Comparison

MarginNote 3 vs GUGA

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

Head to head
About

MarginNote 3

This app redefines studying by integrating e-reading with powerful annotation, mind mapping, and flashcard tools. Organize knowledge, connect ideas with hashtags, and enhance memory retention through spaced repetition. It offers a seamless workflow across multiple documents and devices.

Highlights
  • Integrated PDF/EPUB reader
  • Advanced annotation tools
  • Mind mapping and outline organization
  • Flashcard creation and Anki export
  • Multi-document support
  • Handwriting and Apple Pencil support
  • OCR for scanned PDFs
Features
Read full description

MarginNote 3, all brand new e-reader to better study and digest your books Integrating powerful tools for book annotation, mindmapping, flashcards and more, to build up your reading notes as never before. ============================================ Welcome to MarginNote. This is a highly powerful reading and study software and is applicable to Mac, iPad, and iPhone. By integrating the PDF/EPUB reader and multiple powerful study tools, MarginNote will enable learners to reorganize and connect knowledge from different aspects, then memorize and grasp it accordingly. Whatever your profession, such as student, educator, researcher, lawyer, or life-long learner, you may annotate and take notes through MarginNote, organize notes via Mindmap and Outline, connect knowledge horizontally via Hashtag and raise memory effect via the Flashcards. You will discover what MarginNote does is not to simply integrate these tools. Instead, it combines them deeply and skillfully, which makes it easier for users to toggle between different tools. What's New in MarginNote 3 * New and Clean UI Completely redesigned. * Improved performance and Running more smoothly * Support both Document Reading mode & Study Reading mode. * Excerpts & Note-taking * Enhanced Handwriting & apple-pencil support. * Support TextBox on PDF. * Support direct text-typing & sketching when editing note cards. * Support Auto OCR when excerpting on scanned PDFs. * Emphasis & Cloze * Support direct emphasis in powerful Emphasis mode both on PDF or Outline. * Support auto convert emphasis to Cloze in CardDeck. * Support creating Image-Occlusion flashcards. * Multi-Documents * Support both document tabs & split views to switch between documents. * MindMap * Auto grouping new excerpts by Document Table of Contents. * Support new brach display mode: Framework. * Swipe/Drag gestures to slide in/out Outline & Documents in Study mode. * Enhanced grouped cut/paste, drag to merge,.. etc. * Outline * Improved search and displaying keywords in results. * Improved styles. * CardDeck: * View Flashcards in MindMap mode and Document mode. * Enhanced Anki Export: Card styles, Image occlusions, Cloze * Enhanced Research web browser. * iCloud Sync * Fixed several design issue in previous versions. * More stable & improved performance. * Categories * Separate categories for Document, Study and Review. * Trash * Recover data from Trash and make data more safe. * Trial * 14-days free trial. MarginNote 2 features: Reading: - Support PDF and EPUB format; Annotating and NoteTaking: - Support text highlight and rectangular highlight; - Add notes directly at the page margin; the note editing area will not overlap with the book content at all; - Text, voice, picture, sketching and many other forms of comments in note; - Add hashtags to notes to facilitate the connection of notes; Outline and Mindmap: - Outline and Mindmap in one view; - Create Outline tree by swipe gestures; - Multi-selection editing such as group, merge, clone, etc; - Quick searching and filtering according to colors, hashtags, books. Flashcard: - Highlights and notes can be automatically turned into flashcards for review; - Spaced repetition adopting the Anki-based algorithm; - Switch to the linking book page at any time; iPad Pro & Apple pencil: - Split View of multiple tasks; - High-precision drawing by Apple pencil; - Fine tuned for Apple pencil; - Keyboard shortcuts; Import, Export and Sync: - Import webpages and notes from Evernote; - Export flashcards to Anki; - Export Outline to OmniOutliner; - Export Mindmap to iThoughts or MindManager; - Export to Evernote; - Export all the margin notes, MindManager, Outline and Pages to a printable PDF; - Sync books & notes with iCloud; Terms of Use: https://www.marginnote.com/press/marginnote-3-term-of-use Privacy Policy: https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/92678020

About

GUGA

This app combines notebook, whiteboard, and card functionalities for diverse learning needs. It allows for importing various formats, multi-layer handwriting, and creating interconnected learning materials. Share your progress and access cross-device data with ease.

