Notes Writer vs Study Stack
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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Every note. Every format. Unlimited Digital Notebooks. Like paper, but better. Take lecture notes, prepare for exams and develop your research. Bring the same tools to manuscripts, interviews, lesson plans, meetings and creative projects. Notes Writer keeps your work together on iPad, iPhone and compatible Apple silicon Macs. Designed for students and anyone who wants to learn, create and stay organized—including teachers, writers, journalists, doctors, architects, illustrators, mathematicians, researchers and business professionals. WRITE & CAPTURE • Handwriting, sketching & painting Take handwritten notes with Apple Pencil, type a document or explore a concept through drawing. Use dedicated sketching, watercolor and oil painting tools for illustrations and creative work. • PDF annotation Review lecture slides, medical literature and professional reports. Highlight PDFs, add comments, images and shapes, fill forms and sign documents. Keep your annotations beside the source material. • Recording & transcription Record lectures, business meetings and interviews, transcribe the audio and search the transcript for the detail you need. Add recordings to PDF notes and whiteboards, then listen back at your own pace. STUDY & RESEARCH • Courses, manuscripts & research projects Choose an optional project tree to arrange topics, sources and drafts in a Study Project. Use the Binder for structure, the Corkboard to plan sections and compilation to assemble a document or ebook. • Whiteboards, diagrams & outlines Create whiteboards with notes, images, recordings and tables. Build flowcharts and diagrams to explain a process, compare findings or plan a lesson or project. Use Outline Notes when your ideas need a hierarchy. • Flashcards & review Create flashcards with text, handwriting and images, or generate them from notes and PDFs with optional AI tools. Review with spaced repetition, answer by typing or speaking, and track your progress. MATH & SCIENCE • Calculations, Python & charts Math Notebooks combine written reasoning, symbolic calculations and Python cells. Plot results, explore a model and present your data in editable Chart documents. • LaTeX & technical PDFs Write technical papers in LaTeX and compile them to PDF with a preview of the result. For plans and technical drawings, set a scale and measure distances, perimeters and areas directly on the PDF. ORGANIZE & SHARE • Notebooks, folders & templates Create and customize folders, subfolders and notebooks. Choose names, covers and paper templates that suit each course or project. Scan handouts, search your collection and manage documents with sorting, moving and grouping tools. • Documents side by side Open documents in tabs and work with your reading and draft side by side. Create a study planner, lesson plan, research journal or manuscript within the same library. • Formats for your work Work across PDF, Microsoft Word (DOCX), EPUB, RTF, Markdown, plain text (TXT), HTML, LaTeX and OPML outlines. Edit formatted documents, read ebooks and export supported documents as PDF, DOCX, RTF, HTML or EPUB. Export options vary by document type. • Sync, backup & privacy Sync with iCloud and work with Dropbox and Google Drive files through the Files app, with changes synced by your provider. Set up automatic document backups, use autosave and recovery, and protect the app and folders with a passcode. OPTIONAL AI ASSISTANT Ask questions about your notes and documents, simplify an explanation, summarize a reading or refine your writing. Use translation, grammar and tone tools when they help. Review every suggestion and decide what belongs in your work. Start a notebook. Study, create and work your way. Privacy Policy http://www.noteswriter.com/Kairoos_Privacy_Policy.html Terms of Use https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Study Stack
Manage all your academic tasks, assignments, and exams in one organized place. Track daily courses, upcoming deadlines, and overdue work with clear visual indicators. Features a clean interface with light and dark mode support.
- Add courses with details
- Track assignments and exams
- View daily courses and upcoming deadlines
- Mark assignments as complete
- Sort lists by importance
- Light and dark mode support
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Study Stack is a clean and intuitive course manager/ assignment notebook. It allows students to keep track of all assignments, exams, and course schedules in one place. Students can view the day's courses or check off upcoming assignments with ease. Features: • Add courses(includes name, icon, start time, end time, and days of the week) • Add assignments to courses(includes name and due date) • Add exams to courses(includes name and exam date) • Delete courses, assignments, exams, or clear everything to start a new term • View "Today's Courses" to see the days courses in sorted order • Indicators to show if a class is awaiting start, in progress, or concluded • View assignments that are due soon, check off assignments as needed • Overdue assignments show in red • All lists are sorted by importance of course or assignment • View upcoming exams • View all courses or view one course in detailed view • Various filtering options • Clean and responsive UI • Dynamic home screen header, changes based on time of day • Supports light and dark mode • In app banner system
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Study Stack at 100% against Notes Writer's 45%. Study Stack also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). Notes Writer's advantage is ratings volume (7.3K vs 2) and update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. Notes Writer sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Study Stack asks for nothing beyond the download.
Study Stack holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notes Writer has 7.3K ratings behind it against 2, 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 100% of Study Stack's.
Notes Writer ships an update every 4 days, Study Stack fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notes Writer | Study Stack |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (7.3K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 44.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.3K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 660 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kairoos Solutions SL | Erik Mederos |
Customer experience
Notes Writer
Study Stack
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
Study Stack
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Notes Writer
- 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
- Lifetime Pro Full Unlock$14.99
Study Stack
No in-app purchases









