# Highlights vs SpeakPen

The clearest difference is update cadence: SpeakPen at every 3 days against Highlights's fortnightly. Highlights's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and SpeakPen sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, SpeakPen every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Highlights | SpeakPen |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **1.6K** | — |
| Positive reviews | 53.2% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | **Every 3 days** |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Size | 37 MB | 10 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.0** | 17.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) | [Qumge Infotech (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1273676758) |

## What reviewers say

### Highlights

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833)

This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.

**Highlights:** Read and browse PDF documents, Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text, Add comments and sticky notes, Extract annotations into organized notes, Convert table data and recognize text, Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex), Lookup citation metadata and DOI links

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

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Highlights Pro: Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Highlights Pro | $29.99 | per year |
| Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade | $29.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs
- 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking
- 📚 Useful for academic and professional work
- 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
- 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Limited search functionality
- 🔒 Lack of customization options
- 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers

**Reported bugs**

- Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing
- Text selection issues, especially with footnotes
- Compatibility problems with certain PDF files
- Syncing issues across devices
- Export functionality not working as expected

**Requested features**

- Add handwriting and freeform annotation support
- Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature
- Allow editing of notes directly in the app
- Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription
- Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation


### SpeakPen

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/speakpen/id6743360755)

This AI-powered tool transforms spoken words into organized text notes. It offers automatic transcription, intelligent summaries, and supports multiple languages. Ideal for students, professionals, and anyone who needs to capture ideas quickly.

**Highlights:** AI-powered speech-to-text, Automatic intelligent summaries, Multi-language transcription, Audio recording and import, Organized note-taking interface, Dark mode support

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

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| SpeakPen Pro | $9.99 | per month |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Highlights free?

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

### Is SpeakPen free?

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

### Do Highlights or SpeakPen have ads?

Neither Highlights nor SpeakPen shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Highlights or SpeakPen?

Highlights ships an update fortnightly, and SpeakPen every 3 days. Most recently, Highlights was updated on October 14, 2026 and SpeakPen on October 4, 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.*