Comparison

Notes Writer vs Note!

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

Head to head
About

Notes Writer

This app is a comprehensive note-taking and PDF editing solution for mobile devices. It allows users to write, format, and organize notes, annotate PDFs, fill forms, and scan documents. The app offers advanced editing tools, powerful search, and seamless sharing and export options.

Highlights
  • Write and format notes
  • Annotate PDFs and fill forms
  • Organize with unlimited notebooks
  • Powerful full-text search
  • Document scanning
  • Sync with cloud services
  • Export to multiple formats
Features
Read full description

Notes Writer brings handwriting, PDF annotation, rich text, Math Notebooks, voice recordings and AI writing tools into one workspace for iPad and iPhone. Capture a lecture, mark up a paper, plan a project or turn a rough draft into something ready to share. WRITE AND MAKE IT YOURS Create beautifully formatted notes with headings, lists, colors and highlights. Work with Word documents, RTF, Markdown and plain text. Open documents in tabs and move between your ideas and reference material without losing your place. WRITE ON PDFs WITH APPLE PENCIL Take handwritten notes, sketch in the margins and highlight what matters. Choose from pens, pencils, markers, fountain pens and watercolor tools. Use the eraser, lasso and ruler to refine your work. Add text, shapes, images, signatures and audio to PDF notes. Fill forms, organize pages and keep your reading and annotations together. Measure distances and areas on scaled drawings, and apply text redactions in supported PDFs. GIVE YOUR WRITING AN AI ASSIST Rewrite a passage, simplify difficult language, fix spelling and grammar, or adjust the tone. Summarize, translate and explore ideas with AI tools and chat. Keep control of what goes into your notes and documents. CAPTURE VOICE, FIND THE WORDS Record lectures, meetings and ideas while they are fresh. Play recordings back at your pace and generate transcripts to revisit the details. Add recordings to your PDF notes and whiteboards for more context. THINK BEYOND THE PAGE Build visual whiteboards with notes, images and recordings. Capture quick thoughts on sticky notes. Structure ideas in Outline Notes with nested branches, rich text and images. Collapse sections, rearrange your thinking, and import or export outlines in OPML format. WORK THROUGH THE NUMBERS Combine explanations and calculations in Math Notebooks. Explore formulas with the built-in calculation tools and run Python cells when you need more. Create charts, write LaTeX documents and preview the finished PDF alongside your source. ORGANIZE YOUR STUDY AND RESEARCH Bring your notes, readings and research together in Study Projects. Organize subjects, lectures and sources in the Binder, plan ideas on the Corkboard and keep reference material beside your notes. Study Projects give everything a place as your understanding grows. TAKE BIG WRITING PROJECTS FURTHER Organize writing projects into sections in the Binder, plan with a Corkboard and review your writing as a manuscript. Keep research beside your draft, save snapshots and compile your work into a finished document or ebook. ORGANIZE, SCAN AND SHARE Keep notes and documents in folders with recognizable covers. Scan paper documents, import files and find what you need with search. Export supported documents to formats including PDF, DOCX, RTF, HTML and EPUB. Use the Files app and supported cloud locations to bring your work with you. LOOK AFTER YOUR WORK Autosave, document recovery and automatic backups help protect your progress. Use app and folder passcodes for an extra layer of privacy. Continue opening your existing Notes Writer PDF notes and outlines as you move to the new workspace. From your first handwritten idea to your final document, make room for the way you think. Privacy Policy http://www.noteswriter.com/Kairoos_Privacy_Policy.html Terms of Use https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Note!

This app offers a minimalist approach to note-taking, focusing on speed and simplicity. It allows for quick plain text entries, organized by modification date, with options for text resizing and passcode protection for privacy.

Highlights
  • Quick plain text notes
  • Sorted by latest modified
  • Pinch to zoom text size
  • Set passcode to lock notes
Features
Read full description

Nothing more, nothing less. Designed to be as minimal as possible for quick plain text notes. + Sorted by latest modified + Pinch to zoom/change text size + Set a passcode to lock your notes

Screenshots

Notes Writer4 screens
Note!4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Notes Writer at none against Note!'s shown. Notes Writer also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 13 months) and ratings volume (7.3K vs 1K). Note!'s advantage is review sentiment (61% vs 45%) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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. Notes Writer sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Note! sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Note! holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notes Writer has 7.3K ratings behind it against 1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 45% of Notes Writer's written reviews are positive against 61% of Note!'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notes Writer ships an update weekly, Note! every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Notes Writer versus Note!: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotes WriterNote!
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (7.3K ratings)4.7 (1K ratings) — better
Positive reviews45.2% of reviews61.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7.3K — better1K
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 13 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size626 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKairoos Solutions SLRIEU Limited

Customer experience

Notes Writer

All ratings7,328 ratings
Positive86.9%
Neutral5.1%
Negative8.1%
Written reviews952 reviews
Positive45.2%
Neutral15.2%
Negative39.6%

Note!

All ratings1,045 ratings
Positive90.4%
Neutral4.3%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews77 reviews
Positive61.0%
Neutral7.8%
Negative31.2%

User reviews

Notes Writer

From 7.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth writing experience
  • 💡 Versatile note-taking features
  • 🔒 Good privacy
  • 👍 Useful for various purposes (notes, PDF annotations, etc.)

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🔒 Limiting free version with paywalls
  • 🐛 Bugs with erasing, page management, and file corruption
  • 🐛 Laggy performance and slow loading times

Note!

From 1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and straightforward
  • 🚀 Efficient note-taking
  • 💡 Useful for quick notes and ideas
  • 👍 Clean and clutter-free interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent and intrusive ads
  • 🔒 Lack of backup/export functionality
  • 🔒 No option to remove ads
  • 🐛 Distracting pop-ups

Bugs and requests

Notes Writer

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes randomly disappearing or getting corrupted
  • Inability to recover deleted documents
  • Unexpected behavior when adding/deleting pages
  • Syncing issues and broken links between documents

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more brushes and pen customization options
  • Improve the clipping/selection tool
  • Implement OCR and handwriting search
  • Provide a Mac version

Note!

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Ads disrupt note-taking experience
  • Inability to delete old notes
  • Lack of printing functionality

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add iCloud sync and backup
  • Implement a paid, ad-free version
  • Allow for note organization and sorting
  • Improve text formatting and editing capabilities

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Notes Writer

Subscriptions2
  • Notes Writer Unlock All and AI3 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Notes Writer Unlock All and AI3 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time5
  • Full Version Unlock Pro$3.99
  • Full Version Unlock Pro$4.99
  • Full Version Unlock Pro2 variants$5.99
Show 2 more
  • Full Version Unlock Pro$6.99
  • Lifetime Pro Full Unlock$9.99
1 purchases

Note!

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$3.99

Questions

Is Notes Writer free?
Notes Writer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Note! free?
Note! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Notes Writer or Note!?
Note! is rated higher. Notes Writer averages 4.5 out of 5 from 7.3K ratings, while Note! averages 4.7 from 1K ratings.
Do Notes Writer or Note! have ads?
Note! shows ads; Notes Writer does not.
Which is updated more often, Notes Writer or Note!?
Notes Writer ships an update weekly, and Note! every 13 months. Most recently, Notes Writer was updated on September 25, 2026 and Note! on September 13, 2026.

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