Piascore vs Music Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Piascore
This app digitizes sheet music for musicians, eliminating the need for physical scores. It offers free access to over 130,000 classical pieces and tools for annotation, organization, and playback.
- Digital sheet music reader
- Free classical score library
- Annotation tools
- Smart browsing and page turns
- Automatic scrolling
- Metronome and tuner
- PDF import
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** More than 7,000,000 musicians around the world use Piascore! ** ** Fully optimized for iPad Pro and iPhone 18! ** Piascore is a digital sheet music reader for iPad and iPhone, made for pianists, guitarists and every other musician who plays from a score. The idea behind it is simple: all the world's sheet music, right there in your hands. It takes on the everyday problems every performer knows too well. No more hauling a bag of heavy binders to rehearsal, and no more digging through piles of paper for the one piece you need. ** Features ** : Annotate freely Six pens, each with its own color, thickness and nib, let you mark up a score exactly as you would on paper. Stamps for dynamics and other symbols, plus text boxes, make annotating quick. : Smart browsing Our own rendering engine gives you page turns among the fastest anywhere. Jump straight to the first or last page, preview a page before you turn to it, and crop pages to enlarge the staves for easier reading. Password-protected PDFs are supported. : Automatic vertical scrolling and half-page turns Let the score scroll by itself and forget about turning pages altogether. The scrolling speed is yours to set. : Over 130,000 classical scores to download for free Piascore connects to IMSLP (the International Music Score Library Project) / Petrucci Music Library, so you can download 131,000 public domain works by 16,200 composers, free of charge. : Plenty of ways to bring in your own scores Piascore reads PDF files. Transfer your own scores over iTunes File Sharing, import them from Dropbox, photograph printed music with the camera, or download a score you found in Safari. : Easy library management Tags and setlists keep even a large library in order, with powerful sorting and keyword search. : Metronome A metronome with a natural, realistic sound to keep your daily practice on track. : Piascore music tools Everything a musician needs beside the score: a keyboard, a chromatic tuner, a music player (iTunes) and a voice recorder. : Custom covers Use a photo or any image you like to give each score its own cover. : Editable table of contents Build your own table of contents, or import one from the PDF. : Reorder pages, jump between them Put the pages in whatever order suits you. For repeats, D.S. and the like, place a jump button on the page and go straight where the music takes you. : Export your scores Print an annotated score over AirPrint, or send it by email. : The Piascore Store Classical works, folk songs and easy arrangements, all in one store. Search by genre or by artist and find that piece you have been looking for. : Air Page Turning (iPhone required) Pair an iPhone running the companion app "Piascore Air" and turn pages more easily than ever, without touching the screen at all. : AirTurn Bluetooth pedal support Connect an AirTurn pedal and turn pages with your foot. ** Praise ** "This is a sheet music viewer that is genuinely worth having" - GRAMOPHONE "Very easy to use, a beautiful sound library" - appPicker "The most wonderful and convenient music sheet viewer you can't miss!" - Best10Apps.com "Impressed with the outstanding visibility!" - AppBank ** Award ** : 2011 International Business Awards - Consumer Entertainment / Information (Distinguished Honoree) : 2012 4th SF NewTech Japan Night Winner ** FAQ ** : https://help.piascore.com/ ** Contact ** : https://piascore.com/ : support@piascore.com
Music Reader
This app is a comprehensive tool for sheet music. It allows users to view, learn, listen, mark, and play musical scores. It supports various music genres and instruments, acting as a portable songbook and powerful player.
- View and play sheet music
- Mark and annotate scores
- Import MusicXML and NotationPad files
- Supports dark mode
- Transposition (PRO)
- Change instrument parts (PRO)
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Music Reader provides all you need about sheet music. You could view, learn, listen, mark and play music notes and notations as you want. it is your portable songbook and a powerful sheet music reader & player. A easy-to-use painting system for you to draw any marks on sheets. From classic to popular, from rock to country, from piano to symphony, all kinds of music played well in Music Reader. *Compatible with dark mode *Supports importing MusicXML(.xml) and NotationPad(.ecz) file PRO ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION - No Ads - Transposition - Change instrument for parts - Support layers for painting marks - The subscription price is $4.99/monthly, $14.99/yearly - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that service, where applicable - Terms of use: https://service.notationpad.com/sheetmusicplus/terms_service.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Piascore at none against Music Reader's shown. Piascore also leads on review sentiment (82% vs 51%) and update cadence (weekly vs every 4 months). Music Reader's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Piascore sells 9 one-off in-app purchases and Music Reader sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Piascore holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Piascore has 1.9K ratings behind it against 192, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Piascore's written reviews are positive against 51% of Music Reader's.
Piascore ships an update weekly, Music Reader every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Piascore | Music Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (1.9K ratings) — better | 4.5 (192 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.6% of reviews — better | 51.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.9K — better | 192 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 77 MB | 183 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Piascore, Inc. | 嵩 张 |
Customer experience
Piascore
Music Reader
Bugs and requests
Piascore
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unreliable facial gesture page turning
- Issues with downloading and importing files
- Inconsistent behavior when making edits
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to add/insert pages to existing scores
- More customization options for annotations and page turning
- Improved syncing across devices
- Better support for guitar tablature and chord charts
Music Reader
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Piascore
- Music Sheet$0.99
- Music Sheet$1.99
- Music Sheet$2.99
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- Music Sheet$3.99
- Music Sheet$4.99
- Piascore Full Upgrading$5.99
- Music Sheet$5.99
- Music Sheet$6.99
- Music Sheet2 variants$9.99
Music Reader
- Pro Access$2.991 Month
- Pro Access7 Days trial$14.991 Year
- Pro Access$14.991 Year








