# Plain Note vs Notehot

The clearest difference is price: Plain Note at Free against Notehot's $0.99. Plain Note also leads on ratings volume (1.1K vs 175). Notehot's advantage is iOS requirement (14.0 vs 26.0). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Plain Note is free to download; Notehot costs $0.99 up front. Plain Note sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Notehot sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Plain Note holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Plain Note has 1.1K ratings behind it against 175, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 62% and 63% positive.

Plain Note ships an update every 9 days, Notehot every 11 days. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

## The numbers

| Metric | Plain Note | Notehot |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $0.99 |
| Rating | **[4.6 (1.1K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/plain-note-notes-widget/id1478542921/reviews)** | [4.5 (175 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notehot-notes-and-voice-text/id1491473755/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **1.1K** | 175 |
| Positive reviews | 62.3% of reviews | **62.7% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 9 days** | Every 11 days |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 31 MB | 134 MB |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | **14.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Monelyze Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1086641918) | [Play Era](https://appshunter.io/developer/1491473754) |

## What reviewers say

### Plain Note

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/plain-note-notes-widget/id1478542921)

This app allows you to create and organize notes with customizable tags and icons. It offers lock screen and home screen widgets for quick access and supports character/line counting. Personalize your experience with themes, app icons, and fonts.

**Highlights:** Organize notes with tags, Customizable tag icons and colors, Character and line counting, Lock screen and home screen widgets, Customizable themes, app icons, and fonts, Archive and organize notes

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

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premium - Monthly | $2.99 | per month |
| Premium - Yearly | $19.99 | per year |
| Premium - Lifetime | $29.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Simple and clean design
- 💡 One-time payment model
- 🚀 Beautifully designed notes app
- 🚀 Intuitive and easy to use
- 👍 Customizable tags and icons

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Notes sometimes don't save properly
- 🐛 Slow and unreliable synchronization
- ❌ No text formatting options (bold, italics, etc.)
- ❌ No ability to insert photos or videos
- ❌ No option to export notes

**Reported bugs**

- Notes sometimes get deleted after updates
- Widget not working as expected, showing wrong note

**Requested features**

- Ability to swipe widget to display another note
- Subfolders for better organization
- Export function to backup notes
- Option to change app colors
- Support for multiple notes in one widget


### Notehot

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notehot-notes-and-voice-text/id1491473755)

This app offers a versatile note-taking experience, combining text, handwriting, audio, and photos. It features speech-to-text conversion, OCR for image text extraction, and iCloud synchronization across devices. Organize notes with hierarchical folders and set timed reminders for important tasks.

**Highlights:** Multi-form recording (text, hand-drawn, audio, photo), Speech to text conversion, OCR text extraction from images, Hierarchical folder management, Timed reminders, iCloud synchronization, Export to PDF, PNG, JPEG

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

**In-app purchases (6)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| VIP Subscription | $1.99 | per 7 days |
| VIP Subscription | $2.99 | per month |
| VIP Subscription | $5.99 | per 3 months |
| VIP Subscription | $9.99 | per year |
| VIP Subscription | $17.99 | per year |
| VIP Subscription | $14.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Very convenient for note-taking
- 👍 Smooth and clean interface
- 👍 User-friendly and convenient
- 👍 Good for recording things
- 👍 AI text generation is great

**What reviewers complain about**

- 😞 Misleading pricing, asks for subscription after download
- 😞 In-app purchases required for voice-to-text
- 😞 Limited language choices
- 😞 Requires money immediately after installation
- 😞 App is not free

**Reported bugs**

- App freezes and crashes
- Lost entire notes after app freezes
- Files are stretched or narrowed after import
- Imported files take up the entire screen
- Search function rarely finds existing text

**Requested features**

- Add Dark Mode
- Add smart shapes for diagraming
- Add a paper guide (college or wide)
- Add a 'pen' tool similar to pencil and marker
- Ability to add images


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Plain Note free?

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

### Is Notehot free?

Notehot costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Plain Note or Notehot?

Plain Note is rated higher. Plain Note averages 4.6 out of 5 from 1.1K ratings, while Notehot averages 4.5 from 175 ratings.

### Do Plain Note or Notehot have ads?

Neither Plain Note nor Notehot shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Plain Note or Notehot?

Plain Note ships an update every 9 days, and Notehot every 11 days. Most recently, Plain Note was updated on October 25, 2026 and Notehot on October 25, 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.*