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MuseScore StudioLilyPond
Free

The program is free and open source. The musescore.com sheet music library is a separate…

 Free

Free and open source under the GPL-3.0-or-later licence.

Windows, macOS, Linux Windows
  • Plays the score back through a built-in synthesiser as you write
  • MusicXML, MIDI and MEI import and export for moving between programs
  • High-quality engraved output
  • Plain-text input that works with version control
  • Major versions have changed the interface substantially
  • The bundled sound library is serviceable rather than convincing
  • Text-based input has a learning curve
  • No built-in graphical score editor
Downloadable app Downloadable app
Open source Open source
License: GPL-3.0 License: GPL-3.0-or-later
No account needed No account needed
Works offline Works offline

Checked September 21, 2026

Checked October 2, 2026

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