Open Source Finale AlternativesTop Music Production Apps like Finale

The best open source alternative to Finale is MuseScore Studio. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to Finale and 12 is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to Finale are LilyPond, Frescobaldi, Impro-Visor and EasyABC.

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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. 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
  4. 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
     
  5. 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.
     
  6. 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
     
  7. 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
     
  9. 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
     
  10. 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
     
  11. music21 icon

    music21

     8 likes

    Music21 is a Python-based toolkit for computer-aided musicology. Applications of this toolkit include computational musicology, music informations, musical example extraction and generation, music notation editing and scripting, and a wide variety of approaches to composition, bo.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    music21 screenshot 1
     
  12. NtEd icon

    NtEd

     7 likes

    NtEd is a GTK+ score editor. It intends to be really WYSIWYG: what you see on the screen is exactly what you get on printer output. It supports up to 4 voices per staff, drum notes, 5 lyrics lines, N-Tuplets, context changes, repeats with alternatives, configurable music...

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    NtEd screenshot 1
     
  13. Canorus Music Score Editor icon

    Canorus Music Score Editor

     5 likes

    Canorus is a free cross-platform music score editor. It supports an unlimited number and length of staffs, polyphony, a MIDI playback of notes, chord markings, lyrics, import/export filters to formats like MIDI, MusicXML, ABC Music, MusiXTeX and LilyPond.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    Canorus Music Score Editor screenshot 1
     
  14. MC Musiceditor icon

    MC Musiceditor

     4 likes

    MC Musiceditor is free/open source (GPLv2) music notation software (Windows). It has been developed with only one purpose: to make life of musicians easier when making scores. This results in a userfriendly editor which makes professional scores without requiring specific...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    MC Musiceditor screenshot 1
     
12 of 12 Finale alternatives