Comparison

SCRIBZEE® vs Freenotes®

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SCRIBZEE®

Securely access all your handwritten notes from any device, anytime. This app offers high-quality scans that are automatically enhanced for clarity and readability. Organize, share, and even convert notes to PDF for easy distribution.

Highlights
  • Secure cloud access for notes
  • High-quality automatic scanning
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Note organization by subject/project
  • Share notes via social media/messaging
  • Convert notes to PDF
  • Revision progress tracking
Read full description

ACCESS ALL YOUR HANDWRITTEN NOTES SECURELY, WHEN AND WHERE YOU NEED THEM, on your smartphone, tablet or laptop. Already more than a million people are using SCRIBZEE®. ◆ WITH SCRIBZEE® YOUR HANDWRITTEN NOTES ARE ACCESSIBLE EVERYWHERE, EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE YOUR NOTEBOOK WITH YOU ◆ Whether you’re a student or a professional on a business trip, it’s great to be able to access all your handwritten notes without having to carry your notes or notebooks around with you. With SCRIBZEE®, access your notes anywhere and at any time via the smartphone app, even in flight mode, or alternatively on a tablet, PC or Mac with SCRIBZEE® Online (www.scribzee.com). ◆ A HIGH-QUALITY SCAN EVERY TIME, BETTER THAN USING YOUR SMARTPHONE CAMERA ◆ Capturing your notes with your smartphone camera is a possibility. However, the result doesn’t often come up to expectations. The pages are crooked, slightly blurry and badly framed. Your notes get mixed up with your photos, they take up storage space and are not multipage. With SCRIBZEE® and your compatible HAMELIN product, your scan is automatically enhanced by the app, so you get a high-quality result every time: • Accurate framing of the page content, • Vertical and horizontal re-framing of the image, • Optimisation of the contrast and brightness levels Your scanned notes are always clear and fully readable, shareable, enrichable and printable. ◆ SCRIBZEE® FOR LEARNING ◆ Are you in the habit of forgetting your notebook? Have you ever misplaced study cards or had them torn to pieces by your puppy? SCRIBZEE® protects your notes so you can study wherever and whenever you need to on your smartphone. Do you wake up in the morning with study cards strewn all over your bed? Organise your notes by subject in SCRIBZEE® and study in bed using your smartphone. Fed up of seeing more pics of your notes or study cards on your smartphone than photos of your friends? Store your notes in SCRIBZEE® and free up your photo gallery for more important things. Got a friend in need? With SCRIBZEE® share your class notes or study cards with one click (Twitter, Messenger, What’s App). Have you written out so many study cards you don’t know where to start revising? With SCRIBZEE® assign a status (red, orange, green) to each card and keep track of your revision progress. ◆ SCRIBZEE® FOR BUSINESS ◆ Does your job involve long-term projects? Save and access all your notes in SCRIBZEE®. Do you manage lots of different projects? Archive your notes by subject, client or project name and find everything you need with SCRIBZEE®’s search function. Do you frequently attend meetings then need to send out the meeting notes quickly? With SCRIBZEE® no more typing out handwritten notes, just convert to PDF and share instantly. Do you find your notes or meeting minutes easily get mixed up? Keep your notes under control access them faster by linking them to the appointments in your calendar. ◆ SCRIBZEE® IS ALSO ◆ • A free app. • Exclusively available with your favourite HAMELIN notebook. • Includes dedicated, unlimited free cloud storage space. • Totally secure. Your notes are encrypted and only readable by you. • Allows you to create automatic reminders for your important notes. • Add photos from your smartphone to enrich your handwritten notes. • And much more.

About

Freenotes®

This AI-powered digital notepad transforms your device into an intelligent workspace. It offers handwriting recognition, PDF annotation, and AI assistance for summarizing documents, answering questions, and aiding in study. Organize notes, sketch ideas, and sync across devices for a seamless paperless experience.

Highlights
  • AI Summaries and Chat with PDFs
  • AI Homework and Study Helper
  • Handwritten Note Organization
  • OCR Search and PDF Annotation
  • Infinite Canvas and Shape Recognition
  • Active Recall Tape and Flashcards
  • Picture-in-Picture Video Note-Taking
Features
Read full description

Freenotes: Freedom to write, organize, and shine Transform your iPad into a powerful AI-driven digital notepad. Freenotes is an all-in-one workspace designed for students and professionals who want the natural feel of handwriting with the power of artificial intelligence. Whether you are annotating a complex PDF, planning your week, or recording a lecture, Freenotes helps you stay organized with seamless, free-form experience. AI Summary Quickly find key points and action items from long recordings or documents. AI Chat with PDF Ask questions directly to your imported files to get instant answers. AI Homework Helper Take a screenshot or upload a document (PDF or photo) to instantly get answers. AI Study Companion Clarify concepts, define terms, and check your handwritten notes for accuracy, turning passive review into active recall. Organize Notes Categorize and organize your notes by projects, courses, or topics, automating the organization of your note library. Quick Search via OCR Search through your handwritten scripts easily using accurate text recognition. PDF Annotation Highlight, underline, and add comments to documents with custom pen styles. Infinite Canvas Sketch ideas or mind map on a whiteboard that expands as you work. Apple Pencil Pro Support Experience low-latency writing that feels like real paper. Shape Recognition Turn rough drawings into clean, perfect geometric shapes for diagrams. Hyperlink Support Navigate through digital planners using clickable internal and external links. Active Recall Tape Hide specific parts of your notes to test your memory and study better. Paper Templates Access various backgrounds including grid, Cornell, and dotted paper. Flashcards Build study sets directly from your pages to help with exam prep. Seamless Video Learning Use Picture-in-Picture (PiP) to take notes while watching online videos (YouTube, lecture recordings), and instantly capture relevant screenshots directly into your notes. iCloud & Google Drive Sync Securely back up your digital notebook to access your data anywhere. Who is Freenotes For? Students: Create study guides, annotate lecture slides, and use the "Active Recall" tape tool for exam prep. Professionals: Record meetings, organize projects into folders, and sign PDF documents on the go. Creatives: Sketch ideas on an infinite whiteboard and export high-quality files to share with your team. Join over 1 million happy users transitioning to a smarter, paperless future. Try Freenotes today and experience the next era of AI note-taking. Privacy Policy: https://www.freenotetech.com/policy/ Terms of Service: https://www.freenotetech.com/terms/

