Comparison of scorewriters

This is a comparison of music notation programs.

General information
Name Guitar tablature WYSIWYG editor MIDI entry[1] Playback File formats Developer(s) Stable release; review date License Cost (USD) Operating systems
Import Export
Canorus No Yes MIDI CanorusML,[lower-alpha 1] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] simple LilyPond[lower-alpha 4] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] LilyPond,[lower-alpha 4] PDF Reinhard Katzmann, Matevž Jekovec, Georg Rudolph 0.7.1; 21 April 2013 (2013-04-21) GPL Free Linux
Denemo Yes Yes Step-time MIDI Denemo,[lower-alpha 5] limited LilyPond,[lower-alpha 4] MusicXML[lower-alpha 2] LilyPond,[lower-alpha 4] WAV, Ogg, PDF, PNG, Jeremiah Benham, Richard Shann 2.4.0; 18 May 2020 (2020-05-18) GPL Free Windows, macOS, Linux
Early Notation Typesetter No Yes No No ENT[lower-alpha 6] ENT,[lower-alpha 6] PDF Samuel Gossner, Daniel West, Dieter Theuns 0.9.6; 20 October 2020 (2020-10-20) Proprietary Freemium (single font), $6/mo for all fonts Windows, macOS, Linux
Frescobaldi No WYSIWYM MIDI LilyPond,[lower-alpha 4] MusicXML[lower-alpha 2] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] PDF Wilbert Berendsen 3.1.3; 25 December 2020 (2020-12-25) GPL Free Windows, macOS, Linux
Impro-Visor No Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI Impro-Visor[lower-alpha 7] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] PDF Bob Keller 10.2; 1 August 2019 (2019-08-01) GPL Free Windows, macOS, Linux
LilyPond Yes No No MIDI LilyPond;[lower-alpha 4] using converters: ABC,[lower-alpha 8] ETF,[lower-alpha 9] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] MusicXML[lower-alpha 2] PDF, PNG, PS, SVG Han-Wen Nienhuys, Jan Nieuwenhuizen 2.22.0; 10 January 2021 (2021-01-10) GPL Free Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD
MuseScore Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, SoundFonts, SFZ MuseScore,[lower-alpha 10] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] Compressed MusicXML,[lower-alpha 11] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Karaoke,[lower-alpha 12] MuseData,[lower-alpha 13] Bagpipe Music Writer,[lower-alpha 14] Band-in-a-Box,[lower-alpha 15] Overture,[lower-alpha 16] Capella,[lower-alpha 17] CapXML,[lower-alpha 18] Guitar Pro (versions 1–6),[lower-alpha 19] PDF (experimental), ABC[lower-alpha 8] (with plugin) MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] Compressed MusicXML,[lower-alpha 11] PDF, PNG, SVG, MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] WAV, FLAC, Ogg, MP3 The MuseScore developer community 3.6.1; 27 January 2021 (2021-01-27) GPL v2 Free Windows, macOS, Linux
MusiCAD No Yes MIDI MusiCAD,[lower-alpha 20] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] ABC[lower-alpha 8] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] ABC,[lower-alpha 8] PDF, JPEG, PNG, BMP Musys Software 4.0 Proprietary Free,[3] license for €45 Windows
Musink No WYSIWYM MIDI Musink[lower-alpha 21] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] PDF, PNG, XPS Lee Reid 1.2 Proprietary Free Windows
MusiXTeX Yes No No No TeX (incl. PMX and M-Tx),[lower-alpha 22] MusicXML[lower-alpha 2] (with converters) DVI,[lower-alpha 23] PS, PDF, MIDI[lower-alpha 3] (for PMX input) Daniel Taupin, Ross Mitchell, Andreas Egler 1.30; 20 March 2020 (2020-03-20) GPL Free Windows, macOS, Linux
Philip's Music Writer Yes No No MIDI PMW[lower-alpha 24] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] PS Philip Hazel 4.50; 1 December 2020 (2020-12-01) GPL Free Linux (older versions for RISC OS)
Power Tab Editor Yes Yes MIDI Power Tab,[lower-alpha 25] MIDI[lower-alpha 3] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] ASCII tab,[lower-alpha 26] BMP, HTML Brad Larsen 1.0.0.175; 26 August 2006 (2006-08-26) Proprietary Free Windows
Rosegarden No Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI Rosegarden,[lower-alpha 27] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Hydrogen[lower-alpha 28] LilyPond,[lower-alpha 4] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Csound,[lower-alpha 29] Mup,[lower-alpha 30] PDF Chris Cannam, Richard Bown, Guillaume Laurent 20.12; 9 December 2020 (2020-12-09) GPL Free Linux
ScoreCloud Studio No Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] live audio MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] WAV, PDF Doremir Music Research AB 4.1 Proprietary Freemium (no file saving), $139/yr for full version Windows, macOS, iOS
TuxGuitar Yes Yes MIDI TuxGuitar,[lower-alpha 31] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Guitar Pro (versions 1–6),[lower-alpha 19] Power Tab,[lower-alpha 25] TablEdit[lower-alpha 32] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Guitar Pro (versions 3–5),[lower-alpha 19] LilyPond,[lower-alpha 4] ASCII tab,[lower-alpha 26] PDF Julian Gabriel Casadesus 1.5.4; 12 May 2020 (2020-05-12) LGPL Free Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD
Capella Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST, SoundFonts Capella,[lower-alpha 17] CapXML,[lower-alpha 18] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI[lower-alpha 3] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] BMP, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, Truevision TGA, PCX, HTML Capella Software AG 8.0-13; 28 April 2020 (2020-04-28) Proprietary $218 Windows, macOS
