MakeMusic, a leading music technology company renowned for its innovative music education and notation solutions, has announced it will be sunsetting its flagship music notation software Finale, Finale PrintMusic, and Finale Notepad. To ensure that Finale users continue to have access to the most advanced and efficient tools available, MakeMusic has partnered with Steinberg, the creators of Dorico, to offer an exclusive discount on Dorico Pro.
The following changes take effect immediately:
- There will be no further updates to Finale, or any of its associated tools (PrintMusic, Songwriter, Notepad)
- It is no longer possible to purchase or upgrade Finale in the MakeMusic eStore
- Finale will continue to work on devices where it is currently installed (barring OS
changes)
After one year, beginning August 2025, these changes will go into effect:
- It will not be possible to authorize Finale on any new devices, or reauthorize Finale
- Support for Finale v27 or any other version of Finale will no longer be available Technical support for Finale v27 remains available for the time being.
35 years ago, Coda Music Technologies, now MakeMusic, released the first version of Finale, a groundbreaking and user-centered approach to notation software. For over four decades, MakeMusic’s engineers and product teams have passionately crafted what would quickly become the gold standard for music notation. Greg Dell’Era, President, MakeMusic and Alfred Music says: “Four decades is a very long time in the software industry. Technology stacks change, Mac and Windows operating systems evolve, and Finale’s millions of lines of code add up. This has made the delivery of incremental value for our customers exponentially harder over time. Today, Finale is no longer the future of the notation industry — a reality after 35 years, and I want to be candid about this. Instead of releasing new versions of Finale that would offer only marginal value to our users, we’ve made the decision to end its development. I am convinced Steinberg’s Dorico is the best home for our loyal Finale users, and is the bright future of the music notation industry.”
“We look forward to welcoming many Finale users into the Dorico user community,” says Clyde Sendke, Managing Director, Steinberg. “Although we know it is difficult to leave behind a trusted tool, we are confident that they will soon come to rely on the powerful, efficient workflows provided by Dorico Pro. Our team will be by their side at every step to provide help and support.”
Through the partnership, Finale users will have exclusive access to a limited-time crossgrade discount on Dorico Pro, Steinberg’s state-of-the-art music notation software. This discount will enable Finale users to purchase Dorico Pro for $149 (retail price $579). This offer is available immediately and will only be available for a limited time. This discount will also be available for users of Finale PrintMusic.
To receive the discount on Dorico Pro, Finale customers should log in to their MakeMusic account at the MakeMusic Store to complete the purchase.
Explore the answers to frequently asked questions about crossgrading to Dorico Pro.
Looking Back on 2025: A Year of Controlled Chaos (Emphasis on “Controlled”)