Comparison

Paperpile vs Congressa

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

Congressa

Features
Read full description

Congressa is your conference programme in your pocket. It works without internet, too. WHY IT EXISTS At conferences I carried a folded paper programme in my jacket and unfolded it at every break to check when my talk was and in which room. I wanted the phone to tell me what is on now, what comes next and where to go, even in a congress hall with no signal. A SIMPLE START 1. Get the programme. Scan the QR code from the organiser or a colleague, paste the programme link, enter the conference website or open the PDF. Your name and an access code are optional. 2. For a programme from a website or PDF, check the recognised days, times and item types (lecture, posters, lunch, break, social programme). Fix anything with a tap. 3. That is it. The programme stays on your phone and the reminders are local: what, when and where, always before it starts. WHAT THE APP DOES • NOW – what is on right now, what comes next and your own next item. • PROGRAMME by day, with talks and posters inside their blocks, authors and paper codes. • MY PLAN – star what you do not want to miss; the app warns you about clashes. • I'M IN THE PROGRAMME – if you present, chair or guide, link yourself to your name: your slots are highlighted and reminded first. • REMINDERS BEFORE TALKS – 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, or a time of your own from 1 minute to 12 hours before every item. You also choose what the app reminds you about. • ORGANISER ANNOUNCEMENTS – programme changes and important messages right in the app, when the organiser uses a server. • REGISTRATIONS for workshops, dinner or the social programme, with capacity and a waiting list, when the organiser uses a server. • SHARE BY QR CODE – show the code and a colleague has the same programme within seconds, on iPhone and on Android (more below). • SEARCH by surname finds a talk even inside a block, with or without diacritics. • PLACES with directions in Maps, speakers and contact persons with a call button. • EIGHT LANGUAGES – Slovak, Czech, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Ukrainian. You choose the app language yourself. • AI RECOGNITION (optional) reads even messy PDFs and websites, with your own API key or through the organiser's server. SHARING BETWEEN IPHONE AND ANDROID The QR code or invitation link from Congressa opens a small web page that takes care of the rest. If your colleague has the app, the programme opens right away. If not, the page sends an iPhone to the App Store and an Android phone to Google Play. After installing, the same programme loads by itself: automatically on Android, on iPhone with the “Paste programme link” button on the welcome screen. FOR ORGANISERS On Mac and iPad the app is also the conference back office: it imports the programme from a website, PDF, text or calendar, manages rooms, people, presentations and attendees, and publishes the programme to your own server in one click. The optional server sends push reminders, handles registrations with a waiting list and produces attendance lists. PRIVACY No account, no sign-up, no ads, no tracking. The programme and your plan stay on your device. Data leaves it only when you send it yourself: to the organiser's server that you enter, or to the AI recognition you start. If you share a programme by link, only the programme itself is uploaded to the Congressa server, without your name or plan, and it is deleted 30 days after the conference. FREE AND INDEPENDENT Congressa is an independent app and is not made by the conference organiser. It is free and unrestricted: no ads, no tracking, no locked features, no subscription. One physician builds it in his free time, and it is free so that everyone at a congress can have the programme at hand. If it helped you, you can leave an optional tip (a coffee, a lunch or a dinner). It unlocks nothing and only helps keep the app free for others. Author: Ján Šikuta. The app grew out of his own need at congresses. Contact: congressa_main@icloud.com

Screenshots

Paperpile3 screens
Congressa4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Congressa at every 3 days against Paperpile's every 2 months. Paperpile's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, Congressa every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Paperpile versus Congressa: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaperpileCongressa
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (129 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews71.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings129 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size242 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPaperpile LLCJan Sikuta

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

Congressa

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Paperpile

No in-app purchases

None

Congressa

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Paperpile free?
Paperpile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Congressa free?
Congressa is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Paperpile or Congressa have ads?
Neither Paperpile nor Congressa shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Paperpile or Congressa?
Paperpile ships an update every 2 months, and Congressa every 3 days. Most recently, Paperpile was updated on October 15, 2026 and Congressa on October 8, 2026.

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