Time-tested music notation software
From concert halls to classrooms, more composers, arrangers, and educators rely on Sibelius to write, share, and publish music. Sibelius powers today’s professional music industry with sophisticated features like AI-powered accelerators, advanced options for markup and layout, Cloud Publishing, and the ability to work across any device. With Sibelius, you can create and collaborate with musicians around the world and be confident that your work translates into something you can be proud of.
COMPARE VERSIONS
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Sibelius Mobile |
Sibelius Artist |
Sibelius Ultimate |
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Ideal for… |
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Composing simple/moderate music with up to 16 stave |
Composing, arranging, and publishing scores and parts of any size and complexity; creating notation worksheets and exercises for education |
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Pricing |
Free with Desktop subscription or buy the mobile-only option from $4.99/mo via in-app purchase |
Available as subscription or perpetual. Choose a license type above to get started. |
Available as subscription, perpetual, or teams and education pricing. Choose a license type above to get started. |
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Availability |
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Included with desktop versions (via subscription or Software Updates + Support Plan), or subscribe to either tier monthly via an in-app purchase |
Included with desktop versions (via subscription or Software Updates + Support Plan), or subscribe to either tier monthly via an in-app purchase |
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Notation |
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Common only |
Full set |
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Tuplets |
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Up to nonuplets |
Up to nonuplets |
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Lines gallery (trills, slurs, hairpins, etc.) |
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All |
All |
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Text gallery |
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More |
All |
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Symbols gallery |
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Some |
All |
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Voices per staff |
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4 voices |
4 voices |
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Lyric verses allowed |
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5 |
5 |
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Included sampled sounds |
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900 MB high-quality samples |
900 MB high-quality samples |
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Keyboard shortcuts |
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Included (fixed) |
Included (fixed) |
FEATURES & FUNCTIONALITY
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Sibelius Mobile |
Sibelius Artist |
Sibelius Ultimate |
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Number of staves |
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Up to 16 staves |
Unlimited staves |
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Note values |
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512th note (7 beams) to “breve” (double whole note) |
512th note (7 beams) to “long” (double breve) |
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Additional notation |
Basic guitar tab |
Limited bar numbers fixed beam/rest groupings fixed brackets and braces limited chord symbol presets basic guitar tab fixed Staff Filters |
Full range of bar formats customizable beam/rest groupings customizable brackets and bracesfully customizable chord symbols full guitar tab customizable Staff Filters |
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Lines gallery (trills, slurs, hairpins, etc.) |
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All |
All |
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Keyboard shortcuts |
Fixed |
Fixed |
Customizable |
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Voices per staff |
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4 voices |
4 voices |
COLLABORATION & SHARING
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Sibelius Mobile |
Sibelius Artist |
Sibelius Ultimate |
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Sibelius Cloud Sharing |
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20 Scores |
Unlimited scores with 1GB storage |
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Sibelius Cloud Publishing |
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Comments / Sticky Notes & Annotation |
Limited |
Yes |
Yes |
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Copy music notation as image |
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Low resolution |
Full resolution |
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Import / Export options |
Music XML import only |
Audio file export: WAV, AIFF, MP3 Video file export Music XML and MIDI file import/export Previous version export |
Audio: WAV, AIFF, MP3 Video file export Graphics file export Music XML and MIDI file import/export Previous version export import Lyrics as text |
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Publish to ScoreExchange.com |
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Yes |
Yes |
ADDITIONAL FEATURES FUNCTIONALITY
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Sibelius Mobile |
Sibelius Artist |
Sibelius Ultimate |
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Inspector window |
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Full editing of objects |
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Keyboard shortcuts |
Fixed |
Fixed |
Customizable |
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Lines gallery (trills, slurs, hairpins, etc.) |
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All |
All |
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Note values |
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512th note (7 beams) to Double whole note (breve) |
512th note (7 beams) to “long” (double breve) |
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Voices per staff |
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4 voices |
4 voices |
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Additional notation |
Basic guitar tab |
Limited bar numbers fixed beam/rest groupings fixed brackets and braces limited chord symbol presets basic guitar tab |
Full range of bar formats customizable beam/rest groupings customizable brackets and braces fully customizable chord symbols full guitar tab |
ADDITIONAL COMPOSITION & INSTRUMENTATION
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Sibelius Mobile |
Sibelius Artist |
Sibelius Ultimate |
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Notate Glissando |
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Diatonic and Chromatic |
Diatonic and Chromatic |
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Ideas Hub |
Score Starter only (40 templates) |
300 stock library ideas Add your own Score Starter |
2000+ library ideas with editing Add your own |
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Page numbers |
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Automatic |
Customizable |
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Rhythmic note values |
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512th note (7 beams) to Double whole note (breve) |
512th note (7 beams) to double breve (4 times duration of whole note) |
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Composition utilities |
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Part extraction Paste as cue Inspector window Instrument changes |
PLAYBACK CONTROLS
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Sibelius Mobile |
Sibelius Artist |
Sibelius Ultimate |
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Playpack controls - Speed |
Basic playback only |
Expressive playback & Loop |
Loop, halfspeed, expressive playback |
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Advanced notation interpretation |
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Yes |
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Espressivo 2 0 humanized playback |
