# Paper vs Effie

The clearest difference is rating: Paper at 4.7 against Effie's 4.3. Paper also leads on ratings volume (1.7K vs 36). Effie's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Paper sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month and Effie sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $6.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Paper holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paper has 1.7K ratings behind it against 36, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 72% of Paper's written reviews are positive against 75% of Effie's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Paper ships an update monthly, Effie every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and September 12, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Paper | Effie |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.7 (1.7K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paper-writing-app-notes/id1476984841/reviews)** | [4.3 (36 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/effie-write-mindmap-and-note/id1597914599/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **1.7K** | 36 |
| Positive reviews | 72.5% of reviews | **75.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Monthly | **Every 2 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 39 MB | 53 MB |
| Requires iOS | **13.0** | 14.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Mihhail Lapushkin](https://appshunter.io/developer/1143513743) | [7S2P Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1593810280) |

## What reviewers say

### Paper

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paper-writing-app-notes/id1476984841)

This app offers a clean and configurable writing environment for various creative projects. It supports Markdown and plain text, syncs with iCloud, and integrates with other tools. Users can publish drafts to popular blogging platforms and export documents in multiple formats.

**Highlights:** Gorgeous writing space, Silky-smooth typing, Deep personalization (Pro), Markdown or Plain Text support, iCloud sync, Publish to Medium, WordPress, Ghost, Export to PDF, HTML, DOCX, ePub

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (6)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pro Features — Discounted | $14.99 | per month |
| Pro Features | $29.99 | per month |
| Pro Features — Discounted | $49.99 | per year |
| Pro Features | $99.99 | per year |
| Pro Features — Discounted | $99.99 | one-time |
| Pro Features | $199.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 💗 Fantastic app
- 🎀 Great tool for writers
- 👍 Clean writing app
- 🤩 Awesome app
- 👍 Cute animations

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Glitchy and unreliable
- 💰 Paywalled features
- 🐛 Lost files and documents
- 🐛 Cursor issues
- 🐛 Buggy and unstable

**Reported bugs**

- Files randomly disappearing
- Cursor issues causing freezes
- Syncing and iCloud integration problems

**Requested features**

- Add image support
- Improve file management and recovery
- Expand font and customization options
- Implement team/collaborative writing features
- Add text formatting options like italics and bold


### Effie

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/effie-write-mindmap-and-note/id1597914599)

This app helps writers transform ideas into polished articles. It offers AI-powered mind mapping, content generation, and writing tools. Seamlessly sync across devices and export in various formats.

**Highlights:** AI-powered mind mapping, Generate articles from mind maps, Multi-device cloud synchronization, Offline writing support, Markup syntax for formatting, Outline to mind map conversion, Export to PDF, DOCX, Markdown

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (8)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Effie Pro Monthly Plan | $6.00 | per month |
| Effie AI Month Plan | $6.00 | per month |
| Effie Pro AI Monthly Plan | $9.00 | per month |
| Effie Yearly Plan | $29.99 | per year |
| Effie AI Yearly Plan | $72.00 | per year |
| Effie + AI Yearly Plan | $107.99 | per year |
| Effie Monthly Plan | $4.99 | one-time |
| Effie Yearly Plan | $48.00 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Paper free?

Paper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Effie free?

Effie is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Paper or Effie?

Paper is rated higher. Paper averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.7K ratings, while Effie averages 4.3 from 36 ratings.

### Do Paper or Effie have ads?

Neither Paper nor Effie shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Paper or Effie?

Paper ships an update monthly, and Effie every 2 weeks. Most recently, Paper was updated on September 28, 2026 and Effie on September 12, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*