MakeMusic Is Sunsetting Finale After 35 Years

Music tech company MakeMusic has announced it is sun setting its music notation software Finale, Finale PrintMusic, and Finale Notepad.

First released under its Coda Music Technologies brand more than 35 years ago, Finale offered a groundbreaking and user-centered approach to creating music notation. For over four decades, MakeMusic’s engineers and product teams have crafted the software that quickly became the gold standard for music notation.

“Four decades is a very long time in the software industry,” says Greg Dell’Era, President of MakeMusic & Alfred Music. “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.”

Starting today, 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 any OS changes that render it broken.

After one year on August 2025, MakeMusic says the following changes will go into effect:

• It will be impossible to authorize Finale on any new devices
• You cannot reauthorize Finale on a new installation
• Support for Finale v27 or other versions will no longer be available

MakeMusic is encouraging its loyal Finale users to consider upgrading to Dorico Pro with a limited-time crossgrade discount on the software. The discount will enable Finale users to purchase Dorico Pro for $149 instead of the retail price of $579. The offer is available immediately and for a limited time, though the MakeMusic Store.

“We look forward to welcoming many Finale users into the Dorico user community,” adds 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 reply on the powerful, efficient workflows provided by Dorico Pro. Our team will be by their side every step to provide help and support.”