Comparison

Sheet Music Scanner vs Solfa

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

Head to head
About

Sheet Music Scanner

Instantly listen to scanned sheet music with this app. It recognizes musical notation and plays it back on your device with various instruments and adjustable speeds. Learn music by hearing it come alive from the page.

Highlights
  • Scan printed sheet music with camera
  • Playback from photo library or PDF
  • Tap to play specific measures
  • Recognizes melody, harmony, and rhythm symbols
  • Supports multiple instruments and voices
  • Adjustable playback speed
  • Export as MIDI, MusicXML, and audio
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Scan sheet music and instantly listen with music with Sheet Music Scanner. Sheet Music Scanner makes it easy for you to scan or upload printed sheet music. Listen to the music printed on the page in a number of different formats and instruments, directly on your device. Ever wanted to know how that interesting-looking piece of sheet music actually sounds? Now you can know instantly. Just point your iPhone or iPad at the sheet and let it play the notes for you. Listen to the notes and help yourself learn along the way. Sheet Music Scanner lets you scan and playback from any part of the song, just tap the measure and listen to your sheet music. You can even choose the instrument, pick the speed and enjoy! Download Sheet Music Scanner and scan your sheet music today! 2 for 1 universal iOS app: iPhone / iPod touch and iPad - you get Sheet Music Scanner for all your iOS devices for the price of one. SHEET MUSIC SCANNER FEATURES - Scan the whole sheet instantly using your built-in camera - Scan and playback from any image in your Photo library or from a PDF * - Playback from anywhere in the song - simply tap the measure, the notes and symbols are highlighted as they're played - Reads and recognizes the following symbols of musical notation pertaining to melody, harmony, and rhythm: treble, bass, and alto (viola) clefs, notes, duration dots, rests, accidentals, note ties, triplets and other tuplets, repeat signs * - Support for voices played in tandem, e.g. both piano hands at the same time, or all the choir voices - Support for playing individual staffs separately, e.g. right or left piano hand - Support for multiple pages - Accommodates speeds between 50 and 330 beats per minute - Cloud synchronization. Access your music library on any iPhone, iPad, or Mac with iCloud Drive. * Some limitations apply - please see at the bottom of the page. EXPORT OPTIONS - Export as MIDI, MusicXML, audio (M4A / AAC, MP3, WAV), PDF to cloud storage, directly to other apps or via AirDrop - All major cloud storages supported: iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive, etc. Note that the appropriate cloud storage client app has to be installed for this to work. INSTRUMENTS - Accordion, Acoustic Bass, Alto Sax, Bagpipes, Banjo, Bass Guitar, Celeste, Cello, Choir, Clarinet, Double Bass, Flute, French Horn, Guitar - Classical, Clean, Distortion, Glockenspiel, Harp, Mandolin, Marimba, Oboe, Organ (Percussive, Pipe, Reed, Rock, Tonewheel), Piano, Recorder, Tenor Sax, Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba, Vibraphone, Viola, Violin, Xylophone - Supports actual instrument pitch for transposing instruments - Change your pitch standard based on instrument, from standard 440Hz to 380-480 Hz SUBSCRIPTIONS - 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. Limitations - Reads printed sheet music, not handwritten or mimicking handwriting, tablatures, etc. - Reads standard oval note heads only, no special symbols like shape notes. - The following symbols are not currently supported: codas, percussion notation, dynamics, double sharps, double flats, and grace notes. These are planned to come in the future updates. - Use high-quality printed sheet music and take photos under good enough light, when scanning from your camera, for optimal results. For scanning from a file, the recommended resolution is 300 DPI or 8-12 MPx per page. - Some older prints and unusual fonts may not be recognizable. If you experience any problems, please contact support at support@sheetmusicscanner.com Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Solfa

This app is a quiz game designed to help beginners and children learn to read sheet music and identify musical notes. It supports various clefs and note naming systems, making it versatile for different instruments and learning styles.

