# Kilonotes vs Noteful

The clearest difference is ads: Noteful at none against Kilonotes's shown. Noteful also leads on review sentiment (87% vs 71%) and ratings volume (24K vs 5K). Kilonotes's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Kilonotes sells 20 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Noteful sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Kilonotes against 4.8 for Noteful. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5K and 24K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of Kilonotes's written reviews are positive against 87% of Noteful's.

Kilonotes ships an update weekly, Noteful fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Kilonotes | Noteful |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.6 (5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kilonotes-notes-and-mark-up-pdf/id1514322479/reviews) | **[4.8 (24K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 5K | **24K** |
| Positive reviews | 70.9% of reviews | **86.9% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | **Weekly** | Fortnightly |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 482 MB | 157 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.6** | 16.4 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Hefei T-Stack Information Technology Co., Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1514322478) | [Noteful Technologies Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1587904336) |

## What reviewers say

### Kilonotes

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kilonotes-notes-and-mark-up-pdf/id1514322479)

This app offers a digital notebook experience for handwritten notes, PDF annotation, and study organization. It features freehand drawing, text extraction, AI assistance for learning, and customizable templates to enhance productivity and learning.

**Highlights:** Handwritten note-taking, PDF annotation and markup, AI assistant for learning, OCR text extraction, Customizable notebooks and templates, Recording function, Global PDF search

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

**In-app purchases (20)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cloud space monthly membership | $0.99 | per month |
| Monthly Subscription | $1.99 | per month |
| Quarterly Plan | $4.99 | per 3 months |
| AIChat | $5.99 | per month |
| Year Subscription | $8.99 | per year |
| Annual Plan | $9.99 | per year |
| Cloud space annual membership | $9.99 | per year |
| ExamPolitics_2019_2023_test | Free | one-time |
| Summer Forest 2022 Handbook | $0.99 | one-time |
| Xiaofen Diary 2022 Handbook | $0.99 | one-time |
| Fresh 2022 Handbook | $0.99 | one-time |
| 康奈尔笔记 | $0.99 | one-time |
| Cartoon mistake book | $0.99 | one-time |
| Paid Notebook | $0.99 | one-time |
| Alice | $1.99 | one-time |
| 咸鱼日常 | $1.99 | one-time |
| AI Points Products | $1.99 | one-time |
| 月亮兔 | $1.99 | one-time |
| Paid Notebook | $2.99 | one-time |
| Lifetime Access | $19.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Affordable
- 🚀 Lots of free features
- 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
- 👍 Customizable notebooks and pages
- 👍 Good alternative to paid apps

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 🐛 Syncing and backup issues
- 🔒 Lack of password protection or privacy features
- 👎 Limited free notebooks
- 👎 Some features locked behind paywall

**Reported bugs**

- Notebooks and notes getting deleted or scrambled
- Lag and performance issues when writing or zooming
- Inconsistent behavior of the pen and eraser tools

**Requested features**

- Add more free sticker packs and templates
- Improve the lasso tool and image editing
- Implement iCloud or cloud sync
- Add a dark mode option
- Improve the audio recording and playback features


### Noteful

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334)

This app revolutionizes paperless note-taking on iPad, allowing for handwritten notes, document annotation, and knowledge organization. It offers a fluid writing experience, PDF markup, powerful tagging, and audio recording synced with notes.

**Highlights:** Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil, PDF and document annotation, Organize notes with tags, Layers for annotations, Audio recording synced with notes, Import PDFs and MS Office documents

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

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Noteful Pro, Lifetime | $6.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Smooth writing experience
- 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
- 💡 Layers feature
- 👍 Affordable one-time purchase
- 🚀 Efficient and lightweight

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
- 🔍 No handwriting recognition or search
- 🔍 Limited text editing options
- 🔍 Lack of advanced features like math conversion
- 🔍 Exporting PDFs loses some formatting

**Reported bugs**

- Syncing issues across devices
- Lasso tool not working properly with PDFs
- Eraser tool not functioning as expected

**Requested features**

- Handwriting recognition and search
- More text editing options (bullet lists, etc.)
- Improved PDF handling and annotations
- Custom templates and sticker support
- Expanded cloud storage options (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Kilonotes free?

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

### Is Noteful free?

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

### Which has better reviews, Kilonotes or Noteful?

Noteful is rated higher. Kilonotes averages 4.6 out of 5 from 5K ratings, while Noteful averages 4.8 from 24K ratings.

### Do Kilonotes or Noteful have ads?

Kilonotes shows ads; Noteful does not.

### Which is updated more often, Kilonotes or Noteful?

Kilonotes ships an update weekly, and Noteful fortnightly. Most recently, Kilonotes was updated on October 21, 2026 and Noteful on October 22, 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.*