Free Finale AlternativesTop Music Production Apps like Finale

The best free alternative to Finale is MuseScore Studio, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to Finale and many of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Finale are Dorico, LilyPond, Avid Sibelius and Frescobaldi.

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Alternatives list

  1. MuseScore Studio icon

    MuseScore Studio

     253 likes

    Compose, arrange, and share music using free, open-source software for Windows, Mac, and Linux with integrated playback, fast note entry, MIDI, MusicXML, PDF support, multilingual UI, and direct connection to an online sheet music community for sharing scores.

    72 MuseScore Studio alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • BSD
    • iPad
    • PortableApps.com
    • Haiku
    MuseScore 4.0
     
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    5
    MuseScore Studio vs Finale Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    Guest
    2

    MuseScore is a very capable alternative to Finale. It is easy to use and produces professional sheet music of any size. I have created small scores for a single-instrument, as well as large scores for a full concert band using this software. Finale does have a better sound library than MuseScore, but other than that, MuseScore has handled anything that I have thrown at it.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    riveravaldez
    Positive
    -1

    It does everything Finale does, and much more, much better. Free/Libre software, without crap. Constantly improving.

    Guest
    Positive
    1

    It's completely free, you can upload your scores to the website for safekeeping, it is powerful and notate almost anything

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 5 comments
    • MuseScore Studio is Free and Open SourceFinale is Paid and Proprietary
  2. Dorico icon

    Dorico

     12 likes

    Compose or publish music notation, produce teaching materials or learn the language of music — Dorico lets you make beautiful music, fast.

    18 Dorico alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • iPad
    Dorico screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Dorico vs Finale Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    -1

    Dorico seems the 21th century best app : very intuitive, with a genial structure helping the user to write scores.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Dorico is Freemium and ProprietaryFinale is Paid and Proprietary
  4. LilyPond icon

    LilyPond

     41 likes

    GNU LilyPond is a computer program for music engraving. One of LilyPonds major goals is to produce scores that are engraved with traditional layout rules, reflecting the era when scores were engraved by hand.

    49 LilyPond alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    LilyPond screenshot 1
     
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    2
    LilyPond vs Finale Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    2

    You have full control over the engraving and score edition process and the results are the best available.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Negative
    0

    LilyPond uses Text files, whereas Finale uses MIDI, .kar, etc.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • LilyPond is Free and Open SourceFinale is Paid and Proprietary
    • LilyPond is CustomizableFinale is not according to our users
  5. Ad
    Screenshot
    Avid Sibelius icon
    Avid Sibelius

    Professional music notation software for Windows and macOS featuring intuitive, task-based score creation, MIDI and onscreen input, up to 16 staves, guitar tab conversion, Magnetic Layout, dynamic parts updates, text and lyric su...

    https://www.avid.com
    Learn More
  6. Avid Sibelius icon

    Avid Sibelius

     35 likes

    Professional music notation software for Windows and macOS featuring intuitive, task-based score creation, MIDI and onscreen input, up to 16 staves, guitar tab conversion, Magnetic Layout, dynamic parts updates, text and lyric support, scanning tools, and expressive playback.

    59 Avid Sibelius alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Android
    • iPad
    Avid Sibelius screenshot 1
     
  7. Frescobaldi icon

    Frescobaldi

     18 likes

    Frescobaldi is a LilyPond sheet music text editor. It aims to be powerful, yet lightweight and easy to use. Frescobaldi is Free Software, freely available under the General Public License.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Frescobaldi screenshot 1
     
  8. Impro-Visor icon

    Impro-Visor

     25 likes

    Impro-Visor is a music notation program designed to help jazz musicians compose and hear solos similar to ones that might be improvised.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    In this window you can create or edit a new chorus.
     
  10. EasyABC icon

    EasyABC

     6 likes

    EasyABC allows you to edit and play abc files. It supports conversion from MusicXML and MIDI to ABC. The latter uses a custom implementation (midi2abc is not used) in order to produce very readable ABC output. Direct midi input is supported for people with a midi keyboard.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    EasyABC screenshot 1
     
  12. alphaTab icon

    alphaTab

     5 likes

    alphaTab is a cross platform music notation and guitar tablature rendering library. You can use alphaTab within your own website or application to load music sheets from files like Guitar Pro or use the built in markup named alphaTex.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  13. DGuitar icon

    DGuitar

     5 likes

    DGuitar is a Guitar Pro (GP4, GP3, GTP) viewer/player that works on Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, Solaris, and any other operating system that has Java Runtime Environment 1.4 or later installed.

    33 DGuitar alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    DGuitar screenshot 1
     
  14. DaCapo Editor icon

    DaCapo Editor

     2 likes

    DaCapo Editor is a free Open Source music sheet editor which allows to easily create nice looking partitions. It is available as a web application as well as a desktop application for Windows, MacOS and Linux.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Chrome OS
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Self-Hosted
    DaCapo Editor screenshot 1
     
  15. Power Tab Editor icon

    Power Tab Editor

     10 likes

    Power Tab Editor is a free tablature authoring tool created by Brad Larsen for Windows. It is used to create guitar, bass and ukulele tablature scores, among many others. The current version uses the *.ptb file format.

    46 Power Tab Editor alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Power Tab Editor screenshot 1
     
12 of 24 Finale alternatives