Comparison

Penbook vs Stylus Labs Write Pro

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

Head to head
About

Penbook

Create custom digital notebooks with a vast library of stationery or import your own PDFs for annotation. Write naturally with a stylus and organize your notes with dynamic features like live planners and searchable handwriting.

Highlights
  • Live Paper dynamic stationery
  • Over 400 stationery types
  • Import and annotate PDFs
  • Natural handwriting with stylus
  • Searchable handwritten notes
  • Shape recognition
  • Customizable notebook covers
Features
Read full description

Write naturally with your Apple Pencil on Live Paper with Penbook. Build your perfect notebook from more than four hundred types of stationery. Then, use the best digital inking technology to pour your ideas, notes, plans, and dreams into it. Penbook's Live Paper is way smarter than ordinary stationery. Schedule your life on a monthly planner that shows a real calendar, organize your day with a day planner that shows you what time it is, and record your nutrition on a food diary that knows what day it is. Or, bring your own stationery! Import your PDFs into Penbook for quick annotation and editing. Give your notebooks colorful covers with fun art, and share them so your notes are always where you need them. FEATURES • Live Paper, the dynamic stationery that uses the smarts of your iPad and iPhone • Over 400 of academic, scientific, and planning stationeries • Import PDFs and use them as notebooks • Write naturally with your Apple Pencil, stylus, or finger • Unlimited unique cover combinations for your notes • Search your handwritten notes for words or phrases • Snap your strokes to perfect shapes with shape recognition INCLUDED STATIONERIES Penbook has a huge selection of customizable stationery. Each page of your notebook can be different, turning your iPad or iPhone into a magic notebook: • Blank stationery, with an optional date and configurable margin • Ruled paper with variable density • Graph paper with four options for square sizes • Dot stationery, either squared or isometric (offset) • Cross stationery with configurable margins and density • To Do pages with four layout options • Monthly habit paper for tracking streaks, habits, and goals • Day planner paper with a live updating timeline and calendar, and three layouts • Weekly planner paper that highlights the current time and date • Monthly planner paper that keeps track of the current day and shows you what's coming next • Yearly stationery for getting a complete overview of your next 365 days • Cornell paper for taking perfect study notes • French ruled (Séyès) paper • Penmanship practice paper • Table stationery for hand-written spreadsheets • Polar graph paper for plotting radial data • Semi-log and loglog paper for data with exponential growth or decay • Isometric stationery with equilateral (60-60-60) or isosceles (75-75-30) triangles • Perspective paper, configurable with one, two, or three vanishing points • Developer stationery with device stencils and configurable note-taking areas • Storyboard paper with 3 frame aspect ratios • Engineering paper with variable density • Chemistry paper for easily sketching molecules • Staff and tablature (music) paper with optional linked staves GET THE MOST OUT OF PENBOOK Use all of Penbook's stationery and writing features in a single notebook for free for as long as you like. Upgrade to Penbook Premium to create and export unlimited notebooks, receive access to new stationery and covers as they're designed, and get regular app updates. Penbook Premium is available by purchasing a yearly subscription or a one-time (lifetime) in-app purchase. When you choose to upgrade with the yearly subscription, you can start using Penbook Premium for free with a 7-day free trial. During the trial, cancel any time until 24 hours before the trial expires, and you will not be charged. If you do not cancel, you will be automatically billed for the yearly subscription when your free trial ends. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after purchase. Our customer-first privacy policy: https://penbook.app/privacy-policy Penbook's terms of use: https://penbook.app/terms-of-use

About

Stylus Labs Write Pro

This app offers advanced tools for editing and navigating handwritten documents, combining note-taking and vector drawing capabilities. It supports flexible file organization, cloud services, and a non-proprietary SVG format for easy sharing.

