MarginNote 4 vs Quick Draw
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MarginNote 4
This app integrates reading, note-taking, mind mapping, and flashcards into a unified study environment. It supports active learning with features like study sets, book compilation, and dual-article views. Enhance your understanding with visual learning tools and AI-powered content extraction for long-term memory retention.
- Integrated reading, note-taking, mind mapping, and flashcards
- Quick Extend Note and Handwriting Layers for annotation
- Study Set for organizing PDFs, EPUBs, videos, and audio
- Mind Map and Concept Diagram for visual learning
- AI Content Detection for formula and chart extraction
- FSRS spaced-repetition algorithm for reviews
- iCloud sync across Apple devices
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MarginNote is the PDF study tool for deep readers. One excerpt is a PDF highlight, a mind map node, and a flashcard — one capture, three places. This is the Card Axis architecture, so you stop ferrying content between a PDF reader, a notes app, and a flashcard tool. A decade of iteration. 188K+ App Store ratings. 【Four Featured Mechanics】 ▸ Card Axis — One excerpt, three renders. Document highlight, mind map node, and flashcard are the same card seen from three angles. ▸ Title Link — Old notes auto-surface in new documents. When a familiar concept appears in what you're reading, your past annotation lights up on the page. ▸ Extended Note — Long-press anywhere on a PDF to open writing space. No anchored text required; three display modes (inline / margin / collapsed). ▸ Immersive Mode (4.4) — Three-state toggle: Read / Write / Recall. UI folds away. Recall blurs excerpts with Gaussian blur — tap to reveal only after you've actually recalled. 【AI Capabilities (introduced in 4.2)】 AI book breakdown · AI OCR templates · AI translation · AI Q&A · AI flashcard generation Our stance is AI as assistant, not replacement — every suggestion can be saved as your own thinking node, never thinking for you. 【Apple Intelligence (iOS 26+)】 Recall Mode hints can run on-device via Apple Intelligence — pick "Apple AI" or "cloud LLM" in Settings. With Apple AI selected, three tiers of help — Neighbor Coordinate · Reasoning Prompt · Key Distinction — are generated by Apple Foundation Models right on your device: no network calls, no AI credits used, your notes never leave your device. Even if you've selected cloud LLM, going offline auto-falls back to Apple Intelligence (provided your device supports it) — so libraries, planes, and exam-day silent rooms never break your hint loop. 【Full Workflow】 Fast OCR · Study Sets (PDF / EPUB / video / audio) · direct read from Zotero / cloud drives / USB · 10 mind map styles · book recomposition · dual-document compare · concept maps · handwriting layers 【FSRS Spaced Repetition】 Built on the open-spaced-repetition project's algorithm (paper accepted by ACM SIGKDD; Anki has used FSRS as its default scheduler since v23.10). Push short-term memory into long-term. 【Built For】 Anyone re-reading a single document until it sticks — med school (USMLE / MCAT) · law school (LSAT / bar exam) · grad prep (GRE / GMAT / CFA) · researchers · language learners (IELTS / TOEFL) · serious readers. 【All Apple Platforms】 iPhone + iPad + Mac under one Apple ID. iCloud syncs Study Sets, notes, and review progress. Native Apple Pencil support on iPad. — Questions? Email service@marginnote.com Terms: https://dist.marginnote.com/MarginNote_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf Privacy: https://dist.marginnote.com/MarginNote_Privacy_Policy.pdf
Quick Draw
Easily draw and annotate directly on web pages within the Safari browser. This tool allows for immediate on-screen drawing, making it simple to highlight or mark up content as you browse.
- Draw on web pages
- Safari browser extension
- On-screen annotation
- Immediate drawing capability
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Quick Draw - Need a tool to draw quickly on web pages? You are coming to the right place! Quick Draw is a wonderful tool that can help you to draw everything you want immediately on screen through Safari browser. ( base on new Safari Extensions ). Quick Draw is really useful and suitable for every person to use. PURCHASE RIGHT AWAY! WITH ONLY 1.99$ to own this marvelous tool for permanence.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: MarginNote 4 at Free against Quick Draw's $1.99. MarginNote 4 also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.0) and review sentiment (58% vs 30%). Quick Draw's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 13) and update cadence (daily vs every 3 weeks). 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
MarginNote 4 is free to download; Quick Draw costs $1.99 up front. MarginNote 4 sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Quick Draw asks for nothing beyond the download.
MarginNote 4 holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MarginNote 4 has 737 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 58% of MarginNote 4's written reviews are positive against 30% of Quick Draw's.
MarginNote 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, Quick Draw daily. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MarginNote 4 | Quick Draw |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $1.99 |
| Rating | 4.5 (737 ratings) — better | 3.0 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 58.5% of reviews — better | 30.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 737 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 330 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Beijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd | Mai Tuan Viet |
Customer experience
MarginNote 4
Quick Draw
Bugs and requests
MarginNote 4
Reported bugs
3 issues- Disappearing annotations when using extend function
- Inability to restore accidentally deleted mind maps
- Inconsistent behavior with PDF file management
Requested features
4 requests- Improved iCloud/cloud sync reliability
- More intuitive and user-friendly interface
- Better support for external document libraries
- Ability to disable auto-excerpt selection
Quick Draw
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
MarginNote 4
- Subscription to MAX (Monthly)7 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Subscription to MAX (3 months)7 Days trial$4.993 Months
- Subscription to MAX (6 months)7 Days trial$7.996 Months
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- Subscription to MAX (Annually)1 Month trial$12.991 Year
- MarginNote Max Annual1 Month trial$16.991 Year
- 14 days Free Trial2 variantsFree
- Upgrade to PRO from MN3(iOS)$4.99
- Unlock PRO Forever (New)$12.99
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- Upgrade to MAX from MN3(macOS)$19.99
- Unlock MAX based on PRO$39.99
- Unlock MAX based on PRO (New)$40.00
- Unlock MAX Forever (New)$51.99
Quick Draw
No in-app purchases









