Comparison

Fingering Brass vs Sibelius

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Fingering Brass

Access interactive fingering charts for a wide range of brass instruments, including alternate fingerings. View notes on a piano interface and hear concert pitches. Supports multiple clefs and transpositions for various instruments.

Highlights
  • Interactive fingering charts
  • Alternate fingerings
  • Piano interface
  • Concert pitch playback
  • Multiple clef support
  • Transposition options
Read full description

Immediate access to fingerings (with alternates) for each instrument’s entire playable range. Get fingerings from the written or concert pitch. Support for Key Signatures to more easily find a fingering in the music you're working on. Instruments: F/Bb Double French Horn, A, Bb, C and D Trumpets (Cornet, Flugelhorn), Bb/F Tenorbass and Bb/F/Gb/D Bass Trombones, Euphonium and Baritone, BBb, CC, Eb and F Tubas The 'Piano' instrument simultaneously displays the note names, the locations on the piano, and the musical notations of up to 5 pitches in either Treble, Alto, Tenor or Bass clef. The Notation can be transposed for most all instrumental transpositions. • Trombones include position guides for the different valve combinations. Common Clefs for Select Instruments: • Bb/F Tenorbass Trombone, Bb/F/Gb/D Bass Trombone, Euphonium and Baritone include Treble, Tenor and Bass clefs. • F/Bb Double French Horn, BBb Tuba, CC Tuba, Eb Tuba, and F Tuba include Treble and Bass clefs. Treble clef on the brass instruments follow British Band tradition of being in transposing notation for non-transposing instruments. Affects Bb/F Tenorbass and Bb/F/Gb/D Bass Trombones, Euphonium, Baritone, and BBb, Eb and F Tubas. How to Use: Pick a written note (touch the staff) and have the fingering displayed and concert pitch played. Touch a button and reveal the note on the piano. Play a concert pitch on the piano, and have that pitch's fingering displayed. Touch a button and reveal the transposed note written on the staff. • If there are alternate fingerings available for a note, a button will allow you to navigate through them. • Use the 'Play Note' button to repeatedly hear what's being displayed. • Use the mute button to access the fingerings without hearing the pitches. Selecting a Pitch: Using the Staff (transposed for the current instrument): Simply touch and slide up and down on the staff to select the note, slide to the right or left of the note for sharps and flats. Using the Piano (concert pitch): drag in the area below the keyboard to move the keyboard, touch to play notes, touch & slide to change the pitch. When you glissando up the keyboard, notes will be notated as a raised value (sharps), when you glissando down, notes will be notated as lowered values (flats). Use the up and down arrows to move chromatically up and down without touching the music staff or piano keyboard.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Professional music notation
  • Cross-platform synchronization
  • High-quality sample library
  • Apple Pencil and touch optimization
  • Innovative note entry
  • Command Search functionality
  • Scalable subscription tiers
Features
Read full description

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

Fingering Brass4 screens
Sibelius4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sibelius at Free against Fingering Brass's $1.99. Sibelius also leads on ratings volume (1.8K vs 14) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 9 months). Fingering Brass's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and rating (4.6 vs 4.2). On ads 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

Sibelius is free to download; Fingering Brass costs $1.99 up front. Sibelius sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Fingering Brass asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Fingering Brass holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sibelius has 1.8K ratings behind it against 14, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 17% of Fingering Brass's written reviews are positive against 36% of Sibelius's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Fingering Brass ships an update every 9 months, Sibelius every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

Scorecard9 real differences · 1 level
Fingering Brass versus Sibelius: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFingering BrassSibelius
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.6 (14 ratings) — better4.2 (1.8K ratings)
Positive reviews16.7% of reviews35.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings141.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.013.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size120 MB1.4 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPatrick Q. KellyAvid®

Customer experience

Fingering Brass

All ratings14 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive16.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative50.0%

Sibelius

All ratings1,796 ratings
Positive78.2%
Neutral5.3%
Negative16.5%
Written reviews591 reviews
Positive35.7%
Neutral11.3%
Negative53.0%

Bugs and requests

Fingering Brass

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
Show 2 more
  • Export options like MusicXML and PDF
  • Customizable shortcuts and toolbars

In-app purchases

None

Fingering Brass

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Sibelius

Subscriptions2
  • Sibelius Artist for iOS1 Month trial$5.991 Month
  • Sibelius Ultimate for iOS1 Month trial$12.991 Month

Questions

Is Fingering Brass free?
Fingering Brass costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sibelius free?
Sibelius is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Fingering Brass or Sibelius?
Fingering Brass is rated higher. Fingering Brass averages 4.6 out of 5 from 14 ratings, while Sibelius averages 4.2 from 1.8K ratings.
Do Fingering Brass or Sibelius have ads?
Neither Fingering Brass nor Sibelius shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Fingering Brass or Sibelius?
Fingering Brass ships an update every 9 months, and Sibelius every 2 months. Most recently, Fingering Brass was updated on October 29, 2026 and Sibelius on October 29, 2026.

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