Dorico Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST Dorico,[lower-alpha 33] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI[lower-alpha 3] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] WAV, MP3, PDF, PNG, TIFF, SVG Steinberg 3.5.10; 27 July 2020 (2020-07-27) Proprietary $559 Windows, macOS
Encore Yes Yes MIDI Encore,[lower-alpha 34] MusicTime,[lower-alpha 35] Rhapsody,[lower-alpha 36] Compressed MusicXML[lower-alpha 11] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Cakewalk MIDI,[lower-alpha 37] Master Tracks Pro,[lower-alpha 38] PDF Passport Music Software 5.0.4/5.0.7 Proprietary $280 Windows, macOS
Finale Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST, AU,[4] Garritan library Finale,[lower-alpha 39] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI[lower-alpha 3] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] WAV, MP3, AIFF, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, EPS, BMP, GIF, PICT[4] MakeMusic 26.3.1.520; 30 June 2020 (2020-06-30) Proprietary $600 Windows, macOS
Forte Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST Forte,[lower-alpha 40] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] CapXML[lower-alpha 18] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] BMP, JPEG Lugert Verlag GmbH 12; 2020 (2020) Proprietary $229 Windows
Guitar Pro Yes Yes MIDI, RSE Guitar Pro (versions 1–7),[lower-alpha 19] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] Compressed MusicXML,[lower-alpha 11] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] ASCII tab,[lower-alpha 26] Power Tab,[lower-alpha 25] TablEdit[lower-alpha 32] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] ASCII tab,[lower-alpha 26] PNG, PDF, WAV Arobas Music 7.5.4 Proprietary $70 Windows, macOS, Linux
MagicScore Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, SoundFonts SFD,[lower-alpha 41] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Karaoke,[lower-alpha 12] WAV, MP3 MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Karaoke,[lower-alpha 12] WAV, MP3, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, EMF, WMF Maestro Music Software 8 Proprietary $70 Windows
Mozart Yes Yes Real-time and step-time MIDI Mozart,[lower-alpha 42] MusicXML[lower-alpha 2] NIFF[lower-alpha 43] MIDI[lower-alpha 3] Karaoke[lower-alpha 12] ABC[lower-alpha 8] MusicXML[lower-alpha 2] MIDI[lower-alpha 3] ABC[lower-alpha 8], BMP, EMF, GIF, JPEG, PBM, PNG, TIFF Mozart Music Software 15.0.3; 13 January 2021 (2021-01-13) Proprietary $130 Windows
Mus2 No Yes MIDI Mus2[lower-alpha 44] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] AIFF, WAV, PDF, SVG, BMP, JPEG, PNG, Utku Uzmen (Data-Soft Ltd.) 2.1.5 Proprietary $60 Windows, macOS
MusicEase Yes Yes MIDI MusicEase,[lower-alpha 45] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] ABC,[lower-alpha 8] SongWright[lower-alpha 46] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] PDF MusicEase Software 9.0 Proprietary $250 Windows, macOS
Notation Composer No Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, SoundFonts Notation,[lower-alpha 47] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] Compressed MusicXML,[lower-alpha 11] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Karaoke[lower-alpha 12] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] Compressed MusicXML,[lower-alpha 11] PDF, MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Karaoke,[lower-alpha 12] PNG, BMP, JPEG, GIF, WAV, FLAC, Ogg, MP3 Notation Software 4.0.1; 2020 (2020) Proprietary $99 Windows
NoteWorthy Composer Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI NWC,[lower-alpha 48] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Karaoke[lower-alpha 12] MIDI[lower-alpha 3] NoteWorthy Software 2.75a.2; 2017 (2017) Proprietary $49 Windows
Notion Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] Compressed MusicXML,[lower-alpha 11] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Guitar Pro[lower-alpha 19] (versions 4–5) MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] WAV PreSonus 6.5.470; 15 January 2019 (2019-01-15) Proprietary $149 Windows, macOS, iOS (iPad)
Overture Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST, AU,[4] Overture,[lower-alpha 16] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Score Writer,[lower-alpha 49] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] WAV, MP3 Sonic Scores 5.6.1.1; 2 December 2019 (2019-12-02) Proprietary $249 Windows, macOS
Sibelius Yes Yes Step-time and real-time MIDI, VST, AU,[4] Avid library Sibelius,[lower-alpha 50] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI[lower-alpha 3] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] MP3, PDF, SVG, EPS, PNG, Avid Technology Inc. 2020.9; 13 September 2020 (2020-09-13) Proprietary $599, or $239/yr Windows, macOS, RISC OS
SmartScore Pro Yes Yes MIDI SmartScore,[lower-alpha 51] scanned images, MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] NIFF[lower-alpha 43] MusicXML,[lower-alpha 2] MIDI,[lower-alpha 3] Finale,[lower-alpha 39] NIFF,[lower-alpha 43] PDF Musitek Corporation 10.5.8; June 2015 (2015-06) Proprietary $399 Windows, macOS
Name Guitar tablature WYSIWYG editor MIDI entry[1] Playback Import Export Developer(s) Stable release; review date License Cost (USD) Operating systems
File formats

