Music Notation Software reviews from Reddit

Summary

We analyzed 190 Reddit reviews across 22 subreddits and 50 posts to rank the best Music Notation Software brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/composer, r/WeAreTheMusicMakers, r/musictheory, r/classicalmusic, r/Jazz. Top-rated brands include MuseScore (4.2/5), Dorico (4.3/5), Sibelius (3.7/5).

Stats
Reviews190
Subreddits22
Posts50
Brands30
Products6
Top communities
r/composer79r/WeAreTheMusicMakers23r/musictheory23r/classicalmusic12r/Jazz6
190 reviews from
and
By Brand
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By Product
#1

MuseScore

4.2
(57)
"Easy answer : MuseScore. With the whole instrument package."
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"MuseScore has the best sound engine, the best graphics, and the most intuitive interface."
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"I like MuseScore. The fact that it is open source means it will only get better."
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"I truly believe musescore is a better product than both Sibelius and Finale."
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"Musescore."
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"MuseScore. Hands down one of the best, and definitely the best for free."
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"That's what I call an amazing software."
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"The actual notation software is great and it is free."
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"I've had success using MuseScore 3."
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"MuseScore is best-in-class in the 'free / open source GUI music notation software' arena."
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#2

Dorico

4.3
(36)
"Yes, you want Dorico. It’s the Future of music notation software."
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"Dorico is by far my favorite and would recommend it."
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"Dorico 5 has a free version, and so far I've found it to be great."
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"Dorico is by far my favorite, and I’ve used everything."
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"Dorico is the only modern notation software. I love it."
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"If playback and user friendliness are key drivers, Dorico."
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"I much prefer how Dorico works, looks and costs."
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"Dorico also makes it significantly harder to make notation errors. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had Finale/Sibelius scores with things just randomly missing, especially in parts. I’ve never had this issue in Dorico"
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"Beginner? Dorico produces the best with minimal effort."
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"Check out Dorico. By far the most modern and intelligent notation software available."
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#3

Sibelius

3.7
(22)
"I use Sibelius with NotePerformer. NP also works with Finale and Dorico. It’s the best solution if you don’t want to get fiddly with VSTs."
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"Sibelius is eons better than Finale."
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"Personally, I'll always recommend Sibelius as my go-to software."
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"Sibelius is music engravers software."
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"I've been using Sibelius for about 30 or 40 years. I'm very happy with it."
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"I'm a Sibelius user and I truly don't understand the claims that it's unintuitive."
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"Somewhat experienced? Sibelius has fairly intuitive input but requires some adjustment for decent-looking scores."
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"I found this course on udemy and I'm now very comfortable working in Sibelius."
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"Sibelius is great for me, its like the microsoft word of music notation."
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"I have Sibelius + Virtual Drumline and I love it."
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#4

LilyPond

3.8
(17)
"Lilypond. It's free. It's open source. It's revolutionary."
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"Is the absolute best for notation."
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"LilyPond is absolutely amazing at score engraving."
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"I ended up switching to LilyPond. I can't really recommend it to everyone unless you're willing to learn a bit of programming."
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"Lilypond. It's not graphical, which is why it's so good."
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"Lilypond is my preferred tool because of its flexibility, but it's not without its challenge."
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"Lilypond is free but there is a steeper learning curve than MuseScore."
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"[Lilypond](http://www.lilypond.org) is free and produces MIDI."
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"The best free or non free music notation software available."
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"Seriously. Lilypond produces really great scores."
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#5

Finale

3.4
(18)
"For publishable scores, there's no match for Finale, even though I find Sibelius to be much more intuitive."
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"For print, you can’t beat the customization of Finale."
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"Finale is what I recommend. Sibelius second and Dorico third."
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"At the highest levels, Finale outperforms the other major programs mentioned, but it's a HUGE pain in the ass to learn"
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"I prefer Finale for professional output."
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"Finale has a student discount for $90, which seems pricey but, considering the software is over $200 normally, it's a good deal."
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"I've only ever used Finale and its great for me."
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"Finale is generally considered to be the industry standard for music notation software."
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"Finale Notepad is only $10, and is really quite good."
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"I've been using Finale since 1996."
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#6

Noteflight

4.0
(5)
"Try NoteFlight—it's a game-changer for precision and quality!"
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"You can try noteflight. It's just a website and fairly easy to use."
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"For chamber and choral music, Noteflight is the way to go."
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"I use Noteflight for choral music, and it works just fine."
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"For non-complicated projects you can use the browser notation program Noteflight."
#7

Notion

3.8
(4)
"I’ve been impressed with https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/notion/id475820434"
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"Notion 6. Cheap and better then DAW built in editors."
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"Notion"
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"I’ve been using Notion6 for three years now."
#8

StaffPad

3.7
(3)
"I use StaffPad A LOT."
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"As far as I've heard StaffPad is the only software really optimized for touchscreen use."
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"No love for StaffPad?"
#9

TuxGuitar

4.0
(2)
"TuxGuitar, MuseScore"
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"I quite like TuxGuitar myself, although it's really geared toward guitar tabs."
#10

Soundslice

4.0
(2)
"If you’re looking to transcribe existing music, Soundslice is my favorite."
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"Is web-based and excellent."
#11

Denemo

4.0
(2)
"Denemo that sounds good."
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"GNU Denemo is what I use."
#12

Logic Pro

4.0
(2)
"I think it is as good as any of the others."
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"One of my friends who is a jazz musician swears by Logic pro for all of his notation."
#13

Symphony Pro

3.5
(2)
"The only one I've used is Symphony Pro. For my purposes, I can attest that it does work."
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"Symphony Pro is a really easy to use music composition app, although it's not as advanced as Sibelius or Finale."
#14

Flat

3.5
(2)
"I love Flat.io"
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"The only software I've found to do this is Flat."
#15

Flat.io

5.0
(1)
"Is awesome im gonna use that for the rest of my life."
#16

TeX

5.0
(1)
"TeX is unbelievably amazing, and can be modified by various front ends."
#17

Affinity Designer

4.0
(1)
"I use AffinityDesigner ($49), which is great cause you can basically turn it into a notation software."
#18

Inkscape

4.0
(1)
"Inkscape is your friend!"
#19

Vectornator

4.0
(1)
"Vectornator is also free and not nearly as cumbersome to work with as Inkscape."
#20

Guitar Pro

4.0
(1)
"Guitar Pro?"
#21

Stave n Tabs

4.0
(1)
"I like Stave n Tabs. Great value for a reasonable price."
#22

GarageBand

4.0
(1)
"Garage Band has a score editor."
#23

easyABC

4.0
(1)
"Check out easyABC. It's the simplest notation software I've seen."
#24

Crescendo

4.0
(1)
"Going on my second year of crescendo and they just keep adding functionality."
#25

LilyPond, MuseScore, Dorico, Finale, Sibelius

4.0
(1)
"Start with whatever notation program you use, assuming it can export to .svg."
#26

ABC Notation

4.0
(1)
"Try using ABC notation"
#27

PianoHub

4.0
(1)
"I just ran across https://www.pianohub.cloud/en/editor"
#28

Reaper

3.0
(1)
"Have you tried Reaper? It's a nice and cheap DAW with a notation editor."
#29

Reflow

3.0
(1)
"1. Reflow - http://www.reflowapp.com 2. NotateMe -https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/notateme/id699470139?mt=8 3. Symphony 4. Pocketscore"
#30

Signal

3.0
(1)
"This one is listed as open-source and free, but I’ve never used it myself."

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