Comparison

SongScribe vs Notation

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

Head to head
About

SongScribe

This app helps musicians write, practice, and perform songs. It allows inline chord placement with lyrics, offers performance mode with auto-scroll, and includes tools like a tuner and metronome. It supports various instruments and import/export formats, with offline functionality.

Highlights
  • Inline chord placement with lyrics
  • Performance mode with auto-scroll
  • Chord builder with voicings
  • Multi-take audio recorder
  • Chromatic tuner and metronome
  • Import/export various formats
  • Offline by default functionality
Features
Read full description

Put each chord over the syllable where it changes, then play the song from the same screen on stage. No Wi-Fi, no account, no subscription. WRITE SONGS THE WAY YOU PLAY Lyrics and chords share one page. Tap a chord onto the syllable where you change and it sits above the word without pushing your lyrics around. Drag it anywhere and a glowing caret shows where it will land. • Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Hook and more, or name your own sections • Duplicate and reorder sections with one tap • A notes page on every song for rhymes and half-finished lines NO WI-FI. NO PROBLEM. Writing, chord lookup, recording, tuning and export all run offline, so you can play a basement bar with no signal. There's no account to create. Your songs live on your device, and iCloud sync carries them between your iPhone and iPad through your own iCloud account. EVERY CHORD. EVERY VOICING. 1,794 curated chord shapes for guitar, bass, ukulele, mandolin and banjo. Build any chord from root to bass note, step through its voicings, and tap to hear each one. SongScribe keeps the exact shape you picked. • 19 tuning presets like Drop D and DADGAD, plus custom tunings, and SongScribe works out shapes for any of them • Left-handed mode and a piano view • Transpose, set a capo, or detect the key from your chords FIND A CHORD WITHOUT A NAME Tap out a shape you found by ear and SongScribe names it. Pick the right name and it goes straight into your lyrics. BUILT FOR THE STAGE Performance mode puts the song full screen and scrolls it for you, at any speed from a slow crawl to 2×. Controls fade once you start, and the screen stays awake until you leave. • Build setlists and play the whole set in order • Start, stop, change speed and skip songs with a MIDI or Bluetooth page-turner pedal (Lifetime) A STUDIO IN YOUR POCKET Hit record, switch back to your lyrics and keep writing while the take rolls. Listening back, drop a marker with a note like "better chorus here," loop a section, or play it from quarter speed to double with the pitch intact. With Lifetime, stack up to four overdubs on your first take, set each layer's volume, and mix it down to one track. Lifetime also adds lossless recording. PRECISION TUNING. ZERO FUSS. The tuner reads to the cent, with presets for guitar, bass, violin and voice, plus a noise filter for loud rooms. Land within 3 cents and you feel a tap. The mic turns off when you leave the tuner. The metronome floats over your lyrics while you play, with tap tempo, 48 time signatures and each song's tempo saved. SEE HOW YOUR SONG FITS TOGETHER The harmony view arranges the seven chords of your key around the tonic, color-coded by function. Tap one to hear it, or jump to a related key and see which chords the two keys share. EXPORT TO PDF, CHORDPRO AND MORE Export a PDF chart in three layouts with chord diagrams and one-tap fit to page, or export ChordPro, ASCII or plain text (Lifetime). Your old charts come with you. Import ChordPro or text files and SongScribe sets each chord over its word and labels your verses and choruses. ONE PRICE FOR EVERYTHING Free, for as long as you like: • 10 songs and 5 recordings per song • Every chord tool, the tuner, metronome and harmony view • Setlists, Performance mode and iCloud sync • All 17 themes, light and dark SongScribe Lifetime, one purchase: • Unlimited songs and recordings • Export, multi-track recording, lossless audio and footswitch control Try every Lifetime feature free for 7 days. Nothing renews and there's nothing to cancel. If you don't upgrade, your songs stay safe: SongScribe never deletes or hides them. Built by a musician, for people who write songs and then get up and play them. Questions or ideas: support@songscribe.io Terms of Use: https://songscribe.io/terms

About

Notation

Create and edit professional sheet music on your mobile device. Easily capture musical ideas, arrange scores with lyrics and chords, and share playable web links with collaborators. Offers robust notation tools for composers, arrangers, and students.

