Comparison

Agenda vs Highlights

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

Head to head
About

Agenda

This app integrates notes with your calendar, allowing you to associate notes with specific dates or events. It offers a rich text editor and supports attaching files and photos, with cross-device syncing and collaboration features. The core functionality is free, with optional premium features available via subscription.

Highlights
  • Notes linked to calendar dates/events
  • Timeline view of notes
  • Rich text editor with formatting
  • Attach files and photos to notes
  • Cross-device syncing (iCloud/Dropbox)
  • Project and category organization
  • Real-time collaboration
Features
Read full description

Most notes apps lose track of time. You write something, it disappears into a folder, and a week later you can't remember why you made that decision or what you prepared for that meeting. Agenda fixes this. Every note lives on a timeline alongside your calendar. Prepare for next week's client meeting, capture decisions as they happen, and look back at exactly what led you here — all in one view. "It's my favorite new app in years." — John Gruber, daringfireball.net "Every notes app should work like Agenda." — Khoi Vinh, subtraction.com "One of the most interesting note-taking apps I've used." — John Voorhees, MacStories YOUR NOTES, CONNECTED TO YOUR CALENDAR Attach any note to a date or link it directly to a calendar event. Mark notes as "On the Agenda" to surface them in a dedicated overview — your shortlist of what matters right now. A REAL TEXT EDITOR Headings, lists, tables, checklists, indented blocks, and preformatted text — with the simplicity of plain text input. Focus on what you're writing; Agenda handles how it looks. FILES, PHOTOS, AND LINKS Attach files and images to any note. Everything syncs across your devices and can be previewed inline. PROJECTS AND CATEGORIES Group notes into projects, group projects into categories. Drag to reorder, collapse to focus, or let the timeline do the organizing for you. MAC, IPAD, AND IPHONE Agenda syncs across all your devices via iCloud or Dropbox. Share individual notes for real-time collaboration — useful for team meetings or shared lists. FREE TO USE, FOREVER Agenda is free with no time limits. Premium features are available through a yearly subscription — and you keep every feature you unlock, even if you cancel. A one-time lifetime purchase is also available.

About

Highlights

This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.

Highlights
  • Read and browse PDF documents
  • Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text
  • Add comments and sticky notes
  • Extract annotations into organized notes
  • Convert table data and recognize text
  • Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex)
  • Lookup citation metadata and DOI links
Features
Read full description

"... an app that students, academics, and anyone who does substantial amounts of PDF-based research should try" - Macstories.net "It’s the novel approach to PDF annotation that makes this app a cut above the rest"- TapSmart.com *** "App of the Day" - App Store, US *** USE HIGHLIGHTS FOR FREE Highlights is a fast and lightweight PDF reader (under 10MB) packed with features to help you do your best research. Free users have access to standard PDF reader features including document browsing, reading and annotating. There are NO ADS, time limits or tracking. READ PDF DOCUMENTS • Open PDF documents from anywhere • Browse files using the familiar document browser • Open PDFs in Single Page or Two Page scroll mode • Double tap to Smart Zoom in on a paragraph or figure • Scrub smoothly to the desired page • Search the entire document in an instant • Navigate using any connected keyboard or mouse STORE YOUR FILES WHERE YOU WANT • Full support for "Open In Place" lets you make edits to the file where it is • Access your files from iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box using the document browser • Or keep them privately on device only HIGHLIGHT AND ANNOTATE FASTER • Select text with your finger, Apple Pencil or mouse pointer • Highlight, underline, strikethrough text and make image selections • Add comments to annotations or as individual sticky notes • Annotate with fewer taps using context aware popovers • Default annotation colors prevents you from having to repeatedly setting the color for the same type of annotation every time TURN ANNOTATIONS INTO NOTES • As you markup text and images the contents are extracted and sorted into notes • Customize the formatting and contents of your notes • Sort the annotations chronologically or create your own color coding EXTRACT TABLE DATA AND RECOGNIZE TEXT • Convert images containing text or tables to actual text and tables using machine learning - letting you get to the underlying data with a single tap SMART COPY Copy annotations to the desired format with one tap: • Text markup as text • Image selections as images • Tables as CSV • Citations as BibTex LOOKUP CITATIONS • Highlights will fetch DOI-links and metadata • Markup any reference and tap the link icon to look it up • If you have read the work already or have it in your reference manager library, Highlights will link you to it EXPORT ANYWHERE • Save or share your notes as portable files: Markdown, TextBundle, HTML, WebArchive or PDF • Share them to your favorite notes app: Apple Notes, Bear, Craft, Evernote, DEVONThink, Keep It, MindNode, Notion, Obsidian, Roam Research or Ulysses • Or send them to a colleague via mail. It's your notes, you decide where they go MUCH MORE • Dark mode • Multi-window support on iPadOS • Keyboard shortcuts and navigation • Support for system Copy and Undo gestures • Alternative app icons • Custom accent colors • Apple Pencil double-tap gestures • Power annotation tools For a full list of features see: highlightsapp.net/features HIGHLIGHTS PRO The Highlights Pro subscription unlocks advanced features on your iPhone, iPad and Mac: • Export options for other apps and easily editable formats • Extract information using table and text recognition • Customize accent colors and alternative app icons • Power annotation tools • Citation lookups • Smart Copy Highlights Pro includes a 14-day free trial. You can cancel your subscription at any time. The subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off within 24-hour prior to the end of of the current period. Payments will be charged to your iTunes account and your account will be charged within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when you purchase a subscription. For more information about Highlights Pro: highlightsapp.net/pro Privacy Policy: highlightsapp.net/privacy Terms of Use: highlightsapp.net/terms

