Kantil vs iWriteMusic Pro SE
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Kantil
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World's first iPhone/iPad implementation of the main instruments of a Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar! The Kantil is 10-key metallophone in the Balinese Gamelan Gong Kebyar that is the smallest in the gangsa. It produces the highest-pitched sounds and is important in supporting the main melody. A pair of kantil plays interlocking parts called kotekan. * Authentic sound bank sampled directly from real instruments * User interaction designed to replicate true playing experience * Playing sound can be stopped --- essential for Gamelan! * High-quality photos showcasing real instruments * Optimized for ultra-low latency audio playback * Zoomable views for detailed instrument exploration * Customizable display of cipher notations to suit your preferences * Completely ad-free for uninterrupted enjoyment
iWriteMusic Pro SE
Create beautiful, professional-quality sheet music with an intuitive interface. This app offers efficient input systems, comprehensive notation tools, and useful playback options for musicians of all levels.
- Intuitive user interface
- Efficient input systems (One-Flick & Traditional)
- Professional quality sheet music
- Comprehensive notation elements
- Useful playback options
- Export to PDF, JPG, and MIDI
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Music Writing is easy and fun when you use iWriteMusic! Experience the perfect harmony of ease and versatility in sheet music creation with iWriteMusic! Say goodbye to complicated notation apps and hello to intuitive design. Enjoy quick and beautiful sheet music creation with a comprehensive suite of essential tools for concerts, lessons, and music classes. Best fit for professional musicians, music teachers and students. For songwriters, composers and arrangers. For both singers and instrumentalists (piano, violin, cello, guitar, flute, saxophone, trumpet, drums, etc.). Great for writing down ideas, creating lesson materials, creating lead sheets, or creating scores and parts for chorus groups, choirs, chamber orchestras, jazz bands, Latin bands, orchestras, and more. For daily practice, rehearsals, concerts, iWriteMusic will help you enrich your musical life! Check out 8 reasons to choose iWriteMusic SE (Special Edition) 1. You can understand this app almost instantly! Because of Truly Intuitive and Extremely Simple user interface, you barely need to read pages of manuals nor watching numbers of instruction videos. Unlike Finale, Sibelius and other similar apps, you just have a few things to learn to be able to use this app pretty well. 2.Double your productivity with our Highly Efficient Input System. If you’re already familiar with notation apps and looking for faster & more efficient entry system, try our innovative One-Flick Entry System along with Traditional Entry System to get your job done in no time! What is Traditional Entry System? - The choices will appear with ToolBox. - Select a value and the location separately. - Recommended to those who are not yet familiar with any music notation apps. What is OneFlick Entry System? - The choices will appear when you touch the screen. - Select a location and the value at once. - The selection will change as you slide your finger to left/right. - Recommended to those who are familiar with music notation apps and looking for faster and more efficient entry system. 3. Creates beautiful sheet music / music score - absolutely professional quality! - rich options for page layout adjustment - easy parts creation - easy score/parts management - direct print-out via AirPrint 4. Supports most of major notation elements - multi-track writing - multi-voice writing - percussion/drums notation - chord symbols and lyrics - multi-bar rest - time change - key change - clef change - tempo change - grace note - articulations and dynamics marks - easy song transpose - partial transpose and many more! 5. Useful playback options for practice - mixer with solo, mute and voice select - loop and swing options 6. Data & sheet music sharing - exports/Imports iWriteMusic data file - exports PDF or JPG - exports Standard MIDI file which can be imported by other apps such as GarageBand 7. Extremely Compact Size (15 MB) You can save your device storage space for photos and other apps. 8. Best of all, it's Free! Yes, it's Free and Over 1.4 Million people all over the world has created music with this app family. Let's get started now! Note: This is for iPhone (iPad version sold separately) ATTENTION: Latency during playback and drawing may occur by device capacity or number of tracks and background applications. Limitations on SE (Special Edition): 1. Water mark appears on page views and printouts. 2. Can’t save more than 5 songs. 3. Can't play more than 30 seconds at a time. 4. Can't import iWriteMusic data file. (export only) 5. Can't export Standard MIDI file.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: iWriteMusic Pro SE at Free against Kantil's $5.99. iWriteMusic Pro SE also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 20 months) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On ads, in-app purchases 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
iWriteMusic Pro SE is free to download; Kantil costs $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Kantil ships an update every 20 months, iWriteMusic Pro SE every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Kantil | iWriteMusic Pro SE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | — | 4.5 (207 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 53.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 207 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 20 months | Every 4 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | emacsian Company Limited | iWriteMusicProject |
Bugs and requests
Kantil
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
iWriteMusic Pro SE
Reported bugs
5 issues- Incorrect transposition of notes
- Inability to save compositions
- Overlapping/unreadable menu text
- Freezing when trying to copy/paste
- Inconsistent behavior when adding new measures
Requested features
5 requests- Add more music notation options (e.g. glissando, ghost notes)
- Improve playback to follow dynamics and expressions
- Allow multiple key signatures in the same piece
- Provide an undo/redo function
- Implement a chord entry mode for guitarists
In-app purchases
Kantil
No in-app purchases
iWriteMusic Pro SE
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Kantil free?
Is iWriteMusic Pro SE free?
Do Kantil or iWriteMusic Pro SE have ads?
Which is updated more often, Kantil or iWriteMusic Pro SE?
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