# Penned vs WeaveNote

The clearest difference is price: WeaveNote at Free against Penned's $4.99. WeaveNote also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.6). Penned's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

WeaveNote is free to download; Penned costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Penned ships an update every 2 months, WeaveNote every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Penned | WeaveNote |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $4.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | **[4.6 (87 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/penned-private-notes/id1480653765/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **87** | — |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 4 days** |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Size | 1 MB | 59 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | **13.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Edwing H Santos Mena](https://appshunter.io/developer/1851857999) | [CHI KAI PENG](https://appshunter.io/developer/983236767) |

## What reviewers say

### Penned

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/penned-private-notes/id1480653765)

A minimalist handwriting app designed for privacy, keeping all your notes securely on your device. It features natural writing with Apple Pencil, on-device AI text recognition, and smart tagging for easy searching. Export your notes as PDFs in a clean, distraction-free interface.

**Highlights:** Natural Apple Pencil writing, On-device AI text recognition, 100% private, no cloud, Export beautiful PDFs, Smart tagging and search, Distraction-free interface

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

**In-app purchases:** none


### WeaveNote

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/weavenote/id6765639488)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Penned free?

Penned costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Is WeaveNote free?

WeaveNote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Penned or WeaveNote have ads?

WeaveNote shows ads; Penned does not.

### Which is updated more often, Penned or WeaveNote?

Penned ships an update every 2 months, and WeaveNote every 4 days. Most recently, Penned was updated on October 10, 2026 and WeaveNote on October 1, 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.*