Side by side
Contrapunctus vs music21
Both stand on music theory software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Choose Contrapunctus for web-based theory analysis, counterpoint practice, and classroom exercises in one platform. Look elsewhere if exporting compositions to MusicXML or MIDI is essential, or if your MusicXML files depend on details the importer may simplify.
Visit ContrapunctusChoose music21 if you want a free Python toolkit for analyzing, teaching, editing, or composing with symbolic music data. Its corpus and optional integrations support a range of musicology and notation tasks. Look elsewhere if you need to work directly from audio waveforms or read notation from images or PDFs.
Visit music21The facts
| Contrapunctus | music21 | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Web | Linux, Mac, Web, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | contrapunctus.app | music21.org |
| On music theory software | #8 of 27 | #4 of 27 |
Contrapunctus: what it does well
- Shows Roman numeral and chord analysis while composing.
- Flags part-writing errors and non-chord tones.
- Includes an interactive species-counterpoint curriculum with an AI tutor.
- Supports community exercises, solution sharing, and voting.
- Provides educators a gradebook with scores and class averages.
What to know first
- MusicXML and MIDI export are not yet available.
- Some MusicXML import details may be simplified or dropped.
- Free-form tutor questions are limited to 25 per rolling hour.
music21: what it does well
- Free BSD-licensed toolkit.
- Includes a corpus of thousands of encoded musical works.
- Supports MIDI and MusicXML.
- Provides corpus search, pitch plotting, and nPVI analysis.
- Can be used in web-based Jupyter Notebook.
What to know first
- Requires some familiarity with Python.
- Primarily handles symbolic music data rather than sound waves.
- Cannot read notation directly from images or PDFs.
- Some corpus works may have separate commercial-use or other restrictions.
Alternatives to Contrapunctus Alternatives to music21 The whole list