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.
Discount only applies to new purchases of a Sibelius Ultimate 1-Year Paid Upfront subscription. This does not apply to renewal subscription purchases. Using this discount will start a new 1-Year subscription and will not affect any existing subscriptions you may have. Prices/discount listed are for one year only. Offer is available from December 9, 2024 – December 26, 2024.
Compare versions
Sibelius Mobile | Sibelius Artist | Sibelius Ultimate | |
| Ideal for… | - | Composing simple/moderate music with up to 16 staves | Composing, arranging, and publishing scores and parts of any size and complexity; creating notation worksheets and exercises for education |
| Availability | - | Desktop: Subscribe monthly or annually, or purchase and own a perpetual license Mobile: Included with desktop version or subscribe monthly to just the app | Desktop: Subscribe monthly or annually, purchase and own a perpetual license (educational discount available), trade-up from other notation software, get network licensing, or easily manage multiple licenses and users with Sibelius Ultimate for teams Mobile: Included with desktop version or subscribe monthly to just the app |
| Notation | - | Common only | Full set |
| Tuplets | - | Up to nonuplets | Up to nonuplets |
| Lines gallery (trills, slurs, hairpins, etc.) | - | All | All |
| Text gallery | - | More | All |
| Symbols gallery | - | Some | All |
| Voices per staff | - | 4 voices | 4 voices |
| Lyric verses allowed | - | 5 | 5 |
| Included sampled sounds | - | 900 MB high-quality samples | 900 MB high-quality samples |
| Keyboard shortcuts | - | Included (fixed) | Included (fixed) |
Features & functionality
Sibelius Mobile | Sibelius Artist | Sibelius Ultimate | |
| Number of staves | - | Up to 16 staves | Unlimited staves |
| Note values | - | 512th note (7 beams) to “breve” (double whole note) | 512th note (7 beams) to “long” (double breve) |
| 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 bracesfully customizable chord symbols full guitar tab" |
| Lines gallery (trills, slurs, hairpins, etc.) | - | All | All |
| Keyboard shortcuts | Fixed | Fixed | Customizable |
| Voices per staff | - | 4 voices | 4 voices |
Collaboration & sharing
Sibelius Mobile | Sibelius Artist | Sibelius Ultimate | |
| Sibelius Cloud Sharing | - | 20 Scores | Unlimited scores with 1GB storage |
| Sibelius Cloud Publishing | - | - | - |
| Comments / Sticky Notes & Annotation | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| Copy/paste to Word docs | - | Low resolution | Full resolution |
| 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 |
| Publish to ScoreExchange.com | - | Yes | Yes |
ADDITIONAL FEATURES FUNCTIONALITY
Sibelius Mobile | Sibelius Artist | Sibelius Ultimate | |
| Inspector window | Full editing of objects | ||
| Keyboard shortcuts | Fixed | Fixed | Customizable |
| Keypad workflow | No | Yes | Yes |
| Lines gallery (trills, slurs, hairpins, etc.) | All | All | |
| Note values | - | 512th note (7 beams) to Double whole note (breve) | 512th note (7 beams) to “long” (double breve) |
| Voices per staff | - | 4 voices | 4 voices |
| 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 bracesfully customizable chord symbols full guitar tab |
ADDITIONAL COMPOSITION & INSTRUMENTATION
Sibelius Mobile | Sibelius Artist | Sibelius Ultimate | |
| Notate Glissando | - | Diatonic and Chromatic | Diatonic and Chromatic |
