Comparison

Paperpile vs Labscope

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

Head to head
About

Paperpile

Organize and manage your research papers effortlessly. Collect, read, and annotate PDFs from millions of academic journals. Beat paper chaos with a tidy digital library.

Highlights
  • Search millions of academic papers
  • Collect PDFs with one tap
  • Organize with folders and labels
  • Read and annotate PDFs
  • Highlight and add notes
  • Browser integration for saving
Features
Read full description

Get a head start for you research and finally beat the paper chaos on your desk. With Paperpile you have all your research PDFs in one place — nice and tidy. Paperpile makes it easier than ever to collect, manage, read, and annotate your papers. FIND & COLLECT - Search millions of papers from 20,000+ academic journals right in the app. - Add new papers to your collection with one tap and the PDF will be downloaded automatically. - Save directly from your browser to your Paperpile library - User your university's off-campus proxy access to get restricted content behind paywalls. MANAGE & ORGANIZE - Bring structure to your library with folders and subfolders - Organize your library visually with colored labels - Mark important papers with stars. - Search your library to find the paper you need fast. READ & ANNOTATE - Read like on paper with a fast and slick PDF viewer experience - Highlight important sections in different colors - Add notes and never forget an important idea. - Add hand-drawn annotations - with your fingers or your Apple Pencil The Paperpile App requires a Paperpile account.

About

Labscope

Transform your ZEISS microscope into a WiFi-enabled imaging system. Capture images and videos of microscopic samples, add annotations, and generate reports. Ideal for laboratories, universities, schools, and hobbyists, it facilitates digital learning and easy sharing.

Highlights
  • WiFi-enabled microscope imaging
  • Image and video capture
  • Annotations and report creation
  • Image processing
  • Network and direct sharing
  • Digital classroom system
Features
Read full description

With Labscope, you transform your ZEISS microscope and camera into a WiFi-enabled imaging system. Be it in the laboratory, university, school or even for your hobby - Labscope snaps images and records videos of your microscopic samples, easier than ever. You can create annotations and reports, do image processing and save the files to your Windows network, or simply share them with anyone. Anywhere. Moreover, with Labscope you can easily create a high-quality digital classroom system, showing students a fun way of learning. Benefit from more than 160 years of experience in microscopy and explore the freedom of mobile digital imaging. Easy. Precise. Efficient. Download Labscope and test all features with the built-in virtual microscope! For more information visit www.zeiss.com/labscope Intended use - Labscope Labscope for iOS is a microscope software for control, image acquisition, image processing and image analysis. Typical application fields of the software are general tasks and applications in microscopy or image acquisition, among others for education, routine and research. The software is not intended to directly or indirectly produce medical diagnostic results.

Screenshots

Paperpile3 screens
Labscope4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Paperpile at 4.5 against Labscope's 3.4. Paperpile also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 6) and ratings volume (131 vs 5). Labscope's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 72%). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. Labscope sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Paperpile asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Paperpile holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paperpile has 131 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 72% of Paperpile's written reviews are positive against 100% of Labscope's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, Labscope every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Paperpile versus Labscope: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaperpileLabscope
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (131 ratings) — better3.4 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews71.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings131 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size242 MB296 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaperpile LLCCarl Zeiss AG

Customer experience

Paperpile

All ratings129 ratings
Positive86.8%
Neutral3.9%
Negative9.3%
Written reviews81 reviews
Positive71.6%
Neutral4.9%
Negative23.5%

Labscope

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Paperpile

Reported bugs

12 issues
  • App crashes frequently on iPad and iOS devices
  • Highlighting disappears when revisiting papers
  • Overlapping annotations delete together when removing one
  • Sync failures requiring logout/login cycles
  • Annotations not syncing between iPad and web versions
Show 7 more
  • PDF metadata recognition failures when adding papers
  • Settings reset when returning to previously edited files
  • App incompatible with older iOS versions (iOS 12)
  • Login authentication errors with university accounts
  • App crashes without reliable internet connection
  • Search functionality broken after updates
  • Annotations not saving/loading on iOS 14.4.2

Requested features

17 requests
  • Dark mode implementation
  • Edit citation metadata on mobile app
  • Change PDF file functionality
  • Save to downloads feature
  • Dictionary/lookup function for reading
Show 12 more
  • Cite while you write feature
  • BibTeX export capability
  • Ability to upload PDFs directly from mobile app
  • Support for Safari and other browsers
  • Desktop application version
  • Shared library access in mobile app
  • Advanced sorting options (by title, author, date)
  • Custom color options for annotations
  • Paste images into PDFs
  • Shape snapping for drawing tools
  • University email authentication
  • Paper rating system beyond stars

Labscope

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Paperpile

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

Labscope

One-time6
  • Multi Channel (Free Trial)Free
  • AI Cell Confluency(Free Trial)Free
  • AI Cell Counting(Free Trial)Free
Show 3 more
  • Multi Channel$449.99
  • AI Cell Counting$499.99
  • AI Cell Confluency$499.99

Questions

Is Paperpile free?
Paperpile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Labscope free?
Labscope is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Paperpile or Labscope?
Paperpile is rated higher. Paperpile averages 4.5 out of 5 from 131 ratings, while Labscope averages 3.4 from 5 ratings.
Do Paperpile or Labscope have ads?
Neither Paperpile nor Labscope shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Paperpile or Labscope?
Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, and Labscope every 3 months. Most recently, Paperpile was updated on October 23, 2026 and Labscope on October 22, 2026.

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