Notevision is free to download, drills notes, chords and theory with adaptive difficulty, and takes MIDI, microphone or an on-screen keyboard. It is well liked, and it is iOS only and exercise-based rather than repertoire-based. SightReader puts real graded pieces in front of you on any platform and marks pitch and timing as you play.
Full disclosure: we make SightReader. These two sit at consecutive stages of the same skill rather than in competition, which is what the page is really about.
Want a level to work from? The three-minute placement check is free.
Does Notevision use real pieces or drills?
Drills and repertoire
Notevision’s material is exercises: notes, chords, theory, adjusted to your level as you go, with a recent addition of violin alongside piano. That is the right design for building the pitch-to-key reflex.
SightReader’s material is 4,000-plus real published pieces organised by ABRSM grade from Initial to Grade 8. Real repertoire has phrasing, sequence and idiomatic hand shapes — the patterns your eye eventually reads as single objects. Exercises are better for isolating a weakness; repertoire is better for the thing you will actually be asked to do.
The other structural difference is rhythm. Notevision’s exercises are about which note; SightReader’s Pitch & Rhythm mode is also about when, reporting a percentage on time, a split between early and late, and your average tendency in milliseconds.
Side by side
| SightReader | Notevision | |
|---|---|---|
| How it grades you | ||
| How it listens | MIDI, exact | MIDI, microphone or on-screen keyboard |
| Independent rhythm scoring | Yes — on-time %, early/late split, ms tendency | Not described |
| Adaptive difficulty | Grade progression | ✓ |
| Works with an acoustic piano | ✗ | ✓ |
| Material | ||
| What you read | Real published repertoire | Generated exercises and theory drills |
| Exam-syllabus alignment | ABRSM Initial–8 (aligned, not affiliated) | ✗ |
| Library | 4,000+ pieces | Exercise sets |
| Theory lessons | ✗ | ✓ |
| Bring your own music | Any MusicXML file (Pro) | ✗ |
| Practical | ||
| Free tier | 54 pieces, both modes | Free to download, in-app purchase to unlock |
| Price | £5/mo or £48/yr | Free with in-app purchase |
| Platforms | Any browser, iOS, Android | iOS |
| Store rating | — | ~4.8 from 3,000+ ratings |
| Teacher and class tools | ✓ | ✗ |
Our note and chord drills are free and uncapped as well — try them if drilling is the part you want.
When Notevision is the better choice
Naming notes is still the bottleneck. If you count up from middle C to find a ledger-line note, drilling is the fix and reading whole pieces will only frustrate you. Short adaptive bursts are the right shape for that.
You want theory alongside. Notevision teaches it. SightReader is a reading tool and stays one.
You are on iPhone or iPad and want to spend almost nothing. Free to download with a modest unlock.
You have an acoustic piano and no MIDI keyboard. Notevision will take microphone or on-screen input. SightReader is MIDI-only by design — here is the reasoning — so if a keyboard is not on the cards, start there.
When is SightReader the better choice?
And if you want the opposite of that
If the drills have done their job — the stave is no longer the bottleneck — the next step is whole pieces at tempo with the timing marked.
FAQs
Is Notevision a good sight-reading app?
It is a well-liked drilling app — around 4.8 stars from more than 3,000 App Store ratings. It covers note recognition, chords and theory with adaptive difficulty, and accepts MIDI, microphone or its on-screen keyboard. It is free to download with an in-app purchase to unlock more. What it is not is a repertoire tool: you drill exercises rather than read whole pieces, and it runs on iOS only.
Is Notevision free?
It is free to download and offers a usable free tier, with an in-app purchase to unlock the full set of features. SightReader’s free tier is 54 real pieces with the full note-by-note scoring and both practice modes, and Pro is £5 a month or £48 a year.
Does Notevision work on Android?
No — it is an iOS app. SightReader runs in any browser with Web MIDI and ships native apps for both iOS and Android, so if you practise from an Android phone or tablet, Notevision is not an option and we are.
Does Notevision score rhythm?
Its exercises cover note recognition, chords and theory with adaptive difficulty; a separate rhythm score — an on-time percentage with an early/late split — is not something its listing describes. SightReader’s Pitch & Rhythm mode reports exactly that, measured against a metronome grid, on every piece.
Should I use Notevision or SightReader?
If you are still working out which note is which and you are on iOS, Notevision drills that well and cheaply. If you can name the notes and the problem is reading whole pieces at tempo, SightReader is built for that — real graded repertoire, pitch and timing marked as you play, on any platform. They sit at consecutive stages rather than in competition, and most people want the second one eventually.
How we checked
Notevision details and its rating come from its App Store listing and the developer’s own description, read on 1 August 2026. We quote ratings only where they come from a named storefront with a count attached, which is why the table leaves our own rating row blank rather than filling it with a self-assigned number. Where we say a feature is not described, we looked for it in the vendor’s own material and did not find it.
Elsewhere: SightReader vs Complete Music Reading Trainer, SightReader vs Tenuto, and the best sight-reading apps for piano.
