Notebooks vs pinnery
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notebooks
This app helps you write, organize, and manage documents, tasks, and files. It offers flexible writing modes, robust organization tools, and task management features, all while ensuring your data remains accessible and under your control.
- Formatted text, plain text, and Markdown writing
- Create documents with styles, tables, and attachments
- Organize with nested hierarchies and 'books'
- Task management with due dates and checklists
- Wiki-style linking and backlinks
- Full-text search
- Cross-device synchronization
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Own your notes — forever. Notebooks is a writing and organization app with no subscription, no lock-in, and no worries. Your documents are stored as standard files you can always access, export, or move freely. Pay once. Use for life. Use Notebooks as a personal wiki, Zettelkasten, document archive, task manager, or long-term writing space. Capture quick notes, turn them into actionable tasks, combine text fragments into chapters, organize research, or keep business documents separate from personal journals — without ever switching apps. Designed to help you stay focused and work at your own pace, Notebooks grows with your needs and is always ready to support you. WRITE AND CREATE Create beautifully formatted documents with styles, attachments, tables, checklists, and optional tables of contents. Choose from ready-made styles or design your own. Write in different ways: Formatted text (WYSIWYG) Plain text, with smart handling of lists, automatic character pairing, and a focused writing view Markdown, supporting MultiMarkdown and Discount, with syntax highlighting, dedicated keyboard keys, wiki-style links, and interactive checklists Sketch ideas or annotate images and PDFs using Apple Pencil. STORE AND ORGANIZE Notebooks stores all documents as regular files in standard formats. You always remain in control — no lock-in, no export worries, fully compatible across devices and over time. Organize your work in books and nested hierarchies without limits. Import PDFs, emails, web pages, MS Office and iWork documents, images, audio, video, and more. Use full-text search to find even the most deeply nested document. PLAN AND ACT Turn books into project lists and documents into tasks. Assign due dates and alerts, create nested projects, and track progress naturally — right where your work lives. Use simple checklists in formatted documents or Markdown for lightweight task tracking. STAY FOCUSED Link documents together to build knowledge over time. Use wiki-style links, backlinks, contexts, and smart books to keep everything connected and within reach. When you rename or move documents, links stay intact. A PLACE YOU CAN RELY ON Sync your documents between iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. Work on documents stored in other apps, compile selections into PDFs or eBooks, scan documents and extract text using OCR, and trust that your data stays accessible — now and in the future. With time, Notebooks often becomes the one place users rely on to keep everything that matters close at hand. WHAT USERS SAY “Notebooks is a wonderful app — sophisticated in an unassuming way. I feel more productive without spending time managing the app itself.” “You are GTD in every way that makes it efficient — and makes me efficient.”
pinnery
Capture ideas and tasks effortlessly by recording notes and annotating key phrases. Organize your thoughts with multiple task boards and lists, and share your work with others. Stay focused and motivated with planning tools and tips.
- Record notes and annotate phrases
- Create tasks from annotated phrases
- Annotate PDFs
- Add photos and drawings
- Share notes live across devices
- Multiple task boards and lists
- Add reminders and assign responsible persons
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pinnery is the new way to get things done! Simply record your notes and annotate important phrases to create tasks from them. Use pinnery for your daily ideas and tasks and take your notes while you are in a meeting or on a phone call. EASY NOTE TAKING -Use your Apple Pencil to take notes. Draw with ink, use the highlighter and insert text. -Add Photos and Drawings to your documents PDF ANNOTATION -Upload your PDF document and annotate it. SET A PIN ON IMPORTANT PHRASES -Mark important text parts or sketches and set a pin right next to it. pinnery will then create task with this contents for you. SHARE YOUR NOTES -Export your notes to PDF and send it to your friends -Invite your friends to your notebooks to grant live access -Share your notes live across multiple devices MULTIPLE TASK BOARDS AND LISTS -Create multiple task boards for different topics -Divide your task boards into multiple columns TASKS -Add reminders and responsible persons STAY IN FOCUS -Plan your next day by selecting the tasks you want to solve -Get motivation tipps pinnery is free without any hidden costs. No premium content for extra, no subscriptions, no tricks!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: pinnery at Free against Notebooks's $17.99. pinnery also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4) and update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly). On 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
pinnery is free to download; Notebooks costs $17.99 up front. Notebooks sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. pinnery asks for nothing beyond the download.
Notebooks ships an update monthly, pinnery every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notebooks | pinnery |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $17.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.7 (1.1K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 82.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.1K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 14.5 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alfons Schmid | Rowisoft GmbH |
Customer experience
Notebooks
pinnery
Bugs and requests
Notebooks
Reported bugs
2 issues- Data loss after iOS upgrades
- Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Improved Markdown support
- More font and color customization options
- Better Apple Watch integration
- Export to Word format
pinnery
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Notebooks
- Small Tip$0.99
- Custom Storage Locations$2.99
- Medium Tip$2.99
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- Generous Tip$4.99
pinnery
No in-app purchases









