QuickNotes X vs Paintwork
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
QuickNotes X
This app offers a fluid and precise note-taking experience with a custom vector ink engine, voice recording synced to writing, and ML-powered shape recognition. Organize notes with notebooks and folders, protect them with passwords and biometrics, and sync seamlessly across devices via iCloud. Mark up PDFs and presentations, and customize your notes with various tools and templates.
- Vector ink engine for fluid writing
- Voice recording synced to notes
- ML-powered shape recognition
- Notebook and folder organization
- Password and biometric protection
- PDF and presentation annotation
- iCloud sync across devices
Read full descriptionHide full description
ESCAPE THE LIMITS OF PHYSICAL PAPER • Experience a fluid, precise and natural note taking experience powered by the unparalleled performance of QuickNotes X custom vector ink engine; • Choose your drawing style with numerous included tools, such as fountain and ballpoint pen; • Freely customize your stroke color as well as line thickness and pressure sensitivity; • Record and play back lectures with Voice Recording: your writing will be synced to the audio! • Draw perfect shapes and straight lines thanks to automatic, ML-powered shape recognition; • Move, resize, rotate and zoom your handwriting to take notes like a pro; • Never run out of paper: swipe to the next page and a new page will be created if needed! • Take perfect notes with your Apple Pencil, Logitech Crayon or other capacitive styluses. ORGANIZE & PROTECT YOUR THOUGHTS • Never lose your notes again thanks to the powerful organization provided by QuickNotes X; • Create Notebooks to organize your notes; • Add unlimited Folders & Subfolders to group your Notebooks; • Lock individual Notebooks and Folders with a Password to protect your thoughts from prying eyes; • Unlock protected notebooks using Face ID, Touch ID or by entering your Password; • Rearrange your Notebooks and Folders however you like to make sure they are always in the correct order. SEAMLESSLY SYNC TO ALL YOUR DEVICES • Seamlessly back up & sync your notebooks and folders to all your devices thanks to iCloud; • Write once, edit anywhere: when iCloud Sync is active all your content is automatically available on all your devices; • Use the native Mac app to view your notes on the bigger screen and edit them right on your computer. MARK UP & WRITE ON PDFs, SLIDES AND MORE • Import and edit PDFs, PowerPoint presentations more; • Annotate documents on your device with all the tools available, including fountain & ballpoint pen, highlighter and shape recognition; • Open notes and documents side-by-side on your iPad for maximum flexibility; • Quickly export your notes as images, PDF or QuickNotes X Documents for easy sharing ENDLESS CUSTOMIZATION FOR YOUR CREATIVITY • Create an unlimited number of presets for stroke color and line thickness to always have the right one ready at your fingertips; • Choose between Dual or Single Bar Mode to take notes with the maximum level of flexibility and customizability; • Choose to erase entire strokes on only some parts thanks to the new Precision and Whole Stroke Erasers; • Use the Lasso tool to cut, copy, paste or delete groups of strokes or entire pages; • Customize the look of your Notebooks and Folders by choosing from more than 80 options; • Make each notebook cover yours: the Notebook cover is now fully editable so you can draw on it! • Choose the right paper template for your Notebooks, such as Blank Paper, Cornell Paper, Chemistry Paper, Engineering Grid Paper, Music Paper and more! TYPE AND WRITE ANYWHERE • Add Text Boxes anywhere in a page to start typing, with plenty of customization options for color, font style and size, available right at your fingertips in the new Tool Bar; • Move, rotate and scale text boxes to never run out of space; • Combine handwritten notes with typed content and annotate or highlight key words in your Text Boxes; AND THERE IS EVEN MORE! • Swipe left or right to quickly move to the previous or next page in the notebook; • Quickly jump to any page in the Notebook by using the Notes List menu in the Note Editor; • Customize any new page you create thanks to the new "New Page" menu in the Editor; • Create a QuickNotebook to always have a fresh new page when you open the app; • Changing the paper template for a single page or the entire Notebook is only one tap away; QuickNotes X: Note-Taking, Made Easy. Website: https://www.quicknotesx.com Twitter: @QuickNotesX Instagram: @quicknotesx ----------- Privacy Policy: https://www.quicknotesx.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula
Paintwork
Create handwritten notes, diaries, and drawings with a vast array of tools. Features include customizable brushes, vector graphics, a rich color palette, and image import. Export your creations as PDFs or images.