Highlights
  • Import various notebook formats
  • Multi-layer handwriting support
  • Create and link cards
  • Multi-level whiteboard functionality
  • Cross-device data sharing
  • Community sharing platform
Read full description

GUGA is a hyper learning tool that can meet your learning needs in different scenarios. “Notebook”, “Whiteboard” and “Cards” are the three most important functions of GUGA.  In addition, GUGA also provides users with a community-SharePlace to share learning data; and provides a "Inspiration Shorthand" function to send data and record information across devices; and GUGA also provides a large number of shortcuts for you to use after connecting to the keyboard mouse. The “Notebook” is the most common learning material and the most basic learning scenario. GUGA's notebook:  1. Not only other notebook software, but also support a variety of formats to be imported into notebooks, create new notebooks, add/reduce pages, provide more than 100 inner pages and cover templates, DIY outline catalogues, edit page jumps, import pictures/text, etc.  2. It also supports adding an unlimited number of handwriting layers to each page of the notebook, hiding/displaying/merging handwriting layers, which is convenient for brushing questions and other uses when learning.  And, 3. You can also long press to select the content on the notebook to mark/excerpt while writing and taking notes, and make cards for other uses based on the excerpt content.  The “Whiteboard” is a multi-data learning console and a richer learning scenario. GUGA's whiteboard:  1. Support the import of multiple notebooks and use them in one whiteboard at the same time. You can also add/import data in other formats to learn and use them together.  2. Provide a notebook floating window system, which makes it more convenient for you to use multiple notebooks and whiteboards at the same time. The notebook in the whiteboard can be presented in the form of a floating window. The floating window has a variety of states (maximizing/mini window/up and down left and right side windows), which can hide/close/display all floating windows with one click; support floating window memory, type again Open the whiteboard, and all floating windows that are not closed can continue to be used.  3 Provide the "multi-level" whiteboard function. The whiteboard can create a lower-layer whiteboard, or it can be connected with other whiteboards to form a link relationship, thus creating a relationship between learning scenes.  4 You can copy the selected content in the floating notebook to the whiteboard to form a card. The cards on the whiteboard can be freely combined and split, and the cards can also be connected to form a brain map; the jump relationship can be set between the cards.  5 The whiteboard can be divided by frame, and it can also be positioned with pins to make it easier to use and manage the whiteboard content.  In addition, 6 The entire whiteboard can be emitted as pdf, and the frame can also be emitted as a multi-page PDF, and the jump relationship between the frames will also be retained. The card is the achievement of atomization learning, and the card package is the collection of your achievements. GUGA's card:  1. Excerpt cards in the notebook and cards on the whiteboard can be collected in the card package.  2. You can use the "Inspiration Catcher" function of the GUGA WeChat official account/browser's GUGA plug-in to transfer the information you want to save to any of your card package at any time.  3. Each card is a "blocked" rich text editor, which can be combined and split on the whiteboard, or any block can be set as an answer block in flash card mode.  4. Card packs can be converted between ordinary packs and flash card packs; the function of flash card packs is consistent with other flash card software (Anki).  5. Each flash card pack can choose different learning modes and different memory algorithms to help you better learn and review cards.  In addition, 6. The daily learning plan of flash cards will automatically appear in the GUGA log (My Logbook) on the right to learn flash card packages at any time. Have Fun with GUGA 2.0, and Enjoy Your Serious Learning Power.

Screenshots

MarginNote 34 screens
GUGA1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: GUGA at every 4 days against MarginNote 3's every 6 weeks. MarginNote 3's advantage is ratings volume (5K vs 163) and iOS requirement (11.2 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. MarginNote 3 sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and GUGA sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for MarginNote 3 against 4.7 for GUGA. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MarginNote 3 has 5K ratings behind it against 163, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 75% of MarginNote 3's written reviews are positive against 70% of GUGA's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MarginNote 3 ships an update every 6 weeks, GUGA every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and July 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
MarginNote 3 versus GUGA: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarginNote 3GUGA
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5K ratings)4.7 (163 ratings)
Positive reviews74.6% of reviews — better70.2% of reviews
Number of ratings5K — better163
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.2 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size392 MB705 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperBeijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., LtdGutenbergGalaxy Technology Co.

