I’d like to buy the best possible music notation software as an aid for my son to compose pieces for his school elective subject, which would double as a gift. His school uses Flat which is limited. The head music teacher uses Sibelius software. We are thinking of purchasing Sibelius Ultimate, but wondering if anyone would recommend any other software (based on features rather than cost).

Sibelius Ultimate is available on a monthly subscription basis & subscribers apparently have access to software updates, however has anyone purchased Sibelius Ultimate as an upfront purchase - did you have to pay any additional costs to get software updates?