# Joplin vs Scan Now

The clearest difference is rating: Scan Now at 5.0 against Joplin's 4.1. Scan Now also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 66%). Joplin's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 27 months) and ratings volume (476 vs 7). 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.

Scan Now holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Joplin has 476 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of Joplin's written reviews are positive against 100% of Scan Now's.

Joplin ships an update monthly, Scan Now every 27 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Joplin | Scan Now |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.1 (476 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joplin/id1315599797/reviews) | **[5.0 (7 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scan-now/id1660940489/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **476** | 7 |
| Positive reviews | 66.5% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Monthly** | Every 27 months |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 73 MB | 9 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | **14.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Laurent Cozic](https://appshunter.io/developer/1315599796) | [Marcin Stepnowski](https://appshunter.io/developer/1660940491) |

## What reviewers say

### Joplin

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joplin/id1315599797)

A privacy-focused note-taking and to-do application that allows you to capture multimedia notes, organize them with notebooks and tags, and sync across devices. It offers end-to-end encryption and an offline-first approach for secure and accessible information management.

**Highlights:** Capture multimedia notes (speech, photos, videos, PDFs), Organize notes with notebooks and tags, Create to-dos and set reminders, End-to-end encryption for privacy, Cross-device synchronization (Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive), Offline-first access, OCR search for text within images and PDFs

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great app
- 🔒 End-to-end encryption
- 👍 Excellent cross-platform support
- 👍 Intuitive Markdown support
- 👍 Flexible sync options (Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV)

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Sync issues, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Buggy UI, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Slow performance at times
- 🐛 Confusing interface, not very intuitive

**Reported bugs**

- Sync issues with WebDAV and Dropbox
- Crashes when creating new notes
- Keyboard issues, text getting obscured
- Rendering problems in dark mode
- Compatibility issues with older iOS versions

**Requested features**

- Add web clipper functionality on iOS
- Implement nested notebooks on iOS
- Allow password/biometric protection for notes
- Improve text editing experience on mobile
- Add more font and formatting options


### Scan Now

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scan-now/id1660940489)

Effortlessly scan documents with a fast and simple mobile application. Its user-friendly interface and advanced capabilities allow for quick document capture and sharing. Designed with privacy in mind, it ensures your data remains secure.

**Highlights:** Fast document scanning, Easy-to-use interface, Advanced scanning capabilities, Quick document sharing, Privacy-focused design, Secure data handling

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Joplin free?

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

### Is Scan Now free?

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

### Which has better reviews, Joplin or Scan Now?

Scan Now is rated higher. Joplin averages 4.1 out of 5 from 476 ratings, while Scan Now averages 5.0 from 7 ratings.

### Do Joplin or Scan Now have ads?

Neither Joplin nor Scan Now shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Joplin or Scan Now?

Joplin ships an update monthly, and Scan Now every 27 months. Most recently, Joplin was updated on October 17, 2026 and Scan Now on October 2, 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.*