Comparison

Stoic Thoughts vs PencilDB

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Stoic Thoughts

Explore the principles of Stoicism to cultivate resilience, happiness, virtue, and wisdom. This app helps you live a more fulfilling life by applying ancient philosophical teachings to modern challenges.

Highlights
  • Explore Stoic philosophy
  • Cultivate resilience
  • Enhance happiness
  • Develop virtue
  • Increase wisdom
Features
Read full description

What Is Stoicism? It’s a philosophy designed to make us more resilient, happier, more virtuous and more wise–and as a result, better people, better parents and better professionals. “Of all people only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, only they truly live. Not satisfied to merely keep good watch over their own days, they annex every age to their own. All the harvest of the past is added to their store. ” — Seneca

About

PencilDB

Features
Read full description

PencilDB is a database of mechanical pencils, ballpoint pens, fountain pens and inks. We build it together, and we correct it together. ■ Point the camera, and the pen identifies itself Move the camera slowly toward the part number printed on the barrel. PencilDB reads the marking and looks it up. Recognition happens entirely on your device. The photo itself never leaves your iPhone. ■ Keep a record, one pen at a time Sort pens into "Owned" and "Wanted". Add what you paid, when you bought it, where from, and what condition it is in — as much or as little as you feel like. Every one of those fields can be left empty. ■ Used prices come into view Once two or more people have reported what they paid for a part number, the price it actually changes hands for starts to appear. While only one report exists, no figure is shown. Otherwise what you paid would become "the market price" all by itself. ■ Straight to a shop that sells it For each part number, the shops selling it today are listed with their prices. Links that earn us a commission are marked as ads. ■ Know the company behind the brand Company profiles for 64 brands, with every model they make. Founding year, country, and what they have built over the years. ■ Articles Barrel materials, nib widths, the stories behind the brands — written for people who are serious about pens. ■ What is in it now 2,854 models, 12,460 part numbers, 64 brands. Sailor / Montblanc / Pilot / Mitsubishi Pencil (uni) / Platinum / LAMY / Zebra / Pentel / Faber-Castell / Caran d'Ache / Kuretake / Kaweco / Visconti / Montegrappa / Eboya / WANCHER and more. Everything comes from the manufacturers' own price revision documents and official sites. Each entry records where it came from. ■ A nickname, a password and an email address. Nothing else. No real name, no street address. The only thing shown publicly is your nickname. The email address exists so you can reset a forgotten password; it never appears on screen. ■ Corrected by everyone Found a mistake? Anyone can submit a correction, photos included. A person reviews them before they go live. Once two people are friends, they can message each other. Anyone you would rather not hear from can be blocked, and problems can be reported. ―――――― Site https://www.pencildb.com Terms https://www.pencildb.com/terms Privacy https://www.pencildb.com/privacy

Screenshots

Stoic Thoughts4 screens
PencilDB4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Stoic Thoughts at 3 against PencilDB's 1. Stoic Thoughts also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Stoic Thoughts ships an update every 3 weeks, PencilDB every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Stoic Thoughts versus PencilDB: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStoic ThoughtsPencilDB
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (638 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews70.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings638 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAntonio Casero Palmeroideo Entertainment Inc.

Bugs and requests

Stoic Thoughts

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App stopped working
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Random quote option
  • Widget or iOS 16 Lock Screen widget
  • Option to scroll down on quotes
  • Ability to copy or share quotes

PencilDB

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Stoic Thoughts

No in-app purchases

None

PencilDB

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Stoic Thoughts free?
Stoic Thoughts is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PencilDB free?
PencilDB is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Stoic Thoughts or PencilDB have ads?
Neither Stoic Thoughts nor PencilDB shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Stoic Thoughts or PencilDB?
Stoic Thoughts ships an update every 3 weeks, and PencilDB every 9 days. Most recently, Stoic Thoughts was updated on October 24, 2026 and PencilDB on October 25, 2026.

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