Screenshots

SCRIBZEE®4 screens
Freenotes®4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Freenotes® at 4.7 against SCRIBZEE®'s 3.8. Freenotes® also leads on ratings volume (63K vs 178) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). SCRIBZEE®'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 22) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.5). On price, review sentiment, 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. Freenotes® sells 18 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. SCRIBZEE® asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Freenotes® holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Freenotes® has 63K ratings behind it against 178, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 53% of SCRIBZEE®'s written reviews are positive against 59% of Freenotes®'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SCRIBZEE® ships an update monthly, Freenotes® weekly. Both last shipped on October 18, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SCRIBZEE® versus Freenotes®: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSCRIBZEE®Freenotes®
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (178 ratings)4.7 (63K ratings) — better
Positive reviews53.4% of reviews59.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings17863K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.5
Further details — not scored
Size136 MB711 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHamelin SASFree Notes AI Note Taker LTD

Customer experience

SCRIBZEE®

All ratings178 ratings
Positive70.2%
Neutral3.9%
Negative25.8%
Written reviews232 reviews
Positive53.4%
Neutral7.8%
Negative38.8%

Freenotes®

All ratings62,856 ratings
Positive92.0%
Neutral2.9%
Negative5.2%
Written reviews2,438 reviews
Positive59.4%
Neutral5.7%
Negative34.9%

User reviews

SCRIBZEE®

From 178 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📚 Convenient digital note storage
  • 🔍 Handwriting search functionality
  • 🗂️ Organized folder structure
  • 💻 Accessible across devices
  • ✍️ Seamless scanning of handwritten notes

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • 🤖 Unreliable handwriting recognition
  • 📁 Limited folder/organization options
  • 🔄 Inconsistent syncing between devices
  • 🔍 Ineffective search capabilities

Freenotes®

From 63K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Completely free app with no ads or in-app purchases
  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 📚 Comprehensive note-taking features (layers, templates, stickers, etc.)
  • 🎨 Highly customizable (colors, fonts, covers, etc.)
  • 🗂️ Excellent organization tools (folders, notebooks, etc.)

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional issues with syncing and iCloud backup
  • 🖌️ Limited customization options for pen/pencil settings
  • 🔍 Lack of handwriting recognition and search
  • 🔗 No support for external links or clickable content
  • 🔀 Difficulty in rearranging or splitting notebooks

Bugs and requests

SCRIBZEE®

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App fails to open or get stuck on loading screen
  • Issues with account creation and password reset
  • Scanned notes not saving or disappearing
  • Inconsistent behavior when scanning multiple pages
  • Compatibility problems with certain device models

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add sub-folder support for better organization
  • Improve handwriting recognition accuracy
  • Implement a more user-friendly interface
  • Allow scanning of non-proprietary notebooks
  • Integrate with popular note-taking apps

Freenotes®

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Occasional freezing or lagging when writing/drawing
  • Issues with the shape recognition tool not working as expected
  • Problems with the eraser tool not functioning properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add handwriting recognition and search functionality
  • Improve iCloud sync and backup capabilities
  • Expand pen/pencil customization options
  • Implement support for external links and clickable content
  • Introduce features for easier notebook organization and splitting

In-app purchases

None

SCRIBZEE®

No in-app purchases

18 purchases

Freenotes®

Subscriptions11
  • Freenotes Weekly Plus Member$1.997 Days
  • Freenotes Weekly Pro Member$6.997 Days
  • Premium Freenotes AI Weekly7 Days trial$6.997 Days
Show 8 more
  • Freenotes Yearly Plus Member$9.991 Year
  • Freenotes Yearly Plus Member1 Year trial2 variants$9.991 Year
  • Monthly Pro Member Promotion1 Month trial$19.991 Month
  • Freenotes Monthly Pro Member$19.991 Month
  • Premium Freenotes AI Monthly1 Month trial$19.991 Month
  • Freenotes Yearly Pro Member1 Year trial$39.991 Year
  • Yearly Pro Member Discount1 Year trial$39.991 Year
  • Freenotes Yearly Pro Member$39.991 Year
One-time7
  • Marketplace Content$1.99
  • Marketplace Content$2.99
  • Marketplace Content$3.99
Show 4 more
  • Marketplace Content$9.99
  • Marketplace Content$10.99
  • Freenotes Remove Ads$29.99
  • Freenotes Plus Member Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is SCRIBZEE® free?
SCRIBZEE® is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Freenotes® free?
Freenotes® is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, SCRIBZEE® or Freenotes®?
Freenotes® is rated higher. SCRIBZEE® averages 3.8 out of 5 from 178 ratings, while Freenotes® averages 4.7 from 63K ratings.
Do SCRIBZEE® or Freenotes® have ads?
Neither SCRIBZEE® nor Freenotes® shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SCRIBZEE® or Freenotes®?
SCRIBZEE® ships an update monthly, and Freenotes® weekly. Most recently, SCRIBZEE® was updated on October 18, 2026 and Freenotes® on October 18, 2026.

Other comparisons