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In the West
Until the late 20th-century there was a striking divide on Rachmaninoff's reception from Western audience members and the musical intelligentsia; according to author Laurence Davies, Rachmaninoff's "high standing with the typical concert-goer is equalled only by the extreme contempt that is regularly showered upon him by the cognoscenti." Among the principal reasons for the was—and in some cases, continues to be—the widespread characterization that Rachmaninoff, like Johannes Brahms, was essentially a "conservative" composer. This criticism, promoted by commentators such as Paul Rosenfeld and Robert P. Morgan, is that Rachmaninoff's music only extended the 19th-century Romantic aesthetic, without any regard for the emerging modernist style The musicologist Joseph Yasser has outright rejected this characterization, while others such as the author Barrie Martyn and the music critic Harold C. Schonberg have agreed with describing him conservatively, but not in a derogatory manner. Though Russian colleagues like Scriabin and Stravinsky were pushing for the modernist style, others such as Liapunov, Glazunov, Gliere and Ippolitov-Ivanov, as well as Sibelius and Elgar outside of Russia, were with Rachmaninoff in writing a style that abided closely to the Romantic aesthetic. Rachmaninoff's immense influence from Tchaikovsky is well known, and commentators have identified numerous other composers as impactful: Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner, Liszt, Balakirev, Borodin and Mussorgsky. Rachmaninoff himself directly rejected many of the contemporary modernist trends of his time, explaining that "I am organically incapable of understanding modern music, therefore I cannot possibly like it; just as I cannot like a language, let us say, whose meaning and structure are absolutely foreign to me."

Rachmaninoff's reputation as a composer generated a variety of opinions before his music gained steady recognition around the world. The 1954 edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians notoriously dismissed Rachmaninoff's music as "monotonous in texture ... consist[ing] mainly of artificial and gushing tunes" and predicted that his popular success was "not likely to last". To this, Harold C. Schonberg, in his Lives of the Great Composers, responded: "It is one of the most outrageously snobbish and even stupid statements ever to be found in a work that is supposed to be an objective reference."

In the 21st century Rachmaninoff is now admired by audiences and scholars alike; reflecting on this in 2001, the music critic James R. Oestreich said that "A mere two decades ago, upholding Rachmaninoff as worthy not only of popularity but also of respect seemed a lonely business".

Reception in Russia
According to the music critic Harold C. Schonberg, "A strong Russian quality is the essence of Rachmaninoff's music, and that is part of its appeal". Rachmaninoff's earliest compositions from the 1890s were characterized by multiple Russian commentators as forward looking and original, which incited both praise and criticism. During Rachmaninoff's last years at the Moscow Conservatory, his fellow student Mikhail Bukinik reflected on the recent opera Aleko (1982), commending the "daring harmonies" and noting that he and his classmates "were ready to see in him a reformer". The composer Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov offered similar praise on the opera, lauding its "freshness of musical thought", while the music critic Nikolay Kashkin praised the Suite No. 1 (1983), saying that it "reveals a great talent, manifested with particular originality in its harmonies". Conversely, the composer César Cui found these same qualities detestable in Rachmaninoff's "Prayer" from the Six Songs, commenting on "a strangeness of modulation carried to the degree of downright ugliness". In the early Soviet Union (formed in 1922), Rachmaninoff's was scarcely known as a pianist, though his reputation as a composer remained strong. Differently than the West—where public attention was exclusively focused on a specific few of Rachmaninoff's compositions—his oeuvre as a whole was more appreciated in his homeland, with attention given to the lesser known songs and operas. Even during the Soviet Union's 1931 ban of his music, religious music such as the movements from the All-Night Vigil were played regardless, albeit with a different title and text. When the ban ended in 1934, many of his newest compositions were appreciated in Moscow, while the Soviet public opinion of Rachmaninoff was later improved by his travels as a pianist to raise money for the country in World War II. The popularity of his music thus increased from the mid-1930s until his death, yet his work was little performed during the subsequent 1940s and 50s. As the Khrushchev era (1953–1964) proceeded, the country's opening to the West improved Rachmaninoff's reputation amongst his native people, which culminated in his immense favor during the Brezhnev era (1964–1982). Since the late 20th-century, he has been regarded as among the pantheon of great Russian composers, recgonized in particular as a link between the traditions of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev.

Memorials and recognition
The Conservatoire Rachmaninoff in Paris, as well as streets in Veliky Novgorod (which is close to his birthplace) and Tambov, are named after the composer. In 1986, the Moscow Conservatory dedicated a concert hall on its premises to Rachmaninoff, designating the 252-seat auditorium Rachmaninoff Hall, and in 1999 the "Monument to Sergei Rachmaninoff" was installed in Moscow. A separate monument to Rachmaninoff was unveiled in Veliky Novgorod, near his birthplace, on 14 June 2009. The 2015 musical Preludes by Dave Malloy depicts Rachmaninoff's struggle with depression and writer's block.

A statue marked "Rachmaninoff: The Last Concert", designed and sculpted by Victor Bokarev, stands at the World's Fair Park in Knoxville, Tennessee, as a tribute to the composer. In Alexandria, Virginia in 2019, a Rachmaninoff concert performed by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra played to wide acclaim. Attendees were treated to a talk prior to the performance by Rachmaninoff's great-granddaughter, Natalie Wanamaker Javier, who joined Rachmaninoff scholar Francis Crociata and Library of Congress music specialist Kate Rivers on a panel of discussants about the composer and his contributions.