Highlights
  • Touch notation keyboard
  • Multi-staff playback
  • Web score sharing
  • MusicXML, MIDI, PDF export
  • Lyrics and chord support
  • Cloud sync
Features
Read full description

Notation is professional sheet music notation for composers, arrangers, and music students. Capture a motif at the piano, tweak harmony on your commute, or share a link before rehearsal—all on iPhone or iPad with lyrics and chords. If you read a staff, you can go from a piano sketch to multi-staff scores for class and rehearsal. TOUCH NOTATION A notation keyboard replaces deep menus: tap notes and markings, or select on the staff to edit. Undo/redo for commutes, rehearsal gaps, or at the piano. On the free tier, inserting or editing measures shifts later bars automatically so the rest of the score stays aligned. WRITE AND HEAR IT Multi-staff playback; on long scores, playback follows your edit position. Composer Pro: per-staff Mute and Solo for full scores. WEB SCORE SHARING Generate a web score link—text or email to teachers, singers, or collaborators. Any browser shows standard notation and multi-part playback without installing the app. Print-friendly pages for handouts. PDF for archives and fixed layout; web links when your choir or band needs to hear the piece before rehearsal. Many mobile apps stop at PDF or screenshots; Notation shares playable web scores with the same playback and layout as on your device. EXPORT AND INTERCHANGE MusicXML, MIDI, PDF (screen preview + A4 print PDF). Import MusicXML without length limits—continue in MuseScore, Sibelius, etc. Free tier: starter export allowance. Composer Pro: unlimited export, clean PDF (see app for web-link limits). IPAD PRO WORKSPACE On iPad, library and score sit side by side for desktop-like sessions. iPhone: full notation and sharing when you are catching ideas on the go. YOU CAN ALSO: - Piano keyboard chord stacks; multi-verse lyrics with melismas and paste lyrics line by line; measure insert/copy/paste/delete - Ties, slurs, manual beams—free - Cloud sync (web links need sign-in + sync); Composer Pro: 8 staves, 2 voices per staff, transpose, meter changes NOTATION COVERAGE: * Notes/rests, dots, ties, slurs, beams (manual break/join) * Triplets; quintuplets–septuplets (Composer Pro) * Ornaments, articulations, dynamics, hairpins * Lyrics (verses), chords; title/composer/lyricist header * Clefs, time, tempo; major/minor keys; accidentals * Repeats, voltas, D.S./D.C.; pickups; measure-level edits * Templates: piano grand, treble/bass single staff, custom; long-score paging SUBSCRIPTION & LEGAL (COMPOSER PRO — OPTIONAL) Notation offers an optional paid membership called Composer Pro. You can subscribe in the app under Me → Upgrade. No subscription is required to create, edit, save, or play scores on the free tier. AUTO-RENEWABLE SUBSCRIPTION • Name: Composer Pro — Weekly Plan • Length: 1 week (renews every week) • Price: Shown on the in-app purchase screen before you confirm (localized price; may vary by country or region). If a free trial is available in your region, it is displayed on the subscription screen before purchase. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period at the price of the selected plan. You can manage or cancel subscriptions in Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions after purchase. Any unused portion of a free trial, if offered, is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. WHAT COMPOSER PRO INCLUDES • Advanced composing: full transposition and any key; up to 8 staves and 2 voices per staff; meter changes and special/additive meters; undo/redo; advanced repeat playback • Delivery & export: unlimited exports (MusicXML, and web score links); • Playback: full instrument library; per-staff mute and solo • Other: ad-free experience; community publishing; priority support Privacy Policy: https://solfegehub.com/UserManagerPrivacy_en.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://solfegehub.com/UserManagerTerms_en.html

Screenshots

SongScribe4 screens
Notation4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: SongScribe at none against Notation's shown. SongScribe also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Notation's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 26.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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

Both are free to download. SongScribe sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Notation sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for SongScribe against 5.0 for Notation. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SongScribe ships an update every 3 weeks, Notation every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
SongScribe versus Notation: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSongScribeNotation
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSergei Lekoutovich凯 张

Customer experience

SongScribe

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Notation

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

SongScribe

One-time1
  • SongScribe Lifetime$19.95
2 purchases

Notation

Subscriptions1
  • Weekly Subscription · NotationAI3 Days trial$3.997 Days
One-time1
  • Lifetime Access · NotationAI$19.99

Questions

Is SongScribe free?
SongScribe is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Notation free?
Notation is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SongScribe or Notation?
SongScribe and Notation are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do SongScribe or Notation have ads?
Notation shows ads; SongScribe does not.
Which is updated more often, SongScribe or Notation?
SongScribe ships an update every 3 weeks, and Notation every 9 days. Most recently, SongScribe was updated on October 3, 2026 and Notation on October 13, 2026.

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