| Ideas Hub | Score Starter only (40 templates) | 300 stock library ideas
Add your own
Score Starter | 2000+ library ideas with editing
Add your own |
| Page numbers | Automatic | Customizable | |
| Rhythmic note values | -
| 512th note (7 beams) to Double whole note (breve) | 512th note (7 beams) to double breve (4 times duration of whole note) |
| Composition utilities | - | - | Part extraction Paste as cue Inspector window Instrument changes |
PLAYBACK CONTROLS
Sibelius Mobile | Sibelius Artist | Sibelius Ultimate | |
| Playpack controls - Speed | Basic playback only | Expressive playback & Loop | Loop, halfspeed, expressive playback |
| Advanced notation interpretation | - | - | Yes |
| Espressivo 2 0 humanized playback | - | Presets only | Customizable |
| Hairpins, ritardandi, accelerandi, fermatas, articulations | - | Fixed | Adjustable |
| Playback markings on specified repeats | - | Yes | Yes |
| Tap Tempo | - | On playback only | Full |
| Timeline panel | Not available | - | Yes |
| Video timecode and hit points | - | Add video, add and edit hitpoints | Add video, add and edit hitpoints, timecode |
PUBLISHING & LAYOUT
Sibelius Mobile | Sibelius Artist | Sibelius Ultimate | |
| Meta Data | Not available | Common only | Full set |
| Automatic arranging and orchestration | - | - | Yes |
| Dynamic parts | - | Limited editing | Manage dynamic parts Edit dynamic parts Split dynamic parts |
| Magnetic layout | Fixed | Fixed | Customizable, with full viewing options |
| Manuscript papers (templates) | Stock options only | Some more | Over 75 Create your own |
| Paper and desk textures | Not available | 40 options | 60+ options |
| Rehearsal marks | Default only | Customizable | |
| Repeat structures | - | Customizable | Customizable |
| 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
Sibelius Mobile | Sibelius Artist | Sibelius Ultimate | |
| Accidentals | - | Normal and double, bracketed | Normal, double, quarter-tones, bracketed |
| Bar numbers | Limited | Limited | Full range of formats |
| Barline types | - | 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 |
| Beam/rest groupings | - | Fixed | Customizable |
| Brackets and braces | - | Fixed | Customizable |
| Change transposition of transposing instruments | - | - | Yes |
| Chord symbols appearance and MIDI/text input | - | Customizable | |
| Cross-staff beams (keyboard music) | - | Yes | |
| Cues | - | Yes | |
| Custom lines | - | Yes | |
| Custom Noteheads | - | Yes | |
| Dotted notes: single, double, triple | - | Single, double, triple | Single, double, triple |
| Jazz articulations: falls, scoops, doits, and plops | - | Yes | Yes |
| Ossia staves | - | - | Yes |
| Slide notes and rests | - | Yes | Yes |
| Special symbols | - | Yes | |
| Split multirests in parts | - | Yes | |
| Stemlets (half-stems) and feathered beams | - | Yes | |
| Tuplets | Duplets to nonutuplets | Any (ex. 2,7,44:31) and nested |
ADDITIONAL UTILITIES
Sibelius Mobile | Sibelius Artist | Sibelius Ultimate | |
| Versioning | Not available | Save, view, print versions | Full versioning Compare versions Export log of changes |
| Timecode display | No | Single format | Custom formatting |
| Additional utilities | - | 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 |
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Use Sibelius On Any Device
Collaborate, share, and transform
With Sibelius First you can start composing music using the same tools professional composers use.
