Comparison

QuickNotes X vs Notes Writer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read 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

About

Notes Writer

This app is a comprehensive note-taking and PDF editing solution for mobile devices. It allows users to write, format, and organize notes, annotate PDFs, fill forms, and scan documents. The app offers advanced editing tools, powerful search, and seamless sharing and export options.

Highlights
  • Write and format notes
  • Annotate PDFs and fill forms
  • Organize with unlimited notebooks
  • Powerful full-text search
  • Document scanning
  • Sync with cloud services
  • Export to multiple formats
Features
Read full description

Notes Writer brings handwriting, PDF annotation, rich text, Math Notebooks, voice recordings and AI writing tools into one workspace for iPad and iPhone. Capture a lecture, mark up a paper, plan a project or turn a rough draft into something ready to share. WRITE AND MAKE IT YOURS Create beautifully formatted notes with headings, lists, colors and highlights. Work with Word documents, RTF, Markdown and plain text. Open documents in tabs and move between your ideas and reference material without losing your place. WRITE ON PDFs WITH APPLE PENCIL Take handwritten notes, sketch in the margins and highlight what matters. Choose from pens, pencils, markers, fountain pens and watercolor tools. Use the eraser, lasso and ruler to refine your work. Add text, shapes, images, signatures and audio to PDF notes. Fill forms, organize pages and keep your reading and annotations together. Measure distances and areas on scaled drawings, and apply text redactions in supported PDFs. GIVE YOUR WRITING AN AI ASSIST Rewrite a passage, simplify difficult language, fix spelling and grammar, or adjust the tone. Summarize, translate and explore ideas with AI tools and chat. Keep control of what goes into your notes and documents. CAPTURE VOICE, FIND THE WORDS Record lectures, meetings and ideas while they are fresh. Play recordings back at your pace and generate transcripts to revisit the details. Add recordings to your PDF notes and whiteboards for more context. THINK BEYOND THE PAGE Build visual whiteboards with notes, images and recordings. Capture quick thoughts on sticky notes. Structure ideas in Outline Notes with nested branches, rich text and images. Collapse sections, rearrange your thinking, and import or export outlines in OPML format. WORK THROUGH THE NUMBERS Combine explanations and calculations in Math Notebooks. Explore formulas with the built-in calculation tools and run Python cells when you need more. Create charts, write LaTeX documents and preview the finished PDF alongside your source. ORGANIZE YOUR STUDY AND RESEARCH Bring your notes, readings and research together in Study Projects. Organize subjects, lectures and sources in the Binder, plan ideas on the Corkboard and keep reference material beside your notes. Study Projects give everything a place as your understanding grows. TAKE BIG WRITING PROJECTS FURTHER Organize writing projects into sections in the Binder, plan with a Corkboard and review your writing as a manuscript. Keep research beside your draft, save snapshots and compile your work into a finished document or ebook. ORGANIZE, SCAN AND SHARE Keep notes and documents in folders with recognizable covers. Scan paper documents, import files and find what you need with search. Export supported documents to formats including PDF, DOCX, RTF, HTML and EPUB. Use the Files app and supported cloud locations to bring your work with you. LOOK AFTER YOUR WORK Autosave, document recovery and automatic backups help protect your progress. Use app and folder passcodes for an extra layer of privacy. Continue opening your existing Notes Writer PDF notes and outlines as you move to the new workspace. From your first handwritten idea to your final document, make room for the way you think. Privacy Policy http://www.noteswriter.com/Kairoos_Privacy_Policy.html Terms of Use https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

QuickNotes X4 screens
Notes Writer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Notes Writer at weekly against QuickNotes X's every 5 weeks. Notes Writer also leads on rating (4.5 vs 4.3). QuickNotes X's advantage is iOS requirement (16.0 vs 26.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. QuickNotes X sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 3 months and Notes Writer sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Notes Writer holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.8K and 7.3K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 38% of QuickNotes X's written reviews are positive against 45% of Notes Writer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

QuickNotes X ships an update every 5 weeks, Notes Writer weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
QuickNotes X versus Notes Writer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQuickNotes XNotes Writer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3.8K ratings)4.5 (7.3K ratings) — better
Positive reviews38.0% of reviews45.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.8K7.3K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size354 MB811 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAlessandro SassiKairoos Solutions SL

Customer experience

QuickNotes X

All ratings3,753 ratings
Positive82.4%
Neutral6.1%
Negative11.5%
Written reviews158 reviews
Positive38.0%
Neutral13.9%
Negative48.1%

Notes Writer

All ratings7,327 ratings
Positive86.8%
Neutral5.1%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews955 reviews
Positive45.1%
Neutral15.2%
Negative39.7%

User reviews

QuickNotes X

From 3.8K App Store ratings

What 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

Notes Writer

From 7.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth writing experience
  • 💡 Versatile note-taking features
  • 🔒 Good privacy
  • 👍 Useful for various purposes (notes, PDF annotations, etc.)

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🔒 Limiting free version with paywalls
  • 🐛 Bugs with erasing, page management, and file corruption
  • 🐛 Laggy performance and slow loading times

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

Notes Writer

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes randomly disappearing or getting corrupted
  • Inability to recover deleted documents
  • Unexpected behavior when adding/deleting pages
  • Syncing issues and broken links between documents

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more brushes and pen customization options
  • Improve the clipping/selection tool
  • Implement OCR and handwriting search
  • Provide a Mac version

In-app purchases

11 purchases

QuickNotes X

Subscriptions1
  • Cloud & ML Pack$0.993 Months
One-time10
  • Covers Pack$0.99
  • Templates Pack$0.99
  • QuickNotes X AI: 50000 Tokens$0.99
Show 7 more
  • 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
8 purchases

Notes Writer

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly$1.997 Days
  • Notes Writer Unlock All and AI3 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Notes Writer Unlock All and AI3 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time5
  • Full Version Unlock Pro$3.99
  • Full Version Unlock Pro$4.99
  • Full Version Unlock Pro2 variants$5.99
Show 2 more
  • Full Version Unlock Pro$6.99
  • Lifetime Pro Full Unlock$14.99

Questions

Is QuickNotes X free?
QuickNotes X is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Notes Writer free?
Notes Writer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, QuickNotes X or Notes Writer?
Notes Writer is rated higher. QuickNotes X averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3.8K ratings, while Notes Writer averages 4.5 from 7.3K ratings.
Do QuickNotes X or Notes Writer have ads?
Neither QuickNotes X nor Notes Writer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, QuickNotes X or Notes Writer?
QuickNotes X ships an update every 5 weeks, and Notes Writer weekly. Most recently, QuickNotes X was updated on October 19, 2026 and Notes Writer on October 18, 2026.

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