Comparison

优读 vs MarginNote 4

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

Head to head
About

优读

This app helps you manage your knowledge by integrating reading, note-taking, and intelligent article sorting. It allows for quick collection and organization of information from various sources, including RSS feeds and public accounts, with smart labeling for efficient retrieval.

Highlights
  • Integrated reading and note-taking
  • Article and book note creation
  • Aggregate search across notes and collections
  • Smart automatic labeling and sorting
  • RSS feed subscription
  • Quick article collection
  • Knowledge review and spaced repetition
Features
Read full description

Uread - a knowledge management tool that integrates reading, note-taking, collection and intelligent sorting. By subscribing to information sources such as public numbers, aggregated reading of information can be realized. Collection of articles can be automatically labeled and intelligently sorted out to solve the problems of incomplete collection of articles and inefficient and time-consuming manual sorting. Recommendation of " 最美应用" "PriceTag" Recommendation 【Notes on Articles】 Initiate scratch screen notebook and picture extraction function. When reading an article, you can quickly record and switch articles and notes through the left and right sliding screen without opening other APP records. Make notes, more convenient and efficient; long press the pictures and text in the article can be copied and saved to excellent reading. 【Book Notes】 When books are added to excellent reading, they can be imported into book notes through Wechat reading, more reading, or recorded by OCR photo recognition and manual input. 【Aggregate Search】 A variety of articles and book notebook forms, collections of articles, to be read and other support hybrid search, a query, a variety of knowledge. [Smart Label] Collected articles are classified intelligently according to their source, labeled automatically, without manual sorting, and supported to modify the title and label to make articles more in line with their search habits. 【Free Subscription】 If you want to see the information, you can only push it after subscribing. Supports subscribing to platform information such as Wechat Public Number, high-quality articles, unified summary. Support RSS subscription through 36Kr, Tiger Sniff, Best App, Everyone is Product Manager, PMCAFF and other mainstream portals, support know-how columns, instant topics, microblogs, Nuggets channels, public numbers, Douban group subscriptions. 【Quick Collection】 When you see good articles, you can quickly collect them for excellent reading by means of notification bar expansion, automatic detection of duplicate links, 3D Touch and so on. Follow-up can support collection list export, collection has never been so simple! 【Knowledge Review】 Through the application of the first screen, regular notification and other forms for you to review your collection of articles, organized notes and so on, the precipitated knowledge can be effectively utilized. 【Explanation for Advanced Edition of Automatic Fee Renewal】 Subscription cycle: 1 month (continuous package) Subscription Price: Continuous monthly package product is $1.49 per month The iTunes account will be deducted after payment is confirmed or after the free probation period (if any). Subscriptions will be automatically renewed unless the automatic renewal function is turned off 24 hours before the current subscription. Apple's iTunes account will deduct fees within 24 hours of maturity, and the subscription cycle will be extended by one subscription cycle after successful deduction. Privacy policy https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/privacy/view/670 fadff1 cac35f2d20b85409aea2e45 Terms of Service https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/UuhcTQ9m-2EIN68FxwGF5A ———————— [Contact us] QQ Group of Excellent Reading Users: 839111672

About

MarginNote 4

This app integrates reading, note-taking, mind mapping, and flashcards into a unified study environment. It supports active learning with features like study sets, book compilation, and dual-article views. Enhance your understanding with visual learning tools and AI-powered content extraction for long-term memory retention.

Highlights
  • Integrated reading, note-taking, mind mapping, and flashcards
  • Quick Extend Note and Handwriting Layers for annotation
  • Study Set for organizing PDFs, EPUBs, videos, and audio
  • Mind Map and Concept Diagram for visual learning
  • AI Content Detection for formula and chart extraction
  • FSRS spaced-repetition algorithm for reviews
  • iCloud sync across Apple devices
Features
Read full description

