SightReader or Clefsight for learning to read music
Clefsight teaches reading: you play from a still page, as from a book on the stand, every note is graded, and it writes new music at your level for you to read at sight. Here is SightReader beside it, fact by fact, and when SightReader is the better choice.
checked 6 October 2026Every fact about SightReader is from its own website, on this date; prices as published, in the currency shown there.
Side by side
| SightReader | Clefsight | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5 a month or $48 a year on the web; a free tier with 54 pieces and three generated exercises a day to play | Free, no account |
| How the music is shown | A score that waits for you, or moves with the beat in its rhythm mode, each note marked as you play | A still, engraved page that turns half a page at a time; nothing scrolls |
| Hears you through | MIDI keyboard, microphone, or the on-screen piano | MIDI keyboard over USB (or Bluetooth on a Mac); keys on screen without one |
| New sight-reading | Yes: generated sight-reading exercises, some rated, by grade from Initial to Grade 8 | Yes: writes new pieces at your level from what you read well and what you don't; 36 printable exercises over six levels |
| Easier versions | Not described; pieces are sorted by grade, and you can upload MusicXML | Every piece, and music you bring: 3 or 4 versions, from right-hand melody to as written |
| Runs on | A browser on a Mac, Windows or ChromeOS computer; iPhone, iPad and Android apps | Chrome or Edge on a computer or an Android phone or tablet, Firefox on a computer |
Checked 6 October 2026 on: Prices and the free tier; Inputs, uploads and devices; Score view and modes; iPhone, iPad and Android. “Not described” means the app's own site doesn't say, not that it can't. Prices change and differ by country and offer; the app's own payment page has the price you'd pay.
When SightReader is the better choice
The better choice if you want a large graded library (3,700+ pieces), exam-grade practice from Initial to Grade 8, or to read on an iPhone or iPad or through a microphone.
Tried side by side
On 7 October 2026, five jobs a reader does were tried on Clefsight and on SightReader's own site, at phone and desktop width, signed out: no account made, no trial started.
A first evening with a new USB keyboard: find my level, play something
Better here: Clefsight
Clefsight took 1 click to the first graded note, picked up the keyboard without asking, and measured the level with a 3-minute check. SightReader took 2–3 steps for the Ode to Joy on its home page, or 11 through its first-piece flow, and asked the reader to pick Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced. Its review named a wrong note as clearly (“You played F4 instead of E4”), but only after the piece; Clefsight names it on the card at once.
A 15-minute daily session
Better here: Clefsight
Clefsight's Today planned a warm-up on the slowest notes, three fresh sight-reading pieces and a piece to practise, with no account. SightReader's Today said “Sign in to see today's practice.”
Learn a piece a beginner asks for: Für Elise's opening, the Minuet in G
Better here: Clefsight
Both opened free in Clefsight, Für Elise in 3 steps and the minuet in 4 and a search, starting with the right hand alone while the app played the left. On SightReader both link to the Pro plan page. One thing SightReader did better: a wrong key turned its note red at once, where Clefsight's Wait mode marked nothing until Stop.
Since then: Clefsight now writes a wrong key in Wait in red pencil by the note at once, and names it.
Sight-read something I haven't seen before
Better here: Clefsight, for a placed reader
SightReader's generated exercises need an account; without one there is the Ode to Joy on its home page and the first-piece flow. Clefsight took 3 steps to a short two-hand piece written for the reader's level, played once in time, with each wrong note named and a score out of 100. For a new reader Clefsight lost: with no reading profile, its fresh piece was middle C sixteen times.
Since then: A new reader's fresh piece now uses level 1's notes and note values, never one note.
Practise reading on a phone with no keyboard
Better here: Clefsight for reading drills, SightReader for playing a piece
With no keyboard and no account, Clefsight offered placement, drills and games on keys on screen, with the clearer wrong-note words. SightReader let the reader play a whole piece (Au clair de la lune) on its on-screen keyboard and see it marked; Clefsight couldn't, for a piece or for fresh sight-reading.
Since then: Clefsight now plays pieces and fresh sight-reading on keys on screen too.
What Clefsight is, and isn't
- For reading, levels 2 to 7. From a first tune over a simple left hand to advanced pieces, about Henle grades 6 to 7: 419 pieces in the library, each with 3 or 4 versions from right-hand melody to as written, and your own MusicXML or MIDI files simplified the same way.
- New music to read. Fresh sight-reading written for what you read well and what you don't, and 36 free sight-reading exercises at levels 1 to 6 to print or play.
- Marked like a teacher's copy. After a take, wrong and missed notes are circled, early and late ones ticked, and the bar to practise is bracketed. How grading works.
- Not for songs from the charts, video lessons, an acoustic piano through a microphone, or a keyboard plugged into an iPhone or iPad.
Questions
Is there a free alternative to SightReader for reading sheet music?
Yes: Clefsight is free, with no account needed. You play from a still page at a MIDI keyboard, every note is graded, and it writes new sight-reading at your level, beside 419 public-domain pieces at levels 2 to 7. SightReader is the better choice if you want a large graded library (3,700+ pieces), exam-grade practice from Initial to Grade 8, or to read on an iPhone or iPad or through a microphone.
How much does SightReader cost?
$5 a month or $48 a year on the web; a free tier with 54 pieces and three generated exercises a day to play (SightReader's own website, checked 6 October 2026). Clefsight: Free, no account.
Does SightReader hear you through a MIDI keyboard or a microphone?
MIDI keyboard, microphone, or the on-screen piano (SightReader's own website, checked 6 October 2026). Clefsight: MIDI keyboard over USB (or Bluetooth on a Mac); keys on screen without one.
Does SightReader write new music to sight-read?
Yes: generated sight-reading exercises, some rated, by grade from Initial to Grade 8 (SightReader's own website, checked 6 October 2026). Clefsight: Yes: writes new pieces at your level from what you read well and what you don't; 36 printable exercises over six levels.
What does SightReader run on?
A browser on a Mac, Windows or ChromeOS computer; iPhone, iPad and Android apps (SightReader's own website, checked 6 October 2026). Clefsight: Chrome or Edge on a computer or an Android phone or tablet, Firefox on a computer.
Try it at your keyboard. A 3-minute check plays notes and shapes on the staff and finds what you already read, so you start at your level. Free, no account.
Take the placement checkNo keyboard yet? What you need to connect one. Every app side by side. Clefsight isn't connected with SightReader; its name belongs to its owner.