NoteBuddy vs Element Note
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Rich text editing
- Add images and drawings
- Folder and subfolder support
- iCloud synchronization
- Backup feature
- Apple Pencil support
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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
Element Note
This app offers a distraction-free digital notebook experience with advanced handwriting, PDF annotation, and sketching capabilities. It features unique brushes, a powerful rendering engine, and smart organization tools. Sync your notes across devices and collaborate with others seamlessly.
- Unique handwriting brushes
- Smooth drawing engine
- PDF annotation
- Text, shape, and image attachments
- On-device OCR search
- Smart dark mode
- iCloud sync and collaboration
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Element Note is the next-gen note taking, PDF annotation, and light sketching app. We stripped down the unnecessaries and carefully polished the elemental functions for a digital notebook. With a modern look and powerful features, Element Note strives to provide an elegant writing space free of distractions. Features: Unique brushes - Pencil (HB Pencil, Mechanical Pencil) - Pen (Pen, Line Pen, Fountain Pen) - Brush (Art Brush, Round Brush) - Marker (Marker, Round Marker) Best-in-class note rendering engine - Smooth and fluid drawing powered by Metal technology - Support gradient ink for more expressive notes Powerful attachments - Text - Shape - Sticker - Image Universal Search - Search through your PDF & Handwritting using on device OCR Smart Darkmode - Smartly adapts all of your notes to the system darkmode without changing the paper or stroke colors. iCloud Sync & Collaboration - Sync via your personal iCloud (No data is passed to our server) - Collaborate through iCloud collaboration for up to 100 users. Desktop class organization - Intuitive multi-select drag and drop gesture to organize your notes or pages Element Note is free to try for up to 3 notes. Unlock the full app with an in app purchase to create unlimited notes. Terms and Conditions https://elementnote.app/terms Privacy Policy https://elementnote.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Element Note at 68% against NoteBuddy's 22%. Element Note also leads on rating (4.6 vs 3.3) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months). NoteBuddy's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). 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
Both are free to download. NoteBuddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Element Note sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Element Note holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Element Note has 2.6K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 22% of NoteBuddy's written reviews are positive against 68% of Element Note's.
NoteBuddy ships an update every 3 months, Element Note fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on August 17, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NoteBuddy | Element Note |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (16 ratings) | 4.6 (2.6K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 22.2% of reviews | 68.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 16 | 2.6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 129 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Oleg Mueller | Soysauce Lab |
Customer experience
NoteBuddy
Element Note
Bugs and requests
NoteBuddy
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Element Note
Reported bugs
4 issues- Notes and files randomly disappearing
- Inconsistent behavior when using the floating keyboard
- Handwriting recognition not working as expected
- Exported PDFs losing formatting and background colors
Requested features
6 requests- Ruler tool
- Ability to resize/rotate selections
- Improved text editing and formatting
- Presentation mode for connecting to displays
- Ability to import/export multiple files at once
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- Seasonal or custom sticker packs
In-app purchases
NoteBuddy
- NoteBuddy Pro$2.99
Element Note
- Element Note Yearly$3.491 Year
- Element Note Yearly$4.991 Year
- Lifetime Launch Special$4.99
- Lifetime$9.99
- Lifetime$14.99