- Customizable brushes and erasers
- Extensive vector graphics tools
- Rich color palette
- Image and material import
- Handwriting assistance
- PDF and image export
- Customizable backgrounds and canvas
Read full descriptionHide full description
Paintwork is a simple and powerful software for handwritten notebooks, diaries, and hand drawn images. It includes functions such as: brush list (hundreds of brush effects, customizable brush thickness, color, transparency, dynamic strength weights, etc.), eraser list (each brush effect can be used as an eraser), Vector graphics tools (including lasso, vector eraser, vector pen, annotation pen, highlighter, wavy pen, double line pen, text box, illustration, dashed line, horizontal and vertical dashed line, curve, closed shape, text pen, rectangle, ellipse, straight line, arrow, triangle, pentagram, polygon, etc.), and also include many related attribute settings, Color list (with a rich color palette and customizable manual configuration of commonly used colors), copy and cut the content of specified areas on the page, import images or materials, as well as a simple calculator, handwriting assistance, and photo scanning of document files. Unlimited writing, ruler, recognition of text, printing of text, filling, and the ability to export PDF files or images. Supports custom background functionality, custom canvas paper, and more. It can be used to write for classroom or book learning notes, handwritten notes for work meetings, hand drawn mind maps, hand drawn account creation, hand made account book making, writing diaries, recording life thoughts, calligraphy practice, handwritten brush and pencil characters, hand drawn artistic characters, and so on. Supports Apple pencil. Can export images or PDFs. If you have any comments or feedback, please feel free to contact us. Contact email: pw_team@163.com If you like our application, please give us a good review. Thank you.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Paintwork at 65% against QuickNotes X's 38%. Paintwork also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks) and rating (4.6 vs 4.3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. QuickNotes X sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 3 months and Paintwork sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Paintwork holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.8K and 17K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 38% of QuickNotes X's written reviews are positive against 65% of Paintwork's.
QuickNotes X ships an update every 5 weeks, Paintwork weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | QuickNotes X | Paintwork |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (3.8K ratings) | 4.6 (17K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 38.0% of reviews | 65.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3.8K | 17K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 354 MB | 200 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alessandro Sassi | 伟典 苏 |
Customer experience
QuickNotes X
Paintwork
User reviews
QuickNotes X
From 3.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💻 Intuitive and easy to use
- 📚 Helpful for organizing notes
- 🎨 Variety of paper templates and pens
- 🔊 Voice recording feature
- ⚡️ Smooth writing experience with Apple Pencil
Room to improve
- 🔒 Limited functionality without paying for pro version
- 🐛 Glitches, crashes, and data loss issues
- 💭 Handwriting can appear blurry or distorted
- 🖋️ Lack of palm rejection when writing
- 📁 Inability to reorder or move pages
Paintwork
From 17K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎨 Vast selection of brushes and tools
- 💻 Works well on various devices
- 🎨 Allows for creative expression
- 💰 Free to use with no paywall
Room to improve
- 🔒 Certain features locked behind paywall
- 🐛 Bugs and glitches causing crashes or data loss
- 🎨 Limited color palette and blending options
- 🔍 Lack of intuitive UI and tutorials
Bugs and requests
QuickNotes X
Reported bugs
4 issues- Notes randomly disappearing or becoming corrupted
- Pen input not registering correctly or lagging
- Unexpected page flipping or navigation issues
- Syncing problems between devices
Requested features
5 requests- Add text typing option for those with poor handwriting
- Implement cloud sync and cross-device access
- Include more customization options like templates and colors
- Improve shape recognition and drawing tools
- Allow rearranging and organizing of pages/notebooks
Paintwork
Reported bugs
3 issues- App freezing or crashing when using certain features
- Artwork getting deleted or not saving properly
- Inability to import or work with external images
Requested features
4 requests- Add more color options and blending tools
- Improve stability and reduce crashes
- Provide more tutorials and onboarding for new users
- Allow users to save and access their artwork easily
In-app purchases
QuickNotes X
- Cloud & ML Pack$0.993 Months
- Covers Pack$0.99
- Templates Pack$0.99
- QuickNotes X AI: 50000 Tokens$0.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- QuickNotes X AI: 100000 Tokens$1.99
- Notebooks & Folders Pack$2.99
- Tools Pack$2.99
- QuickNotes X AI: 300000 Tokens$3.99
- QuickNotes X Pro$4.99
- Pro Pack$5.99
- QuickNotes X AI: 500000 Tokens$5.99
Paintwork
- Monthly subscription premium$0.991 Month
- Annual subscription premium$3.991 Year
- Unlock local version$9.99








