Simply Piano 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 Simply Piano beside it, fact by fact, and when Simply Piano is the better choice.
checked 4 October 2026Every fact about Simply Piano is from its own website, on this date; prices as published, in the currency shown there.
Side by side
| Simply Piano | Clefsight | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Not published: shown in the app, by country and plan | Free, no account |
| How the music is shown | Courses play as a moving stage; the sheet-music library can auto-scroll | A still, engraved page that turns half a page at a time; nothing scrolls |
| Hears you through | Microphone or MIDI | MIDI keyboard over USB (or Bluetooth on a Mac); keys on screen without one |
| New sight-reading | Not described | 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 | Library songs in Essentials, Intermediate and Pre-Advanced levels | Every piece, and music you bring: 3 or 4 versions, from right-hand melody to as written |
| Runs on | iPhone, iPad, Android | Chrome or Edge on a computer or an Android phone or tablet, Firefox on a computer |
Checked 4 October 2026 on: Pricing (help centre); Song levels and auto-scroll; Microphone and keyboards; MIDI over Bluetooth. “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 Simply Piano is the better choice
The better choice if you want chart hits and Disney songs with a guided course on a phone or tablet, on any piano, including an acoustic one.
Tried side by side
On 7 October 2026, five jobs a reader does were tried on Clefsight and on Simply Piano's own site, at phone and desktop width, signed out: no account made, no trial started.
Its website is marketing pages: “Get started” opens a questionnaire (“What motivates you to play the piano?”) that leads to sign-up, and you can only play in the iOS and Android apps. Every job stopped there, before any music.
So there is no result to give for Simply Piano: trying the jobs there needs an account and a trial.
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 Simply Piano 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. Simply Piano is the better choice if you want chart hits and Disney songs with a guided course on a phone or tablet, on any piano, including an acoustic one.
How much does Simply Piano cost?
Not published: shown in the app, by country and plan (Simply Piano's own website, checked 4 October 2026). Clefsight: Free, no account.
Does Simply Piano hear you through a MIDI keyboard or a microphone?
Microphone or MIDI (Simply Piano's own website, checked 4 October 2026). Clefsight: MIDI keyboard over USB (or Bluetooth on a Mac); keys on screen without one.
Does Simply Piano write new music to sight-read?
Simply Piano's own website doesn't say (checked 4 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 Simply Piano run on?
iPhone, iPad, Android (Simply Piano's own website, checked 4 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 Simply Piano; its name belongs to its owner.