File formats and extensions
  1. Canorus native format, .can
  2. MusicXML, open standard XML-based music notation exchange format, .xml or (version 3.1 or later) .musicxml
  3. Standard MIDI file format, .mid or .midi
  4. LilyPond plain text native format, .ly
  5. Denemo native format, .denemo
  6. Early notation typesetter native format, .ent
  7. Impro-Visor native format, .ls
  8. ABC plain text format, .abc
  9. Finale Enigma Transport Format, .etf[2]
  10. MuseScore native format, .mscz; uncompressed XML-based format, .mscx; style sheet, .mss; score album, .album
  11. MusicXML version 2.0 or later, compressed as a ZIP, .mxl
  12. Standard MIDI file format including standard MIDI lyrics, used for karaoke, .kar
  13. MuseData project format, .md
  14. Bagpipe Music Writer native format, .bww
  15. Band-in-a-Box native format, .mgu or .sgu
  16. Overture native format, .ove
  17. Capella native format, binary file, .cap
  18. Capella native format, compressed ZIP containing XML, .capx
  19. Guitar Pro native format version 1–2, .gtp; version 3, .gp3; version 4, .gp4; version 5, .gp5; version 6, .gpx; version 7, .gp
  20. MusiCAD plain text native format, .mc
  21. Musink native format, .musink
  22. PMX, preprocessor language for MusixTeX, .pmx; M-Tx, processor for PMX, .mtx
  23. TeX device independent file format, .dvi
  24. Philip's Music Writer native format, human-readable text, .pmw
  25. Power Tab Editor native format, .ptb
  26. ASCII tablature plain text format, .txt, .tab, or .btab
  27. Rosegarden native format, .rg
  28. Hydrogen drum machine song XML file format, .h2song
  29. Csound audio domain-specific language format, without orchestra data, .csd
  30. Music Publisher Score file format, .mup
  31. TuxGuitar native format, .tg
  32. TablEdit native format, .tef
  33. Dorico native format, .dorico
  34. Encore native format, .enc
  35. MusicTime (by the same developer as Encore) native format, .mto, .mus (different to Finale .mus)
  36. Rhapsody (by the same developer as Encore) native format, .rhp
  37. Cakewalk MIDI file format, .mff
  38. Master Tracks Pro (by the same developer as Encore) native format, .mts
  39. Finale native format, .mus (2012 and earlier) or .musx (2014 and later)
  40. Forte native format, .fnf
  41. Maestro software family native format, .sfd
  42. Mozart native format, .mz
  43. Notation Interchange File Format, .nif
  44. Mus2 notation and tuning file format, .mus2, .mu2
  45. MusicEase native format, .mez
  46. SongWright native format, .sw
  47. NoteSoft file, Notation Software native format, .not
  48. NoteWorthy Composer native format, .nwc or .nwctxt
  49. Score Writer (by the same developer as Overture) native format, .scw
  50. Sibelius (scorewriter) native format, .sib
  51. SmartScore native format, .enf

See also

Notes
  1. When entering notes, "step-time" means one first selects the note duration then enters notes and chords one a time, while "real-time" means one plays the notes to enter with correct rhythm and the software recognizes the note durations.
  2. "An incomplete description of the Enigma Transport Format". LilyPond.org. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  3. Prompt to purchase license appears when saving. See Tryware and Restrictions for full details.
  4. Mac version only
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