Sibelius vs Finale

I currently use Sibelius, and to be honest, had never heard of Finale until yesterday.

What are the significant difference's between them, and overall, which is better for composing?

Ah, this is a perennial topic (or at least it was on the old YC boards):

The question is: are you happy with Sibelius? If so, and if you're used to how it works, then I wouldn't consider changing.

They're both very powerful pieces of software and you can't go far wrong with either.

So it's mostly about personal choice then. There's no obvious winner between the software...

Talk to different people get different responses...

In my 'research' I've come to the conclusion that the general consensus is that Finale is the slightly more powerful/professional software, while Sibelius is more intuitive and user-friendly.

...I'm speaking specifically on notational terms, I don't bother with playback and sound-font-sample-nonsense.

I use Finale 2003.

Finale has always worked great for me! It's easy to use, virtualy limitless, and has a package of really great samples.

But plenty of pros use Sibelius. The gap really is small as they're both incredibly powerful.

I started off using Finale as I was a printmusic! user originally (a cut down version of Finale, I don't know if they make it anymore tbh).

I swtiched to Sibelius three years ago as that's the software my uni music department had and the format our lecturer wanted all our compositions in.

As someone who's used both I'd say, for me personally, Sibelius just edges it. I'd imagine if I wanted perfect looking scores and was an engraver rather than a composer, I'd prefer Finale but I'm not.


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I reckon upgrading to Sib 5 could be good for you Chaski and may solve some of your hardware/software troubles at a stroke:

1. You know Sibelius already by the sounds of things.
2. Sibelius 5 comes with a huge range of sounds built in (and they're not bad quality either: Sibelius Sounds: Essentials)
3. Buy a reasonbly cheap MIDI controller to control these sounds instead of an expensive synth.
4. Bear in mind you can get student discount!
5. Sorted!

Just a thought

Originally Posted by rob1984

But plenty of pros use Sibelius. The gap really is small as they're both incredibly powerful.

I started off using Finale as I was a printmusic! user originally (a cut down version of Finale, I don't know if they make it anymore tbh).

I swtiched to Sibelius three years ago as that's the software my uni music department had and the format our lecturer wanted all our compositions in.

As someone who's used both I'd say, for me personally, Sibelius just edges it. I'd imagine if I wanted perfect looking scores and was an engraver rather than a composer, I'd prefer Finale but I'm not.


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I reckon upgrading to Sib 5 could be good for you Chaski and may solve some of your hardware/software troubles at a stroke:

1. You know Sibelius already by the sounds of things.
2. Sibelius 5 comes with a huge range of sounds built in (and they're not bad quality either: Sibelius Sounds: Essentials)
3. Buy a reasonbly cheap MIDI controller to control these sounds instead of an expensive synth.
4. Bear in mind you can get student discount!
5. Sorted!

Just a thought

Yeah, I'm on the Sibelius website now. Looking at it, it's basically £500* to buy it, but the upgrade is only £165*, but what can I upgrade from? Only Sibelius 4, or any in the range?

Oh, and call me Ed

*Don't quote me on these figures

Does that include your student discount?

Originally Posted by rob1984

Does that include your student discount?

I'm not sure that I qualify for the discount. I think you have to be a university student for it, whereas I'm still in high school. I'll check it out, but if I qualified for the discount, and [I've checked this] I can upgrade direct to Sibelius 5, from 2, the total cost would be a mere £99...!

Now that's more like it! There's a form to fill in to see if you do qualify for the discount, I'd better check that out...

I own both Sibelius 4 and Finale 2007, and while I'm less experienced at using Finale than Sibelius, for me it's a straight choice between Sibelius' enhanced user-friendliness and Finale's superior playback.

I found Finale to be very counter-intuitive at first, but its playback is so wonderful compared to Sibelius' that I was willing to wrestle the learning curve. Sibelius is easier to learn, but arguably the reward for doing so is a lesser one. Bear in mind I learned Sibelius first, so I'm probably biased.

This is all assuming you actually care about playback, of course! If all you're looking for is a scorewriter, I'd go for Sibelius. If you want a great sounding rendition of your music right from the get-go, consider Finale.

Ultimately, though, you should try out the product demos, because it really is a personal decision.