Comparison

Notes Writer vs NoteBuddy

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 combines handwriting, PDFs, voice recordings, and AI for note-taking, document annotation, and idea organization. It offers a paper-like writing experience with various tools and supports students, professionals, and writers with specialized features.

Highlights
  • Handwriting with Apple Pencil
  • PDF annotation and form filling
  • Voice recording and transcription
  • AI-powered writing assistance
  • Flashcard creation and spaced repetition
  • Quiz generation from notes
  • Document import and export
Features
Read full description

Notes Writer brings handwriting, PDFs, voice, documents and AI together on iPad and iPhone. Take notes in class, mark up a contract, record a meeting or plan a thesis, and keep it all in one place that is easy to search and share. HANDWRITING THAT FEELS LIKE PAPER • Write with Apple Pencil using pens, pencils, markers, fountain pens and watercolor brushes, and refine with the lasso, ruler and shapes. • Mix handwriting, typed text, images, stickers and audio on one page. • Choose blank, ruled, Cornell, planner, music or graph paper. • Search your handwriting, check its spelling, or convert it to text, math or LaTeX. • Tap your ink to hear what was said as you wrote it. FOR STUDENTS • Record lectures while you write, then search the transcript. • Hide key facts under Tape, reveal them one by one and turn them into flashcards. • Study flashcards with spaced repetition, reminders and a Home Screen widget. • Make a quiz from your notes, a topic or pasted text, and score yourself. • Circle a problem with Magic Lasso and ask AI to explain, solve or check it. • Find free open textbooks and keep each subject together in a Study Project. FOR PROFESSIONALS • Meeting Notes records and transcribes the meeting, enhances your notes and writes a summary with action items. • Mark up PDFs, fill forms, sign, measure plans and redact text. • Scan paper documents and recognize their text. • Present on an external display or with AirPlay, using a laser pointer. • Brainstorm on whiteboards with sticky notes, images and recordings. • Open Word, RTF, Markdown and plain text, and export to PDF, DOCX, RTF, HTML or EPUB. FOR WRITERS AND RESEARCHERS • Draft in rich text and keep your sources open in tabs. • Organize long projects in the Binder, plan on the Corkboard, save snapshots and compile a manuscript or ebook. • Write LaTeX papers with a live PDF preview. • Combine explanations, graphs, charts and Python cells in Math Notebooks. • Structure ideas as outlines and exchange them in OPML. AI THAT WORKS WITH YOUR NOTES • Rewrite, simplify, translate, or fix spelling and grammar. • Ask questions and get answers from your own notes, PDFs and transcripts. • Summarize a reading, a recording or a meeting. You decide what goes into your notes. YOUR NOTES, YOUR WAY • Import notes from other note-taking apps. • Sketch with graphite and charcoal, or paint with watercolor, oils and acrylics. • Share an iPad with separate profiles, each with its own notes and an optional passcode. • Keep folders with covers, and work with files in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive and the Files app. • Autosave, recovery, backups and passcodes protect your work. Privacy Policy http://www.noteswriter.com/Kairoos_Privacy_Policy.html Terms of Use https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

NoteBuddy

This note-taking application offers a comprehensive suite of tools for organizing thoughts and ideas. It supports rich text formatting, image insertion, and freehand drawing. Features like folder organization and iCloud synchronization ensure your notes are accessible and secure.

Highlights
  • Rich text editing
  • Add images and drawings
  • Folder and subfolder support
  • iCloud synchronization
  • Backup feature
  • Apple Pencil support
Features
Read full description

Note taking app with all important features you need: - rich text editing (bold, italic, underline, text alignments, text color, etc.) - add images - add drawings and hand written notes - support for folders and subfolders - iCloud synchronization - backup feature Including Support for: - Dynamic Type - Split Screen - Apple Pencil

Screenshots

Notes Writer4 screens
NoteBuddy3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Notes Writer at 4.5 against NoteBuddy's 3.3. Notes Writer also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (7.3K vs 16). NoteBuddy's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and NoteBuddy 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

Notes Writer holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notes Writer has 7.3K ratings behind it against 16, 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 22% of NoteBuddy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notes Writer ships an update every 4 days, NoteBuddy every 3 months. Both last shipped on November 15, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Notes Writer versus NoteBuddy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotes WriterNoteBuddy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (7.3K ratings) — better3.3 (16 ratings)
Positive reviews44.7% of reviews — better22.2% of reviews
Number of ratings7.3K — better16
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size688 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKairoos Solutions SLOleg Mueller

Customer experience

Notes Writer

All ratings7,340 ratings
Positive86.7%
Neutral5.1%
Negative8.2%
Written reviews969 reviews
Positive44.7%
Neutral15.1%
Negative40.2%

NoteBuddy

All ratings16 ratings
Positive56.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative43.8%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive22.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative77.8%

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

NoteBuddy

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Notes Writer

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly$1.997 Days
  • Notes Writer Unlock All and AI3 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Notes Writer Unlock All and AI3 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Pro Full Unlock$14.99
1 purchases

NoteBuddy

One-time1
  • NoteBuddy Pro$2.99

Questions

Is Notes Writer free?
Notes Writer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is NoteBuddy free?
NoteBuddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Notes Writer or NoteBuddy?
Notes Writer is rated higher. Notes Writer averages 4.5 out of 5 from 7.3K ratings, while NoteBuddy averages 3.3 from 16 ratings.
Do Notes Writer or NoteBuddy have ads?
Neither Notes Writer nor NoteBuddy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notes Writer or NoteBuddy?
Notes Writer ships an update every 4 days, and NoteBuddy every 3 months. Most recently, Notes Writer was updated on November 15, 2026 and NoteBuddy on November 15, 2026.

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