Comparison

Paperpile vs Segl

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

Segl

Features
Read full description

Segl — mileage deduction and driving log without GPS logging. Get there. Get km. Data stays on the phone. Mileage deduction and driving log on iPhone — no GPS logging, no account and nothing in the cloud. Free to download. Segl stores that you were at the building, not your GPS position. How it works 1. Save your places — home, office and customers. A name and an address each. 2. The phone sees the place. Segl records that you were at the building. Not your GPS position. Not a route. Only: you were there. 3. Kilometres are calculated between your saved places and made ready for the mileage deduction — without typing anything. 4. The year’s figures are ready for your tax return. With Solo you close the month and send a timesheet as PDF. Your data stays on the phone Segl does not log GPS positions. The app only stores that you were at a place you saved yourself. All data stays on your phone. No account. No cloud. No servers. Delete the app, and the data is gone — we have no copy. Why this is not a GPS logbook A typical electronic logbook records your position continuously and stores the routes in the cloud. Segl flips that: you get the numbers for tax, and nobody gets your trail. Documentation for tax Mileage deduction: the year’s kilometres in one place, ready for filing. Driving log for tax-free mileage allowance: one row per day with date, purpose, route, km, rate and amount. Not tax advice — always check the current rules. Prices (incl. VAT, purchased in the app) Free: home, office and customers. Km when you are at the place. Mileage deduction — without times. Solo DKK 199/year: timesheet per place with times, close month and PDF/CSV. Business DKK 399/year: everything in Solo plus hours per customer and a local invoice draft. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Paperpile3 screens
Segl4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Paperpile at none against Segl's 2. Paperpile also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.0). Segl's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 months). 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. Segl sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $22.99 per year. Paperpile asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, Segl every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Paperpile versus Segl: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaperpileSegl
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (129 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews71.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings129 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS12.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size242 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaperpile LLCThorbjørn BakJensen

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

Segl

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Paperpile

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Segl

Subscriptions2
  • Solo6 Months trial$22.991 Year
  • Business6 Months trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Paperpile free?
Paperpile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Segl free?
Segl is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Paperpile or Segl have ads?
Neither Paperpile nor Segl shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Paperpile or Segl?
Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, and Segl every 2 days. Most recently, Paperpile was updated on October 6, 2026 and Segl on October 11, 2026.

Other comparisons