Highlights
  • Learn musical notes
  • Read sheet music
  • Supports multiple clefs
  • Train sight-reading
  • Learn tonality and chords
  • Multiple note naming systems
Features
Read full description

How to learn notes? How to read sheet music? How to remember note names? "Solfa" helps you learn notes for piano, guitar or singing. "Solfa / Musical Notes" is a quiz game for kids and beginners that helps you learn simple music theory. - train sight-reading - read notes of alto, bass, tenor, treble clef staff - learn tonality and chord names - switch between English, German note names You can use "Solfa" for ear training and basics of solfège. List of musical instruments: - singing - piano - guitar - flute - clarinet Types of musical notations: - C D E F G A B - C D E F G A H - Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si - До Ре Ми Фа Соль Ля Си - Ντο Ρε Μι Φα Σολ Λα Σι - ハ ニ ホ ヘ ト イ ロ - 다 라 마 바 사 가 나 - स रे ग म प ध नि - ด ร ม ฟ ซ ล ท

Screenshots

Sheet Music Scanner4 screens
Solfa4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Solfa at none against Sheet Music Scanner's 13. Solfa also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). Sheet Music Scanner's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (61% vs 48%). On price, rating, update cadence 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Sheet Music Scanner sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Solfa asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Sheet Music Scanner against 4.6 for Solfa. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sheet Music Scanner has 6.4K ratings behind it against 789, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 61% of Sheet Music Scanner's written reviews are positive against 48% of Solfa's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Sheet Music Scanner versus Solfa: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSheet Music ScannerSolfa
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (6.4K ratings)4.6 (789 ratings) — better
Positive reviews61.0% of reviews — better47.7% of reviews
Number of ratings6.4K — better789
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationSubscriptionAd-supported — better
Best chart rank#128 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size68 MB75 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperApp Sub 1 LLCAlexey Ovod

Customer experience

Sheet Music Scanner

All ratings6,365 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral4.0%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews531 reviews
Positive61.0%
Neutral8.7%
Negative30.3%

Solfa

All ratings789 ratings
Positive89.6%
Neutral4.3%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews130 reviews
Positive47.7%
Neutral18.5%
Negative33.8%

User reviews

Sheet Music Scanner

From 6.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Game changing app
  • 👍 Helpful for learning music
  • 💡 Useful for singers and musicians
  • 🚀 Accurate scanning and playback
  • 👍 Great value for the price

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Misses notes, rhythms, and symbols
  • 🐛 Struggles with complex music
  • 🔒 Requires subscription to fully use
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance

Solfa

From 789 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple but effective
  • 👍 Great for guitar players
  • 👍 Teaches fundamentals well
  • 👍 Helps improve musicianship

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Too many ads
  • 🐛 Crashes with MIDI connection
  • 🐛 Glitchy and buggy
  • 🔍 Limited features and options

Bugs and requests

Sheet Music Scanner

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Misses key signatures and accidentals
  • Struggles with handwritten or low-quality sheet music
  • Separates hands/voices incorrectly in multi-staff scores

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to manually edit scanned music
  • Improve support for repeats, codas, and complex rhythms
  • Allow selecting/isolating individual instrument/voice parts
  • Add count-in and metronome features
  • Improve export options (e.g. separate instrument tracks)

Solfa

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Displaying notes outside instrument range
  • Incorrectly identifying notes
  • Sound not working
  • Unable to advance past first screen

Requested features

6 requests
  • Option to remove note names
  • Thicker lines for guitar frets
  • Sight reading component
  • Mezzo soprano, baritone clefs
  • Ability to choose number of notes per round
Show 1 more
  • Purchasable ad-free version

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Sheet Music Scanner

Subscriptions12
  • Notation Scanner$4.991 Month
  • Notation Scanner$9.991 Year
  • Notation Scanner$14.991 Year
Show 9 more
  • Notation Scanner$17.991 Year
  • Notation Scanner7 Days trial$22.991 Year
  • Notation Scanner1 Month trial$22.991 Year
  • Notation Scanner$22.991 Year
  • Notation Scanner14 Days trial$22.991 Year
  • Notation Scanner$24.991 Year
  • Notation Scanner2 variants$29.991 Year
  • Notation Scanner7 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Notation Scanner7 Days trial$44.991 Year
None

Solfa

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sheet Music Scanner free?
Sheet Music Scanner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Solfa free?
Solfa is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sheet Music Scanner or Solfa?
Solfa is rated higher. Sheet Music Scanner averages 4.5 out of 5 from 6.4K ratings, while Solfa averages 4.6 from 789 ratings.
Do Sheet Music Scanner or Solfa have ads?
Solfa shows ads; Sheet Music Scanner does not.
Which is updated more often, Sheet Music Scanner or Solfa?
Sheet Music Scanner ships an update every 3 weeks, and Solfa every 3 weeks. Most recently, Sheet Music Scanner was updated on September 24, 2026 and Solfa on September 21, 2026.

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