Memo vs Zotero
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Memo
Keep important short notes visible on your lock screen and in notifications. Ideal for lists and reminders that need frequent checking without opening an app.
- Add notes to Notification Center
- View notes from lock screen
- Organize notes with tags
- Mark notes as done with strikethrough
- Share notes as Markdown
- Save URLs via Share Extension
- Import line-by-line lists
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See the note you need today the moment you check your phone. Memo is for short notes you look at repeatedly: shopping lists, things to bring, tasks for today, quick checklists, URLs, and small reminders you do not want buried inside a full note app. Select the notes that matter now and keep them available from the lock screen and Notification Center, so you can check them without opening the app and searching through a long list. Use it when a reminder is too heavy and a long note is too easy to forget. A grocery list while you are walking through a store. Things to pack before you leave. A short set of steps you need to follow. A URL you want to keep with the rest of your notes. A few tasks that should stay visible today. What you can do with Memo: - Add selected notes to Notification Center - Check frequently viewed notes from the lock screen - Organize notes with tags such as shopping, work, home, or travel - Mark notes as done with strikethrough — completed notes stay visible but dimmed - Share notes as Markdown with tag headings and checkbox support - Customize up to four floating action buttons for quick access to your most-used actions - Save URLs from Safari and other apps with the Share Extension - Import line-by-line lists from a text file - Move finished notes to the archive - Delete notes you no longer need - Create an iCloud backup and restore it when needed Memo is intentionally simple. It is not trying to replace a full notebook, calendar, or project manager. It works best for the small pieces of information you want to see quickly and repeatedly. If you need to write a long document, use a note app. If you need an alarm at a specific time, use a reminder. If you want a short note to stay close at hand, use Memo. Strikethrough lets you mark notes as done without deleting them. A completed shopping item or finished step stays in the list but appears dimmed, so you always know what is left. When you are done, move the checked items to the archive in one step. When you want to share a set of notes, export them as Markdown. Tags become headings, and notes marked with strikethrough are written as [x] checkboxes. Useful for sending a list to someone else or pasting it into another app. Tags help keep the list manageable as your notes grow. You can separate shopping, errands, work, home, travel, and personal notes, then choose only the items that should appear in Notification Center. Finished items can be archived so your active list stays focused, while older notes remain available when you need them. The Share Extension makes it easy to send a URL or text from another app into Memo. When you find a page, product, recipe, or reference you want to check later, save it with a tag and keep moving. Text import is useful for preparing a list on another device or in another app, then bringing it into Memo as individual notes. For small notes that need to stay visible, not buried, keep them on your lock screen and in Notification Center with Memo.
Zotero
This research tool helps you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share your academic and professional work. Save articles, books, and webpages, add notes and highlights, and generate bibliographies in thousands of styles. Collaborate with others and sync your library across devices.
- Collect research from various sources
- Organize with collections and tags
- Annotate PDFs and webpages
- Generate citations and bibliographies
- Collaborate in group libraries
- Sync across devices
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Zotero is a free, easy-to-use research tool that helps you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share your work. COLLECT • Save journal articles, newspaper articles, books, webpages, and more via the Share button in Safari and other apps • Automatically download article PDFs to read • Quickly add physical books and articles to your Zotero library by scanning book barcodes or article DOIs with your iPhone or iPad camera ORGANIZE • Use collections and tags to organize your research • View and edit bibliographic information for your research items ANNOTATE • Read PDFs, EPUBs, and webpage snapshots and add highlights and notes, or use an Apple Pencil to make freehand annotations CITE • Instantly generate citations and bibliographies in over 10,000 formats and journal styles including APA, Chicago, IEEE, MLA, Turabian, and Vancouver SHARE • Collaboratively collect sources and mark up PDFs in group libraries with your colleagues • Synchronize your personal and group research libraries to access them via Zotero’s desktop app and the Zotero website • Use the Zotero desktop app to insert your annotations into Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs documents and automatically generate bibliographies from the sources you used Visit zotero.org to learn more about everything you can do with Zotero. Having trouble? Have an idea? Post bug reports and feature requests to the Zotero Forums at forums.zotero.org to talk directly to Zotero developers. ZOTERO AND PRIVACY Since 2006, the Zotero team has been committed to creating the best research software, and we believe that includes putting you in full control of your own work. We’re an independent, nonprofit organization, and we’ll never sell your data.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Zotero at none against Memo's 4. Zotero also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (436 vs 1). Memo's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, review sentiment, device support and iOS requirement 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. Memo sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Zotero asks for nothing beyond the download.
Memo holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zotero has 436 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Memo's written reviews are positive against 78% of Zotero's.
Memo ships an update every 6 days, Zotero every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Memo | Zotero |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.6 (436 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 84.6% of reviews — better | 77.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 436 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 237 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Toshihiko Arai | Zotero |
Customer experience
Memo
Zotero
Bugs and requests
Memo
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Zotero
Reported bugs
4 issues- Unable to unzip PDF snapshots
- Annotations disappearing or moving unexpectedly
- Dark mode not working as expected
- Inability to add citations directly from the app
Requested features
6 requests- Eraser tool for annotations
- More color options for pen and highlighter
- Ability to open PDFs in external apps
- Bookmarking and table of contents support
- Improved search functionality
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- Offline access to downloaded PDFs
In-app purchases
Memo
- Buy me a coffee$4.99
- Buy me two coffees$9.99
- Memo Pro$10.00
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- Big support$19.99
Zotero
No in-app purchases









