Notevision is free to download, drills sight reading and theory with adaptive difficulty, takes MIDI, microphone or an on-screen keyboard, and carries roughly 4.8 stars from over 3,000 App Store ratings — the highest rating of anything in this series, ours included, since we do not have a store rating worth quoting yet. It is also 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. Notevision is better rated than we are and cheaper, which is the honest place to start this page.
Want a level to work from? The three-minute placement check is free.
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, and its rating suggests it does it well.
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
You are on iPhone or iPad and want to spend almost nothing. Free to download with a modest unlock. That is very hard to argue with.
Drilling is what you need. Notes, chords and theory in short bursts, adapting as you improve.
You want theory alongside. It teaches theory; we do not.
You have an acoustic piano. Microphone and on-screen input mean no hardware. Our core loop needs MIDI.
You trust user ratings. Its rating is real, sourced and better than ours, and we are not going to invent a number to compete with it.
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 very well liked — around 4.8 stars from more than 3,000 App Store ratings, which is a better score than anything else in this comparison including us. It drills sight reading 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. Its limits are that it is exercise-based rather than repertoire-based, and 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 on iOS and want cheap, well-made drilling on notes, chords and theory, Notevision is excellent value and its user rating is deserved. If you want to read whole pieces of real graded music with your pitch and timing marked, or you are not on iOS, SightReader is built for that. They sit at consecutive stages rather than in competition.
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 have not quoted a rating for SightReader because we do not have enough store ratings for one to mean anything — inventing a self-assigned score is exactly the move that makes a comparison page worthless. 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.
