playback for your musical practice, and export it to musicXML. > COLLABORATE WITH OTHER MUSICIANS Newzik is the best collaborative tool for teachers, bands, choirs and ensembles. Broadcast your scores and annotations in real-time with other musicians, and always remain up-to-date. > PDF TRANSPOSITION Transpose your PDF scores in one click. Newzik’s AI rewrites your scores for you. > ALL THE TOOLS YOU NEED TO PERFORM Newzik offers embedded metronome, tuner and recorder. The app is compatible with bluetooth pedals, for hand-free page-turning. > YOUR SCORES ACCESSIBLE ON ANY DEVICE With Newzik, your music is safe: your library is stored in the Cloud. Thus, you can access it on any device. > OUR PRICING Trial Version: Try Newzik for free with your 3 first scores, and convert up to 10 pages into LiveScores using our AI. Newzik Essentials - One-time purchase: Store up to 1000 parts in the Newzik Cloud and access them on any device. Newzik Premium - Yearly subscription: Enjoy all the features of Newzik without limits: unlimited storage, unlimited LiveScore conversions, unlimited collaborative projects. Try it for free. Your Newzik Pro subscription will be billed to your Apple ID at the date of purchase, and renewed automatically unless you cancel 24h before the renewal date. > WHICH INSTRUMENTS CAN USE NEWZIK? Any musician of any level using sheet music can benefit from Newzik. For instance, this app is for you if you play one of the following instruments: Piano Singing Violin Saxophone Guitar Flute Have a question or suggestion? Send us an email at contact@newzik.com General Terms and Conditions of Use: https://newzik.com/en/general-terms

Screenshots

forScore4 screens
Newzik4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Newzik at Free against forScore's $24.99. Newzik also leads on review sentiment (66% vs 50%) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). forScore's advantage is ratings volume (43K vs 1.5K) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Newzik is free to download; forScore costs $24.99 up front. forScore sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year and Newzik sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 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 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: forScore has 43K ratings behind it against 1.5K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of forScore's written reviews are positive against 66% of Newzik'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, Newzik every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
forScore versus Newzik: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterforScoreNewzik
Price$24.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (43K ratings) — better4.6 (1.5K ratings)
Positive reviews49.8% of reviews65.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings43K — better1.5K
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#12 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size42 MB208 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperforScore LLCSyncsing - Newzik

Customer experience

forScore

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

Newzik

All ratings1,528 ratings
Positive88.7%
Neutral4.1%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews433 reviews
Positive65.6%
Neutral8.5%
Negative25.9%

User reviews

forScore

From 43K App Store ratings

What 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

Newzik

From 1.5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great app for musicians
  • 👍 Easy to use and intuitive interface
  • 💡 Useful features like tuner, metronome, and live score playback
  • 🚀 Reliable and stable performance
  • 👍 Excellent customer support

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🐛 Inaccurate live score playback, especially for rhythms and dynamics
  • 🐛 Limited free version with restricted features
  • 🐛 Compatibility issues with older devices
  • 🐛 Unreliable page turning with Bluetooth pedals

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

Newzik

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Frequent crashes when opening new scores
  • Incorrect tempo and pitch playback
  • Inability to properly import and read certain music file formats
  • Syncing issues between devices and lost data

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for sorting music by genre, origin, or type
  • Improve live score playback accuracy, especially for jazz and swing styles
  • Implement a dark mode option for better visibility
  • Allow more flexibility in organizing and rearranging setlists
  • Provide a desktop app or better web integration

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
4 purchases

Newzik

Subscriptions2
  • Newzik Pro (monthly)$9.991 Month
  • Newzik Premium (Yearly)7 Days trial$44.991 Year
One-time2
  • Newzik Essentials$24.99
  • Newzik Premium (lifetime)$179.00

Questions

Is forScore free?
forScore costs $24.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Newzik free?
Newzik is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, forScore or Newzik?
forScore is rated higher. forScore averages 4.8 out of 5 from 43K ratings, while Newzik averages 4.6 from 1.5K ratings.
Do forScore or Newzik have ads?
Neither forScore nor Newzik shows ads.
Which is updated more often, forScore or Newzik?
forScore ships an update every 9 days, and Newzik every 3 weeks. Most recently, forScore was updated on October 22, 2026 and Newzik on October 22, 2026.

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