Screenshots

Agenda4 screens
Highlights4 screens

Verdict

The call

Agenda and Highlights both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 64% of Agenda's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's. Agenda also leads on update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Agenda sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $39.99 per year and Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. 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 — 4.6 for Agenda against 4.5 for Highlights. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3.7K and 1.6K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 64% of Agenda's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Agenda ships an update weekly, Highlights fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Agenda versus Highlights: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAgendaHighlights
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (3.7K ratings) — better4.5 (1.6K ratings)
Positive reviews63.7% of reviews — better53.3% of reviews
Number of ratings3.7K — better1.6K
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size123 MB37 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperMomenta B.V.Jonas Myren Ribe

Customer experience

Agenda

All ratings3,678 ratings
Positive91.5%
Neutral3.4%
Negative5.1%
Written reviews876 reviews
Positive63.7%
Neutral14.5%
Negative21.8%

Highlights

All ratings1,610 ratings
Positive88.2%
Neutral3.7%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews465 reviews
Positive53.3%
Neutral15.3%
Negative31.4%

User reviews

Agenda

From 3.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful features
  • 📅 Excellent calendar integration
  • 💻 Seamless sync across devices
  • 🗓 Date-focused note-taking
  • 🔍 Helpful search and tagging

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and crashes
  • 🤔 Steep learning curve for some
  • 🔍 Difficult to find specific notes
  • 💰 Expensive premium subscription
  • 🖌 Lack of Apple Pencil support

Highlights

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs
  • 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking
  • 📚 Useful for academic and professional work
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
  • 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage

Room to improve

  • 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
  • 🔍 Limited search functionality
  • 🔒 Lack of customization options
  • 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers

Bugs and requests

Agenda

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Sync issues between devices
  • Text formatting inconsistencies
  • Unresponsive UI in certain cases

Requested features

5 requests
  • Handwriting and drawing support
  • Ability to insert images and files
  • Project templates and subfolders
  • Google Calendar integration
  • Improved note formatting options

Highlights

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing
  • Text selection issues, especially with footnotes
  • Compatibility problems with certain PDF files
  • Syncing issues across devices
  • Export functionality not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add handwriting and freeform annotation support
  • Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature
  • Allow editing of notes directly in the app
  • Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription
  • Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Agenda

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Subscription macOS+iOS7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Premium Features iPadOS+iOS$44.991 Year
One-time3
  • Premium Features iOS & iPadOS$14.99
  • Premium macOS, iOS & iPadOS$34.99
  • Lifetime Premium Features$179.00
3 purchases

Highlights

Subscriptions3
  • Highlights Pro: Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Highlights Pro14 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade1 Year trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Agenda free?
Agenda is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Highlights free?
Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Agenda or Highlights?
Agenda is rated higher. Agenda averages 4.6 out of 5 from 3.7K ratings, while Highlights averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.
Do Agenda or Highlights have ads?
Neither Agenda nor Highlights shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Agenda or Highlights?
Agenda ships an update weekly, and Highlights fortnightly. Most recently, Agenda was updated on September 23, 2026 and Highlights on September 22, 2026.

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