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Composition
Quick note entry
Enter notes from the onscreen notation Keypad, a MIDI keyboard, your computer keyboard, or using an Apple Pencil or tablet stylus
Chord Symbol entry, assisted by AI
Allows you to quickly embellish your music, saving you time in the composition process
Magnetic Layout and Auto Optimize
Avoid collisions and overlaps in your score with a layout that auto adjusts to the needs of your score so you don’t have to spend time formatting
Panorama view
Allows you to write without the constraints of the score layout
Sound library support
Use your preferred third-party libraries alongside 24GB of factory content with VST and AU plugin support for ultra-realistic playback
Collaborate, share, and transform
View, share, publish, and collaborate around the world or across the room with Cloud Sharing
Arranging & Engraving
Intelligent MIDI Import
As MIDI tracks are added to your score template, Sibelius will automatically assign instruments in your score
Mark up your score
Add chord symbols, guitar tab, guitar chord diagrams, expression text, articulations, lyrics, titles, graphics, and more to give your music the detail, depth, and dynamism it deserves
Dynamic Parts
Gives you individual parts for players and updates automatically with changes you make in the score, so you don’t have to extract parts individually or search through scores
Built for scale
Unlimited staves and deep customization options allow for arrangements and ensembles of any size with Sibelius Ultimate
Score Subsets
Helps you make custom arrangements from sketch staves and create rehearsal scores quickly
With Cloud Publishing
You can share drafts for feedback and collaboration, then publish your final arrangements
Education
Flexible licensing
Choose a Network licensing for on-prem computers, and a Team licensing to allow licenses to be distributed to your teachers and students to use Sibelius on their own devices
Sibelius across devices
Use Sibelius across all your devices: mobile, tablet, Chromebook, and Desktop (Mac and Windows)
Curriculum: Conquered
The Worksheet Creator provides over 1,700 worksheets, projects, exercises, songs, and other teaching resources
Kickstart ideas
The ideas panel with 2,000 snippets of music to help students search for something to kickstart their creative process
Create online interactive content
With Cloud Sharing, where you can embed worksheets and assignments in your lesson plans and students can submit their work
Command the classroom
Manage the classroom from your own workstation with Classroom Control. Access files on networked devices, send or retrieve materials from your students, and even “freeze” Sibelius on your students’ devices. (Requires network multi-seat license. Learn more)
Quick note entry
Enter notes from the onscreen notation Keypad, a MIDI keyboard, your computer keyboard, or using an Apple Pencil or tablet stylus
Chord Symbol entry, assisted by AI
Allows you to quickly embellish your music, saving you time in the composition process
Magnetic Layout and Auto Optimize
Avoid collisions and overlaps in your score with a layout that auto adjusts to the needs of your score so you don’t have to spend time formatting
Panorama view
Allows you to write without the constraints of the score layout
Sound library support
Use your preferred third-party libraries alongside 24GB of factory content with VST and AU plugin support for ultra-realistic playback
Collaborate, share, and transform
View, share, publish, and collaborate around the world or across the room with Cloud Sharing
Intelligent MIDI Import
As MIDI tracks are added to your score template, Sibelius will automatically assign instruments in your score
Mark up your score
Add chord symbols, guitar tab, guitar chord diagrams, expression text, articulations, lyrics, titles, graphics, and more to give your music the detail, depth, and dynamism it deserves
Dynamic Parts
Gives you individual parts for players and updates automatically with changes you make in the score, so you don’t have to extract parts individually or search through scores
Built for scale
Unlimited staves and deep customization options allow for arrangements and ensembles of any size with Sibelius Ultimate
Score Subsets
Helps you make custom arrangements from sketch staves and create rehearsal scores quickly
With Cloud Publishing
You can share drafts for feedback and collaboration, then publish your final arrangements
Flexible licensing
Choose a Network licensing for on-prem computers, and a Team licensing to allow licenses to be distributed to your teachers and students to use Sibelius on their own devices
Sibelius across devices
Use Sibelius across all your devices: mobile, tablet, Chromebook, and Desktop (Mac and Windows)
Curriculum: Conquered
The Worksheet Creator provides over 1,700 worksheets, projects, exercises, songs, and other teaching resources
Kickstart ideas
The ideas panel with 2,000 snippets of music to help students search for something to kickstart their creative process
Create online interactive content
With Cloud Sharing, where you can embed worksheets and assignments in your lesson plans and students can submit their work
Command the classroom
Manage the classroom from your own workstation with Classroom Control. Access files on networked devices, send or retrieve materials from your students, and even “freeze” Sibelius on your students’ devices. (Requires network multi-seat license. Learn more)
Sibelius for educators
The educator’s choice
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