Highlights
  • Intelligent handwriting selection and editing tools
  • Reflow handwritten text with insert space tool
  • Create handwritten links and bookmarks
  • Non-proprietary SVG file format export
  • Apple Pencil support
  • Split view for multi-document work
  • PDF export
Features
Read full description

Write is an open-source application with a unique set of tools for editing and navigating handwritten documents, plus all the usual features of a vector drawing application. Write is perfect for note-taking, brainstorming, and sketching. MODERN DOCUMENT HANDLING * uses standard Apple document browser for completely flexible file organization * supports iCloud and all other cloud services that integrate with the Files app * non-proprietary SVG file format can be opened in other vector graphics apps and web browsers UNIQUE TOOLS FOR HANDWRITTEN DOCUMENTS * intelligent tools to select, erase, and move writing * reflow handwritten text with the insert space tool * create bookmarks labeled with handwriting * create handwritten links to bookmarks and websites * save clippings for easy pasting into any document * unlimited undo/redo jog dial * split view: work on two documents or two parts of the same document STANDARD NOTE-TAKING AND DRAWING TOOLS * Apple Pencil support * insert images (and vector content as SVG) * cut, copy, paste, move, scale, and rotate selections * cut, copy, and paste pages within and between documents * customize and save pens * customize page size, color, and ruling * pages can grow automatically when writing nears edge * PDF export Website: https://www.styluslabs.com Source: https://github.com/styluslabs/Write FAQ: https://www.styluslabs.com/faq Support: support@styluslabs.com

Screenshots

Penbook4 screens
Stylus Labs Write Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Penbook at Free against Stylus Labs Write Pro's $8.99. Penbook also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (46K vs 41). Stylus Labs Write Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and review sentiment (77% vs 58%). On rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Penbook is free to download; Stylus Labs Write Pro costs $8.99 up front. Penbook sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Stylus Labs Write Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Penbook against 4.5 for Stylus Labs Write Pro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Penbook has 46K ratings behind it against 41, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 58% of Penbook's written reviews are positive against 77% of Stylus Labs Write Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Penbook ships an update every 5 days, Stylus Labs Write Pro every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Penbook versus Stylus Labs Write Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPenbookStylus Labs Write Pro
PriceFree — better$8.99
Rating4.5 (46K ratings) — better4.5 (41 ratings)
Positive reviews57.8% of reviews76.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings46K — better41
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Vision ProiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.111.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size143 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPencil ResearchMatthew White

Customer experience

Penbook

All ratings45,717 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral4.7%
Negative6.9%
Written reviews631 reviews
Positive57.8%
Neutral13.0%
Negative29.2%

Stylus Labs Write Pro

All ratings40 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral2.5%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive76.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative23.1%

Bugs and requests

Penbook

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Sticker resizing issues causing app freezes
  • Ruler placement and alignment problems
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between pages
  • Calendar sync not working as expected
  • PDF import and annotation functionality not reliable

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow custom notebook covers or images
  • Add text box and typing capabilities
  • Improve organization with folders or tags
  • Provide more customization options for templates
  • Implement a more intuitive undo/redo system

Stylus Labs Write Pro

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Penbook

Subscriptions6
  • Penbook Premium2 variants$4.991 Month
  • Penbook Premium$7.991 Month
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial3 variants$14.991 Year
Show 3 more
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Penbook Premium Lifetime$49.99
None

Stylus Labs Write Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Penbook free?
Penbook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Stylus Labs Write Pro free?
Stylus Labs Write Pro costs $8.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Penbook or Stylus Labs Write Pro?
Penbook is rated higher. Penbook averages 4.5 out of 5 from 46K ratings, while Stylus Labs Write Pro averages 4.5 from 41 ratings.
Do Penbook or Stylus Labs Write Pro have ads?
Neither Penbook nor Stylus Labs Write Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Penbook or Stylus Labs Write Pro?
Penbook ships an update every 5 days, and Stylus Labs Write Pro every 4 months. Most recently, Penbook was updated on November 5, 2026 and Stylus Labs Write Pro on November 3, 2026.

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