GarageScoreFree vs Notation Pad
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GarageScoreFree
Create and share band music scores on your iPad. This app displays chord names on a notation window, offering different font sets for display and printing. Easily compose original songs and collaborate with band members.
- Chord name notation
- Display and print font sets
- Original song creation
- Band score sharing
- One Page for One Song (OPOS)
- High Quality Print Out (HQPO)
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I guess your first experience (in your school life) of a music score of your band was look like this. The band score was (and still “is”) a very cool tool for us to learning for our favorite songs. Even you have created your original songs with using the band score. “Intro, A, B, C, repeat, solo, and ending…”. It was very easy to create and share music among the band members. “We still need it on iOS, don’t we?” “Why don’t we make the band score for our iPad?” Yes, we made it! GarageScore show you not musical note but chord name on the notation window. GarageScore has two font sets. Draft for display and high-reso for print out. Let’s share your band score via iPad. You can also print out the score and write down your ideal notes on that. We make the notation score for your rhythm section and so on. Important Concepts for GarageScore. OPOS~One Page for One Song~ HQPO~High Quality Print Out~ CCW~Complexed Chord Welcome~
Notation Pad
Create, edit, and play sheet music with this comprehensive notation editor. Compose original pieces, transcribe existing music, and even collaborate in real-time. Ideal for musicians of all levels, from beginners learning notes to experienced composers.
- Real-time collaborative editing
- MusicXML, MIDI, PNG, and PDF export
- High-quality playback sound
- Support for up to 8 staves
- Over 100 instrument sounds
- Lyric editing
- Multi-voice support
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A sheet music creator and music notation editor on iOS. For any music lover or composer, Notation Pad gives you the ability to read, compose, edit, playback music scores and write lyrics. With it you can be a talented composer and great sheet music maker anywhere. As long as you have a little knowledge of sheet music, you can write music composition simply by touching and moving. You could use it as your songbook or scoresheet. It is also designed for a beginner who wants to learn music score, music notes and tablature. It can handle ensemble, choir or symphony score, also it supports for a single track piano score. With the help of it you could easily record the flashes of inspiration wherever they strike. Are you ready to compose music in a simple way? ----------------------- Features: -Realtime multi-person collaborative editing via SharePlay. -Export/Import the industry-popular MusicXML file format, allowing for exchanging sheet music with other software (Finale, Sibelius, Encore, MuseScore, etc). -Export MIDI file. -Export PNG image and PDF document. -High quality sound for playback. -Support editing up to 8 staff at the same time. -Support over 100 kinds of musical instrument. Piano, organ, guitar, violin, sax, flute, brass, bass, etc. -Support multi-voice. -A great lyric app. ----------------------- Supported notation: *A variety of music note types, from whole note to 128th note and dotted note *Chord, staff, track *Treble, alto and bass clef *Edit lyrics *A variety of time signatures *All standard key signatures *Adjustable tempo *All accidentals (sharps, flats, double sharps, double flats, and naturals) *Tie, slur, and tuplet *Many types of ornament *A wide range of dynamics ----------------------- UNLIMITED ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION - Support up to 8 staff - Config parts(add, delete, reorder) - Change key for each part - Change beat type and tempo - Config clef for each staff - Config sound for each part - No watermark image export - No Ads - Support 2nd voice part - Transpose instruments - Pickup bar - Import data file - Edit downloaded music score - Unlock all 100+ instruments - The subscription is $6.99 weekly with trial - 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/terms_service.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Notation Pad at 4.3 against GarageScoreFree's 1.0. Notation Pad also leads on review sentiment (56% vs 25%) and ratings volume (5.3K vs 1). GarageScoreFree's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and iOS requirement (6.0 vs 13.0). On price, update cadence, ads 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
Both are free to download. Notation Pad sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days. GarageScoreFree asks for nothing beyond the download.
Notation Pad holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notation Pad has 5.3K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 25% of GarageScoreFree's written reviews are positive against 56% of Notation Pad's.
GarageScoreFree ships an update every 2 weeks, Notation Pad monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GarageScoreFree | Notation Pad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.0 (1 ratings) | 4.3 (5.3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 25.0% of reviews | 55.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 5.3K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 6.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 162 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Atsushi Uchida | 嵩 张 |
Customer experience
GarageScoreFree
Notation Pad
Bugs and requests
GarageScoreFree
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Notation Pad
Reported bugs
3 issues- Subscription popup that cannot be closed
- Instruments turning into drums unexpectedly
- Inability to delete or modify certain elements
Requested features
5 requests- Add more instrument options
- Improve editing capabilities
- Allow changing key signatures and time signatures without premium
- Provide better tutorials and documentation
- Fix issues with note placement and playback
In-app purchases
GarageScoreFree
No in-app purchases
Notation Pad
- Unlimited Access7 Days trial$6.997 Days
- Unlimited Access Monthly$14.991 Month
- Guitar Instrument Group$0.99
- Ensemble Instrument Group$0.99
- Brass Instrument Group$0.99
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- Reed Instrument Group$0.99
- Pipe Instrument Group$0.99
- Strings Instrument Group$1.99
- All Instruments Pack$4.99
- Extras Package$19.99








