# Paperpile vs Plasmids X

The clearest difference is rating: Paperpile at 4.5 against Plasmids X's 3.4. Paperpile also leads on review sentiment (72% vs 33%) and in-app purchases (none vs 14). Plasmids X's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Plasmids X sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Paperpile asks for nothing beyond the download.

Paperpile holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paperpile has 129 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Paperpile's written reviews are positive against 33% of Plasmids X's.

Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, Plasmids X monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and June 1, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Paperpile | Plasmids X |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.5 (129 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736/reviews)** | [3.4 (7 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/plasmids-x/id1524584676/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **129** | 7 |
| Positive reviews | **71.6% of reviews** | 33.3% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Monthly** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 242 MB | 17 MB |
| Requires iOS | **12.0** | 18 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Paperpile LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1187562735) | [Amin Mahpour](https://appshunter.io/developer/1524584678) |

## What reviewers say

### Paperpile

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736)

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:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Excellent reference library management
- 🔄 Seamless cross-device synchronization
- ✍️ Intuitive PDF annotation and highlighting
- 🎨 Clean and minimalist user interface
- 📱 Strong iPad and mobile integration

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and instability
- ⏱️ Lack of updates for extended periods
- 📱 Mobile app significantly behind web version features
- 🔋 High battery drain on iPad
- 🌙 No dark mode support

**Reported bugs**

- 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

**Requested features**

- Dark mode implementation
- Edit citation metadata on mobile app
- Change PDF file functionality
- Save to downloads feature
- Dictionary/lookup function for reading


### Plasmids X

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/plasmids-x/id1524584676)

Design, create, and analyze custom DNA plasmids with this intuitive molecular genetics tool. Supports importing, editing, and sharing plasmids, with powerful in silico analysis features for researchers and students.

**Highlights:** Create plasmids from sequences, Import from .dna and Genbank files, Edit plasmids by adding features, In silico analysis (sequence alignment, PCR, digestion), Share and collaborate on plasmids

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (14)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly | $1.99 | per month |
| Yearly | $9.99 | per year |
| A cup of coffee! | $1.99 | one-time |
| Split View Support | $1.99 | one-time |
| Manual Cloning | $3.99 | one-time |
| In-silico PCR Support | $3.99 | one-time |
| NCBI Entrez Support | $3.99 | one-time |
| Local Alignment Support | $3.99 | one-time |
| A box of joe! | $4.99 | one-time |
| BLAST Support | $4.99 | one-time |
| ApE File Support | $4.99 | one-time |
| Genbank Support | $4.99 | one-time |
| dna File Support | $5.99 | one-time |
| All Features | $24.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Paperpile free?

Paperpile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Plasmids X free?

Plasmids X is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Paperpile or Plasmids X?

Paperpile is rated higher. Paperpile averages 4.5 out of 5 from 129 ratings, while Plasmids X averages 3.4 from 7 ratings.

### Do Paperpile or Plasmids X have ads?

Neither Paperpile nor Plasmids X shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Paperpile or Plasmids X?

Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, and Plasmids X monthly. Most recently, Paperpile was updated on September 21, 2026 and Plasmids X on June 1, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*