iWriteMusic vs Notion
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iWriteMusic
Create professional music notation efficiently with intuitive tools. Quickly enter notes, arrange pages, and export your compositions in various formats. Ideal for composers, teachers, and musicians of all levels.
- Easy to master notation interface
- Fast note entry with OneFlick or traditional methods
- Flexible page layout tools
- Support for multi-track, multi-voice scores
- Integrated playback and mixer
- Export to PDF, MIDI, MusicXML, and audio
Read full descriptionHide full description
Less learning. More music. Professional notation without the lengthly learning process. Whether you are capturing a musical idea, preparing lesson material or a lead sheet, or completing a large score, iWriteMusic helps you turn inspiration into finished notation efficiently. 7 reasons to choose iWriteMusic. 1. Easy to master. Essential controls are organized clearly, so even if notation apps are new to you, you can get started without relying on a thick manual or a long series of tutorial videos. 2. Enter notes faster, your way. With OneFlick, you can combine choices such as pitch and note value into a single gesture. Traditional Entry lets you choose the notation item and its position separately. Use either method to match the task and the way you prefer to work. 3. Create polished, professional scores. Flexible page-layout tools help you prepare music for practice, lessons, rehearsals, performance, and distribution. Create individual parts from a score and print directly with AirPrint. 4. Use the notation your music requires. Create multi-track, multi-voice scores with lyrics, chord symbols, percussion, drum notation, and multi-bar rests. Add key, time, clef, and tempo changes within a piece, along with grace notes, articulations, dynamics, and full or partial transposition. 5. Keep scores and parts organized. Manage scores and their individual parts together, and use folders to organize a growing collection of compositions and teaching materials. 6. Listen, check, and practice. Play your score while you work. Use the mixer, solo, mute, instrument selection, loop playback, and swing playback to check your music or support daily practice. 7. Export and share for any purpose. Export PDF, image, Standard MIDI, MusicXML, and audio files (WAV). Share editable iWriteMusic files and continue working on another device. For composers, arrangers, songwriters, music teachers, students, singers, and instrumentalists. Use iWriteMusic for musical sketches, lead sheets, chord charts, lesson materials, choral and ensemble scores, chamber music, band music, orchestral scores, and individual parts. iWriteMusic is free to download. Some features require one-time in-app purchases.
Notion
Create dynamic musical compositions using traditional notation or guitar tablature. This app offers an intuitive touch-based interface, realistic playback with orchestral samples, and cross-platform syncing. Share or export your creations in various formats.
- Traditional musical notation
- Guitar tablature
- Intuitive touch interface
- Realistic audio playback
- Cross-platform syncing
- Multiple export formats
Read full descriptionHide full description
With over 15 years in the App Store, Notion is a free, award-winning music composition tool for iOS, iPadOS, macOS and more! You’ll effortlessly create dynamic compositions in traditional musical notation or guitar tablature with its intuitive touch-based interface and incredibly broad editing capabilities. With a user-friendly interface and simple interactive piano keyboard, fretboard, drum pad, and even optional Handwriting Recognition, Notion makes it easy to get started composing your music. You can also hear your music performed with the most realistic playback possible, using real audio samples recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. Notion is a native cross-platform app, meaning you can write anywhere on any device without requiring a constant Internet connection. And when you’re back online, you’ll be able to sync your work across multiple devices through your preferred cloud provider. Start your work on one device and finish it on another. Once you are happy with your creation you can share the Notion file, or export as MIDI, MusicXML, PDF or as an audio file. You can even optionally transmit scores across a network with other instances of Notion, or between Notion and the Fender Studio Pro DAW. Compose, edit, and play back your music performed with real piano and orchestral samples recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios — along with outstanding sampled guitar, bass, drums and other popular instruments. And when you’re ready for more sounds, you’ll find the extensive library of Notion Add-on Soundsets to purchase as part of the Feature Bundle. To save space, the initial app download contains just piano — you can then manage which of the bundled Soundsets to have on your device or keep in the cloud, just tap on Sound Installation. Notion has been featured in various Apple campaigns including the Apple YourVerse television commercials, and has won several awards including a prestigious music industry NAMM TEC Award for Best Smartphone/Tablet App. What you get: Notion includes unlimited staves, comprehensive editing features and core orchestral and rhythm section Soundsets — all for free. You can optionally register (also for free!) to unlock an additional Soundset (containing Solo Strings, Classical Saxophones and Glockenspiel), and the multivoice function that allows writing in up to 4 voices per staff. Then for the full experience, either sign in with your Fender Studio Pro+ membership or purchase the Notion Feature Bundle. This unlocks Handwriting Recognition, Layout Controls, all the Expansion Soundsets (including many auxiliary instruments and additional articulations and effects), additional audio export formats (m4a, OPUS, FLAC), and direct score transfer with Notion and Fender Studio Pro running on the same network. Free: Unlimited staves All editing features Core Soundsets Export as MusicXML, Compressed MusicXML, MIDI, PDF, wav, mp3 Welcome Pack (register for free): Soundset including Solo Strings, Glockenspiel, Classical Saxophones Additionally write for voices 3 and 4 in a single staff Feature Bundle (in-app purchase or sign in with Fender Studio Pro+): Handwriting Recognition, powered by MyScript Available on iPhone, iPad and macOS (macOS with supporting graphics tablet or using Sidecar with compatible iPad) Automatic pen vs. finger recognition to switch between handwriting and edit mode Pressure-sensitive support for Apple Pencil Adjustable timer for Handwriting Recognition Override handwriting timer by double tapping Apple Pencil (2nd Gen) Layout Control All Expansion Soundsets Additional audio export formats (m4a, OPUS, FLAC) Transmit scores across a network with other instances of Notion, or between Notion and Fender Studio Pro
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: iWriteMusic at 4.5 against Notion's 3.1. iWriteMusic also leads on review sentiment (74% vs 42%) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks). Notion's advantage is device support (4 vs 1). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. iWriteMusic sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Notion sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
iWriteMusic holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 181 and 71 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of iWriteMusic's written reviews are positive against 42% of Notion's.
iWriteMusic ships an update every 2 weeks, Notion every 6 weeks. Both last shipped on November 10, 2026.
| Parameter | iWriteMusic | Notion |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (181 ratings) — better | 3.1 (71 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 73.5% of reviews — better | 42.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 181 — better | 71 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 146 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | iWriteMusicProject | Fender Digital |
Customer experience
iWriteMusic
Notion
Bugs and requests
iWriteMusic
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Notion
Reported bugs
5 issues- Inability to change key signatures mid-piece
- Incorrect transposition of notes and chords
- Text formatting and positioning issues
- Unreliable MIDI file import/export
- Playback distortion and timing issues
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to customize note beaming and stem direction
- Option to display note letter names
- Improved handwriting recognition for complex rhythms
- Folder organization for better file management
- Keyboard shortcuts for power users
In-app purchases
iWriteMusic
- Advanced File Management$0.99
- Audio Export$0.99
- MIDI Export$0.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- MusicXML Export$0.99
- Basic Features$9.99
Notion
- Feature Bundle$14.99








