# Paperpile vs PetFree

The clearest difference is rating: PetFree at 5.0 against Paperpile's 4.5. PetFree also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 72%). Paperpile's advantage is ratings volume (131 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

PetFree holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paperpile has 131 ratings behind it against 1, 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 100% of PetFree's.

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

## The numbers

| Metric | Paperpile | PetFree |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.5 (131 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736/reviews) | **[5.0 (1 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/petfree/id6463465773/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **131** | 1 |
| Positive reviews | 71.6% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Daily** |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 242 MB | 48 MB |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | **11.0** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Paperpile LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1187562735) | [Ali Raza Noorani](https://appshunter.io/developer/1006949790) |

## 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


### PetFree

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/petfree/id6463465773)

This app connects pet owners and delivery drivers to create safer neighborhoods and improve delivery efficiency. Pet owners can share alerts about pets and collaborate on safety, while drivers can map pet-prone areas to optimize routes and avoid hazards.

**Highlights:** Pet incident alerts, Lost pet notices, Pet owner collaboration, Hazard mapping for drivers, Delivery route optimization, Interactive incident map

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Paperpile free?

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

### Is PetFree free?

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

### Which has better reviews, Paperpile or PetFree?

PetFree is rated higher. Paperpile averages 4.5 out of 5 from 131 ratings, while PetFree averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.

### Do Paperpile or PetFree have ads?

Neither Paperpile nor PetFree shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Paperpile or PetFree?

Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, and PetFree daily. Most recently, Paperpile was updated on October 23, 2026 and PetFree on August 22, 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.*