Comparison

Paperpile vs drop. save anything

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

drop. save anything

Features
Read full description

Collect inspiration. Make something of it. Save links, notes, images, and ideas in drop. Then ask AI to help you connect the dots, compare options, and explore what’s next. From your next trip to your next project, put what you save to use. SAVE ANYTHING THAT SPARKS AN IDEA An article worth reading. A place you want to visit. A thought you don’t want to lose. Save from Safari and other apps, add a link or image, or write a note, all in one place. ASK YOUR DROPS ANYTHING Your saved content is a starting point, not a dead end. Chat with AI to find what you’re looking for, understand your research, or bring several drops together into an answer. Try asking: • “What do these articles have in common?” • “Compare the products I saved.” • “Help me brainstorm using these notes.” Add specific drops to guide the conversation, or use voice input to draft your question. MAKE PLANS TOGETHER Keep everyone’s ideas in a shared collection. Gather places for a trip, inspiration for a home project, or gifts for someone you love. Invite others through iCloud and pin the important drops and notes at the top. FIND YOUR WAY BACK Browse your saves, organize them with tags, or search across titles, notes, sources, and collections. Read supported websites without leaving drop, and keep recent saves nearby with widgets. MORE ROOM FOR YOUR IDEAS. LESS NOISE. No ads. No social feed. No separate drop. account. Use iCloud to keep your library in sync across your devices. GO FURTHER WITH PRO Pro unlocks cloud AI to help you explore, compare, and build on your saved content. Choose a monthly or yearly auto-renewing subscription. On-device AI availability depends on your device and Apple Intelligence support. Restore purchases in Settings, and manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple account settings. Privacy Policy: https://dropanything.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Paperpile3 screens
drop. save anything4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Paperpile at none against drop. save anything's 2. Paperpile also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.0). On price, 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. drop. save anything sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Paperpile asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Paperpile versus drop. save anything: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaperpiledrop. save anything
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (129 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews71.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings129 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size242 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaperpile LLCAiden Arnold

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

drop. save anything

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Paperpile

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

drop. save anything

Subscriptions2
  • drop. Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • drop. Pro Yearly7 Days trial$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Paperpile free?
Paperpile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is drop. save anything free?
drop. save anything is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Paperpile or drop. save anything have ads?
Neither Paperpile nor drop. save anything shows ads.

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