In case you haven’t heard, Finale is hanging up its hat, effective yesterday… without warning. This was quite a surprise; I didn’t receive any emails, notifications, nothing about this but instead learned through a friend’s Facebook post. I guess social media deserves a big thanks.

In the wake of this news, there’s been a lot of discussion on what to do next. Let me say this first: DO NOT PANIC. The Finale app still works just fine, same as it did. Files will open, you can edit them, export them, everything you did before. Going forward, there will be no more sales of the app and no more updates. Support will continue until August 25, 2025, so you have about a year to sort things out.

I have 20+ years worth of stuff in this program, so the idea of having to convert everything isn’t exactly thrilling. However, I’ve done some digging and have a short list of apps I’m eager to try out.

Quick note: there are tons of apps out there, and the list keeps growing now that Finale’s bowing out. I plan to try a variety of apps, with the focus being (1) ability to convert from Finale, (2) ease of use, and (3) support for iPad as well as desktop. With that in mind, below are the three I’ll focus on in this article.

Sibelius

Back in the day (we’re talking early to mid-’90s here), Sibelius and Finale were the Coke and Pepsi of music notation. Their use, and which one you picked, was very divisive. If you were a Sibelius user, you probably didn’t like Finale much, and vice-versa. There was also a bit of animosity developed between users of these two apps. I became a Finale user. I did try Sibelius a few times over the years, but I always came back to Finale. I never found Sibelius to be as user-friendly or intuitive as Finale, but I qualify that by indicating I have much more user time with Finale.

Sebelius started around 1993 as a competitor to Finale. They touted a lot of the same features as Finale, with their one feature that puts them over the top being the ability to share creations online. Sibelius is now owned by Avid Technology (the same folks behind Pro Tools), a company name that is heard often when it comes to television and movies.

Sibelius is available as a yearly or monthly subscription. This makes it necessary to keep “paying to play” but also ensures frequent bug fixes and introduction to the latest and greatest technological advances.

Price: ranges from $19.99/mo to $27.99/mo (discounts for yearly subscriptions)

Dorico

This is the app you’ll see mentioned by Finale itself as its replacement. This app is made by Steinberg (now part of Yamaha). Steinberg has been around since 1984 and are also the creators of Cubase and Nuendo. It sounds like Steinberg has been at the forefront of computer music software for ages, embracing MIDI and rolling out their apps for public use starting way back in the Commodore 64 era.

The price looks to be discounted for current Finale users. At the time of this post, Dorico Pro 5 was advertised as $149, with the normal price being $579. My assumption is purchases of yearly upgrades would be similar in price. Dorico Elements 5 is $99.99, and there is a free SE version. My favorite part? It’s not just available for Windows and Mac—it’s iPad-friendly too. An all-in-one app that lets me work seamlessly across all my devices is seriously tempting. Plus, no worries if you skip an upgrade; your software will keep running smoothly.

Price: Dorico SE 5 free | Dorico Elements 5 $99.99 | Dorico Pro 5 $149/$579.99

MuseScore

MuseScore isn’t just a music notation app; it’s also a sharing platform. This app is made by Muse Group, a company that’s been around since 1999 and is based out of Cyprus. Their resume is pretty impressive, considering they acquired Audacity in 2021 and, of all things, Hal Leonard (a very large, if not the largest, music publishing company) in 2023.

MuseScore seems to be a lot of things, my favorite detail of which is it’s open-source. At first glance, their web site looks a bit busy, but that’s because not only is this an app that will allow you to write music, one can create an account and start sharing their creations. There is a mobile app, but it is marketed as “freemium”. This means you can use it, either up to a particular extent, or without certain pay-only features.

Price: MuseScore 4.4 free to $10.99/weekly

The Path Ahead

This weekend, I plan to start trying some of these programs. My biggest concern is going to be the ability to move my 20+ years worth of Finale pieces over into another format without much fuss. The follow-up desire I’ll be considering is the ability to share between my Mac and my iPad. I currently use forScore for part reading, and while that’s my go-to, I’ve also seen some new mobile apps come out as decent competitors.

Do you have a recommendation not mentioned here? Please put your ideas in the comments. I’d love to have some discussion on this.

I’ll share my findings next week—stay tuned!