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Presets only |
Customizable |
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Hairpins, ritardandi, accelerandi, fermatas, articulations |
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Fixed |
Adjustable |
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Playback markings on specified repeats |
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Yes |
Yes |
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Tap Tempo |
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On playback only |
Full |
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Timeline panel |
Not available |
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Yes |
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Video timecode and hit points |
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Add video, add and edit hitpoints |
Add video, add and edit hitpoints, timecode |
PUBLISHING & LAYOUT
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Sibelius Mobile |
Sibelius Artist |
Sibelius Ultimate |
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Meta Data |
Not available |
Common only |
Full set |
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Automatic arranging and orchestration |
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Yes |
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Dynamic parts |
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Limited editing |
Manage dynamic parts Edit dynamic parts Split dynamic parts |
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Decondense into two players |
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Fixed Staff Filters |
Automatic generation of two Dynamic Parts Full control of Staff Filters |
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Magnetic layout |
Fixed |
Fixed |
Customizable, with full viewing options |
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Manuscript papers (templates) |
Stock options only |
Some more |
Over 75 Create your own |
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Paper and desk textures |
Not available |
40 options |
60+ options |
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Rehearsal marks |
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Default only |
Customizable |
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Repeat structures |
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Customizable |
Customizable |
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Advanced layout options & features |
Headers & footers Intelligent rests Reset position System, Page and Special page breaks |
Auto layout options Manual staff spacing Fixed multiple staff sizes Headers & footers System and Page breaks Intelligent rests Limited object reset position Panorama scroll view |
Auto layout options Edit staff types, sizes, spacing Edit text styles and fonts Engraving rules Headers & footers System, Page and Special page breaks Intelligent rests Set default object position Full object reset positioning Join scores together Panorama scroll view Rulers |
ADVANCED NOTATION & ENGRAVING
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Sibelius Mobile |
Sibelius Artist |
Sibelius Ultimate |
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Accidentals |
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Normal and double, bracketed |
Normal, double, quarter-tones, bracketed |
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Bar numbers |
Limited |
Limited |
Full range of formats |
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Barline types |
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Single, double, dashed, repeat, final, invisible, tick, short, between staves, thick, triple, dotted, pick up bars |
Single, double, dashed, repeat, final, invisible, tick, short, between staves, thick, triple, dotted, pick up bars |
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Beam/rest groupings |
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Fixed |
Customizable |
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Brackets and braces |
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Fixed |
Customizable |
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Change transposition of transposing instruments |
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Yes |
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Chord symbols appearance and MIDI/text input |
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Customizable |
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Cross-staff beams (keyboard music) |
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Yes |
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Cues |
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Yes |
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Custom lines |
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Yes |
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Custom Noteheads |
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Yes |
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Dotted notes: single, double, triple |
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Single, double, triple |
Single, double, triple |
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Jazz articulations: falls, scoops, doits, and plops |
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Yes |
Yes |
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Ossia staves |
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Yes |
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Slide notes and rests |
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Yes |
Yes |
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Special symbols |
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Yes |
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Split multirests in parts |
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Yes |
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Stemlets (half-stems) and feathered beams |
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Yes |
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Tuplets |
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Duplets to nonutuplets |
Any (ex. 2,7,44:31) and nested |
ADDITIONAL UTILITIES
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Sibelius Mobile |
Sibelius Artist |
Sibelius Ultimate |
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Versioning |
Not available |
Save, view, print versions |
Full versioning Compare versions Export log of changes |
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Timecode display |
No |
Single format |
Custom formatting |
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Additional utilities |
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Quick filter for similar objects Highlight music |
Sibelius Connect scripting Edit word menus Filter for all similar objects "Find" function Focus on staves Highlight music |
Minimum Requirements for Sibelius Artist Software Only
Ensure that you are running the latest version of Sibelius by visiting, https://my.avid.com/products
Windows
Windows 10, Windows 11
1+ GB of RAM
1 GB hard disk space for Sibelius software only
Internet connection required for software download and activation
Mac
10.14, 10.15, 11.0, 13, 14, 15
1+ GB of RAM 1 GB hard disk space for Sibelius software only
10 GB additional hard disk space for the Sibelius Sounds library (optional installation)
NOTE: the following storage device format is not supported
- APFS (Case-sensitive)
- APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
Internet connection required for software download and activation
Recommendations for the Sibelius Sounds library*:
Windows
4+ GB of RAM
36 GB hard disk space (SSD preferred)
ASIO compatible audio interface or sound card
Mac
4+ GB of RAM
36 GB hard disk space (SSD preferred)
NOTE: the following storage device format is not supported
- APFS (Case-sensitive)
- APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
- Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
Using 3rd Party Virtual Instruments or hardware MIDI playback devices with Sibelius:
If you have a Virtual Instrument or hardware MIDI playback device that you wish to use, please check that a compatible sound set is available. See the list of sound sets supplied with Sibelius.
*You can use Sibelius Sounds if your computer doesn't meet the recommended requirements, but you may find that you cannot use as many sounds simultaneously, and that sounds take a long time to load.