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Music Notation ProgramsDorico, Sibelius, MuseScore, LilyPond and the rest, with a candid comparison.
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Music Notation Programs
Developed by the team fired by Avid/Sibelius. Finale users were migrated here. Outstanding software. The full version is expensive, but a free version and versions with fewer features are also available.
The story behind Dorico
The Dorico music notation software exists because the original development team behind Sibelius was laid off by Avid, prompting Steinberg to hire them in 2012 to build a modern competitor from scratch.
The Sibelius Legacy and Layoffs. The Origin: Twin brothers Ben and Jonathan Finn originally created Sibelius before selling the company to Avid in 2006. Corporate Restructuring: Avid faced financial pressure following the 2008 economic crisis and executed successive rounds of layoffs. The Closing: By 2012, Avid closed its London office and laid off the remaining core Sibelius development team, led by figures like Daniel Spreadbury.
Rescue by Steinberg. The Hiring: Realizing an opportunity, audio software company Steinberg hired the entire displaced London development team in November 2012. The Mission: The team was tasked with building a brand-new, state-of-the-art music notation program using decades of accumulated industry experience. The Name: The software was named after Valerio Dorico, a renowned 16th-century music printer in Rome, which had served as the project’s internal code name during early development.
Release and Evolution. Debut: After four years of intensive development, the first version of Dorico launched in October 2016. Modern Integration: Dorico shares advanced underlying audio and video technologies with Steinberg’s flagship digital audio workstation, Cubase, and has since expanded to macOS, Windows, and iPadOS.
Discontinued August 2024. Finale users were migrated to Dorico.
A lightweight app not really suitable for serious classical guitar notation.
Very high learning curve. Editor: Frescobaldi.
Free, open source.
Its future was in doubt until Avid bought it, fired its staff, and finally resurrected it once again. Now that Finale is out of business, Sibelius is the premier music notation program. Steep earning curve. The full version is expensive, but free versions with fewer features are also available. However, its parent company, Avid, continues to make some poor company decisions and changes, making purchasing and updates wonky. Dorico is a worthy opponent.
How Dorico, LilyPond, and Sibelius Compare
Comparing LilyPond with Sibelius and Dorico is really a comparison of very different philosophies.
Sibelius and Dorico are commercial music-notation programs built around graphical user interfaces. LilyPond, by contrast, is free, open-source, and text-based. It is often described as the “LaTeX of music notation” because you enter music as code and let the software produce the engraved score.
The main differences come down to workflow, engraving philosophy, playback, and the types of projects each program is best suited for.
Direct Comparison
| Feature | LilyPond | Avid Sibelius | Steinberg Dorico |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input Method | Text-based notation/code | Point-and-click GUI, keyboard, MIDI | GUI, keyboard, MIDI, advanced shortcuts |
| Primary Focus | Automated high-quality engraving | Fast notation, arranging, and established professional workflows | Modern notation workflow, engraving, playback |
| Layout Approach | Algorithmic and programmatic | Visual editing with extensive manual control | Structured layout with strong automatic spacing |
| Price | Free and open-source | Subscription plans and perpetual licenses, plus a free tier | Paid editions plus a free tier |
1. Input Method: Coding vs. Visual Editing
LilyPond: You do not click on a staff to place a note. Instead, you type the music into a text file using LilyPond’s notation syntax. For example, ees4 represents an E-flat quarter note. LilyPond then compiles the text file into an engraved score, usually a PDF.
For highly customized or complex notation, advanced users can extend LilyPond using the Scheme programming language.
Sibelius and Dorico: Both use graphical environments in which you can see the score as you work. Notes can be entered with a computer keyboard, mouse, on-screen controls, or MIDI keyboard.
2. Engraving Quality and Automation
LilyPond: LilyPond was designed specifically to reproduce the visual character of traditionally engraved classical scores. Its algorithms automatically handle many details of spacing, stem placement, collision avoidance, optical balance, and page layout.
One of LilyPond’s biggest strengths is that its default output is often excellent without requiring much manual adjustment.
Dorico: Dorico was designed with a similarly strong emphasis on automated engraving. It uses sophisticated spacing and collision-avoidance systems and usually produces polished results with relatively little manual intervention.
Sibelius: Sibelius is capable of producing excellent professional scores, but it often requires more manual adjustment than LilyPond or Dorico, especially in complex layouts. Objects may need repositioning when many markings, text elements, or symbols are crowded together.
3. Workflow, Playback, and Composition
LilyPond: LilyPond is primarily a notation and engraving system rather than a conventional composing environment. Because music is entered as text and then compiled, the workflow is less immediate than working directly on a graphical staff.
It can generate MIDI, but it does not provide the kind of integrated real-time playback, virtual-instrument environment, or DAW-style editing found in modern commercial notation programs. For this reason, LilyPond is especially well suited to engraving music that has already been composed or carefully planned.
Dorico and Sibelius: Both are designed to support composing, arranging, editing, playback, and engraving within the same program.
Dorico provides particularly deep playback tools, including a dedicated Play mode, MIDI-style editing, VST support, and technology derived from Steinberg’s experience with Cubase.
Sibelius also provides extensive playback capabilities and is widely used for composing, arranging, orchestration, and production work.
4. File Format and Long-Term Stability
LilyPond: LilyPond files are plain-text .ly files. They are extremely small, easy to back up, searchable, and compatible with version-control systems such as Git.
Because the musical information is stored as readable text rather than an opaque binary file, LilyPond scores can also be easier to preserve, inspect, and migrate over the long term.
Sibelius and Dorico: These programs use proprietary project formats. Their files depend on the software being able to read them, and compatibility can sometimes change as programs and file formats evolve.
Which One Should You Choose?
Choose LilyPond if you are comfortable working with text-based notation, want exceptionally strong automated engraving, value open-source software, or want scores that can be stored and versioned as plain text.
Choose Dorico if you want professional engraving combined with a modern graphical interface, sophisticated automatic layout, strong playback, and an integrated composing and arranging environment.
Choose Sibelius if you prefer a mature graphical notation program with a long-established professional user base and need compatibility with existing Sibelius files and workflows used by other musicians, educators, arrangers, or publishers.
None of the three is inherently “best.” LilyPond emphasizes automated engraving through text-based input, Dorico combines sophisticated engraving with a modern integrated workflow, and Sibelius emphasizes flexibility, familiarity, and compatibility with a large existing user base.
Other notation apps
I have not used any of these four apps, so I can’t give you an opinion of how good they are one way or the other.