MarginNote is the PDF study tool for deep readers. One excerpt is a PDF highlight, a mind map node, and a flashcard — one capture, three places. This is the Card Axis architecture, so you stop ferrying content between a PDF reader, a notes app, and a flashcard tool. A decade of iteration. 188K+ App Store ratings. 【Four Featured Mechanics】 ▸ Card Axis — One excerpt, three renders. Document highlight, mind map node, and flashcard are the same card seen from three angles. ▸ Title Link — Old notes auto-surface in new documents. When a familiar concept appears in what you're reading, your past annotation lights up on the page. ▸ Extended Note — Long-press anywhere on a PDF to open writing space. No anchored text required; three display modes (inline / margin / collapsed). ▸ Immersive Mode (4.4) — Three-state toggle: Read / Write / Recall. UI folds away. Recall blurs excerpts with Gaussian blur — tap to reveal only after you've actually recalled. 【AI Capabilities (introduced in 4.2)】 AI book breakdown · AI OCR templates · AI translation · AI Q&A · AI flashcard generation Our stance is AI as assistant, not replacement — every suggestion can be saved as your own thinking node, never thinking for you. 【Apple Intelligence (iOS 26+)】 Recall Mode hints can run on-device via Apple Intelligence — pick "Apple AI" or "cloud LLM" in Settings. With Apple AI selected, three tiers of help — Neighbor Coordinate · Reasoning Prompt · Key Distinction — are generated by Apple Foundation Models right on your device: no network calls, no AI credits used, your notes never leave your device. Even if you've selected cloud LLM, going offline auto-falls back to Apple Intelligence (provided your device supports it) — so libraries, planes, and exam-day silent rooms never break your hint loop. 【Full Workflow】 Fast OCR · Study Sets (PDF / EPUB / video / audio) · direct read from Zotero / cloud drives / USB · 10 mind map styles · book recomposition · dual-document compare · concept maps · handwriting layers 【FSRS Spaced Repetition】 Built on the open-spaced-repetition project's algorithm (paper accepted by ACM SIGKDD; Anki has used FSRS as its default scheduler since v23.10). Push short-term memory into long-term. 【Built For】 Anyone re-reading a single document until it sticks — med school (USMLE / MCAT) · law school (LSAT / bar exam) · grad prep (GRE / GMAT / CFA) · researchers · language learners (IELTS / TOEFL) · serious readers. 【All Apple Platforms】 iPhone + iPad + Mac under one Apple ID. iCloud syncs Study Sets, notes, and review progress. Native Apple Pencil support on iPad. — Questions? Email service@marginnote.com Terms: https://dist.marginnote.com/MarginNote_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf Privacy: https://dist.marginnote.com/MarginNote_Privacy_Policy.pdf

Screenshots

优读4 screens
MarginNote 44 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: 优读 at 5.0 against MarginNote 4's 4.5. 优读 also leads on iOS requirement (10.0 vs 17.0). MarginNote 4's advantage is ratings volume (716 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. 优读 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month and MarginNote 4 sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

优读 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MarginNote 4 has 716 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

优读 ships an update every 2 weeks, MarginNote 4 every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on June 25, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
优读 versus MarginNote 4: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter优读MarginNote 4
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.5 (716 ratings)
Positive reviews—58.8% of reviews
Number of ratings1716 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS10.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size102 MB330 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developer俊杰 黄Beijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd

Customer experience

优读

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

MarginNote 4

All ratings716 ratings
Positive86.3%
Neutral3.6%
Negative10.1%
Written reviews563 reviews
Positive58.8%
Neutral15.3%
Negative25.9%

Bugs and requests

优读

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

MarginNote 4

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Disappearing annotations when using extend function
  • Inability to restore accidentally deleted mind maps
  • Inconsistent behavior with PDF file management

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved iCloud/cloud sync reliability
  • More intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • Better support for external document libraries
  • Ability to disable auto-excerpt selection

In-app purchases

2 purchases

优读

Subscriptions1
  • 优读高级版按月续费$1.491 Month
One-time1
  • 打赏$4.99
12 purchases

MarginNote 4

Subscriptions5
  • Subscription to MAX (Monthly)7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Subscription to MAX (3 months)7 Days trial$4.993 Months
  • Subscription to MAX (6 months)7 Days trial$7.996 Months
Show 2 more
  • Subscription to MAX (Annually)1 Month trial$12.991 Year
  • MarginNote Max Annual1 Month trial$16.991 Year
One-time7
  • 14 days Free Trial2 variantsFree
  • Upgrade to PRO from MN3(iOS)$4.99
  • Unlock PRO Forever (New)$12.99
Show 4 more
  • Upgrade to MAX from MN3(macOS)$19.99
  • Unlock MAX based on PRO$39.99
  • Unlock MAX based on PRO (New)$40.00
  • Unlock MAX Forever (New)$51.99

Questions

Is 优读 free?
优读 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MarginNote 4 free?
MarginNote 4 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, 优读 or MarginNote 4?
优读 is rated higher. 优读 averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while MarginNote 4 averages 4.5 from 716 ratings.
Do 优读 or MarginNote 4 have ads?
Neither 优读 nor MarginNote 4 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 优读 or MarginNote 4?
优读 ships an update every 2 weeks, and MarginNote 4 every 3 weeks. Most recently, 优读 was updated on June 25, 2026 and MarginNote 4 on September 28, 2026.

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