Customer experience

MarginNote 3

All ratings5,043 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews983 reviews
Positive74.6%
Neutral11.5%
Negative13.9%

GUGA

All ratings163 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral3.1%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews57 reviews
Positive70.2%
Neutral7.0%
Negative22.8%

User reviews

MarginNote 3

From 5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful and efficient for studying and research
  • 👍 Excellent mind mapping and note-taking features
  • 💡 Unique and innovative functionality like video annotation
  • 🚀 Handles large volumes of documents and notes well
  • 👍 Useful for organizing and synthesizing information from multiple sources

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • 👎 Steep learning curve and lack of comprehensive documentation
  • 👎 Unreliable cloud syncing between devices
  • 👎 Cluttered and unintuitive user interface in some areas
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches with certain features like handwriting and OCR

GUGA

From 163 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 💡 Handwriting search capability
  • 🌟 Good for note-taking and studying
  • 🎨 Beautiful app design
  • ✍️ Natural pen strokes

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Pencil direction not rotating
  • 🐛 Terms and Privacy Policy not accessible
  • 🐛 Cannot log in
  • 🐛 iCloud sync glitchy
  • 🐛 Notes erased when switching devices

Bugs and requests

MarginNote 3

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Syncing issues causing data loss across devices
  • Crashes and freezes when working with large documents
  • Inconsistent behavior with highlighting, erasing, and text formatting
  • OCR not functioning reliably for non-Latin scripts
  • Difficulty managing and organizing large document libraries

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved export options and ability to share projects
  • Better integration with other productivity apps like Anki
  • More customization options for mind maps and annotations
  • Smoother handwriting experience and better palm rejection
  • Support for more file formats like PowerPoint

GUGA

Reported bugs

31 issues
  • Pencil direction does not rotate with pencil movement
  • Cannot check Terms and Privacy Policy on first app open
  • Cannot log in
  • iCloud sync is glitchy
  • Notes get erased when switching devices
Show 26 more
  • All notes disappeared after not using for half a year
  • Lost purchase and notes after re-login
  • Cannot convert to flashcards or use mind map
  • PDF viewing mode changed in version 2.0
  • PDF cards open in a very small window
  • Cannot view PDF in split-screen mode
  • Handwritten notes on imported PDFs lost after automatic update
  • Lasso tool gets stuck when moving objects
  • Frequent crashes when using two-finger undo function
  • Developers not responsive to English customers
  • Two-finger undo is clumsy and often undoes too many steps
  • Drawing a line from outside an image to inside adds points that cannot be removed by eraser
  • Cannot edit curvature of drawn curves
  • Lag when using ruler and pasting images
  • Notes sometimes disappear and are hard to find
  • Whiteboard viewing feature not yet released
  • Pasting URLs no longer shows preview images
  • App is laggy after update, especially when moving cards
  • Cannot login with Apple account
  • PDF export quality is blurry (exported as image/screenshot)
  • Cannot delete pen stroke colors
  • iCloud syncing is slow
  • Handwriting search failed
  • Card excerpt from PDF does not direct back to its location in PDF
  • Vertical videos become horizontal with black bars
  • Added fonts are not usable

Requested features

24 requests
  • Allow Apple Pencil to transition to previous tool
  • Adapt to Apple Pencil Pro squeeze gesture
  • Return to previous PDF card viewing mode
  • Allow Mac OS version with iCloud syncing
  • Add auto backup to other cloud drives (Google Drive, OneDrive)
Show 19 more
  • Add backlinking feature
  • Speedy, glitchless movement of cards
  • Faster UI
  • Ability to zoom with mouse scroll wheel
  • Add presentation mode with set paths
  • iPhone and iMac versions for syncing
  • Add folder functionality for whiteboard organization
  • Allow modification of pen stroke color with lasso tool
  • Allow deletion of pen stroke colors
  • Improve PDF export quality to vector quality
  • Export whole canvas as PDF without limitation
  • Allow adding more fonts
  • Improve URL link preview functionality
  • Allow inputting numbers to adjust pen size
  • Allow editing curve curvature
  • Fix issue with drawing lines from outside to inside images
  • Fix issue with two-finger undo
  • Allow users to see remaining free trial count
  • Allow sign in with Google

In-app purchases

5 purchases

MarginNote 3

Subscriptions2
  • OCR Pro (Monthly)3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • OCR Pro (Annually)3 Days trial$9.491 Year
One-time3
  • 14 days Free TrialFree
  • Unlock Full$12.99
  • Upgrade to Full$12.99
3 purchases

GUGA

One-time3
  • Limited-time Discount C$4.99
  • Limited-time Discount B$6.99
  • Unlock GUGA PRO$9.99

Questions

Is MarginNote 3 free?
MarginNote 3 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is GUGA free?
GUGA is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MarginNote 3 or GUGA?
MarginNote 3 and GUGA are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 5K and 163 ratings respectively.
Do MarginNote 3 or GUGA have ads?
Neither MarginNote 3 nor GUGA shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MarginNote 3 or GUGA?
MarginNote 3 ships an update every 6 weeks, and GUGA every 4 days. Most recently, MarginNote 3 was updated on September 24, 2026 and GUGA on July 3, 2026.

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