MarginNote 5 vs touchnotesPro
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MarginNote 5
This app enhances reading and studying with integrated note-taking and flashcard creation. It offers task-based templates for focused learning, AI assistance for content breakdown, and spaced repetition for effective review. Organize your research and master material with a comprehensive study workflow.
- Task-based reading templates
- AI-powered content breakdown
- Integrated flashcard creation
- Spaced repetition review
- Mind map organization
- PDF and EPUB import
- Sync across devices
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MarginNote is a PDF tool for in-depth reading and study. Keep PDF highlights linked to mind-map cards, then add those cards to review. MarginNote 5 introduces task-based templates for reading, question practice, and vocabulary. MarginNote has evolved since 2013. The upgrade from MarginNote 4 is free. Your study sets, notes, and purchases remain intact. MARGINNOTE 5: ONE TASK, ONE SETUP • Templates — a template sets the bottom tools, menus, pens, and excerpt colors. The "Standard" template has four modes: Excerpt, Handwrite, Organize, and Recall. Each mode groups tools for that task. • Template Gallery — install official templates in one tap. Some templates include examples to help you get started: – Card Practice: write answers by hand on question cards, check your answers, and focus your next review on questions you haven't mastered yet. AI can split a whole workbook into cards. – Reading Vocabulary: collect words while reading English; an offline dictionary provides base forms, pronunciation, and definitions, and finished cards join review when automatic review is enabled. • Make it yours — the corresponding controls are highlighted as you edit. Find features and settings with Feature Search, and export or share your templates. • Traditional Interface — open the template menu and choose "Traditional Interface" (except on iPhone Duo). SYNC YOU CAN SEE The home screen shows where sync stands. The Sync Center lists notes and original documents separately and tells you when a document is still downloading. Manual sync reports results and offers a protective snapshot. Applying cloud changes also protects local study data. THE CARD AT THE CENTER • Organize excerpts by chapter; for books without a table of contents, AI can build one. • Title Links — notes on concepts you've studied resurface as you read new documents. • Extend — open writing space anywhere on a PDF: inline, in the margin, or folded away. AI AS AN ASSISTANT, NOT A SUBSTITUTE AI Breakdown · Question Extraction · AI TOC · AI OCR card templates · translation · chat. Save any answer as a card, or turn its outline into mind-map branches. Online AI sends task text or images to the service provider used for the request. REVIEW: THINK FIRST, THEN LOOK Use Recall mode to hide and reveal answers in the mind map. Add cards to a review deck for FSRS spaced repetition. Write directly on card snapshots while you review. On iOS/iPadOS/macOS 26+, when Apple Intelligence is enabled and its model is available on a supported device and in a supported region, on-device recall hints work offline without MarginNote credits. THE FULL WORKFLOW PDF, EPUB, Office-to-PDF import (online), video and audio · Zotero, cloud drives and external folders · side-by-side documents · handwriting layers and mind-map backgrounds · mind-map PDF export (structure or card flow) · read aloud · fast OCR WHO IT IS FOR Anyone who rereads material and needs to remember it: medical and law students, exam takers, researchers, language learners, serious readers. ACROSS YOUR DEVICES iPhone, iPad and Mac with one Apple Account; iCloud syncs study sets, notes and review progress. Native Apple Pencil handwriting on iPad. Also adapted for iPhone Duo. ABOUT PURCHASES Free to download. Some features require Pro (one-time unlock) or Max (subscription or one-time unlock). MarginNote Agent requires Max and uses MarginNote credits. Some online AI uses MarginNote credits; external AI is billed by its provider. A Max subscription includes 500 credits/month while active. Questions: service@marginnote.com Terms of Use: https://dist.marginnote.cn/MarginNote_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf Privacy Policy: https://dist.marginnote.cn/MarginNote_Privacy_Policy.pdf
touchnotesPro
This app combines handwriting, document annotation, and study tools for efficient note-taking. Import various file types, clip web content, and record lectures with real-time transcription. Organize ideas with mind maps and create flashcards for effective review.
- Handwriting and document annotation
- Import PDFs, Word, EPUB, and web content
- Speech and handwriting recognition
- AI-powered formula recognition
- Mind mapping for idea organization
- Flashcard creation for review
- Infinite canvas for freeform notes
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touchnotesPro brings handwriting, document annotation and study tools together in one note-taking app. Keep your learning materials in one place, organize key ideas, and create flashcards from important content for review. From capturing ideas to understanding and revisiting them, build a knowledge space of your own. Write, read and annotate Import PDF, PowerPoint, Word and EPUB files. Add annotations, write on the page and highlight key points as you read, keeping your thoughts alongside your materials. Bring your learning materials together Web clipping: import articles, reference materials and web pages into your notes. Extract key points and organize the content so you can do more with what you read. Online video: import online videos, take notes while watching, and capture video frames to save on your note pages. Keep key moments from a lesson alongside your own thoughts. Speech transcription (ASR): turn speech into editable text in real time. This feature supports Simplified Chinese and English only. Capture lectures, meetings, interviews and ideas in these supported languages, then revisit and organize the text afterward. AI-powered recognition and study tools Handwriting recognition (OCR): convert handwriting into editable text. This feature supports Simplified Chinese and English only, making handwritten notes in these languages easier to organize digitally. Formula recognition: recognize mathematical formulas in handwriting or images and convert them into editable formulas. Connect ideas and review what matters Mind maps: organize the key points in your notes into clear hierarchies. See how ideas connect and build a clearer understanding of the whole topic. Flashcards: create flashcards from important content and organize them with multiple tags. Bring the key points from your notes into your review routine. More ways to capture your ideas Infinite canvas: write, draw, insert images and arrange content without fixed page boundaries. Explore ideas, organize knowledge and plan projects on an open canvas. Live Notes: combine moving content with handwriting, images and stickers to capture travel, everyday moments and inspiration in a more expressive way. Continue across devices Sync your notes across devices so you can pick up your study, work and note-taking where you left off. Handwriting, documents, audio, web pages, video, mind maps and flashcards: bring them together to capture, organize, understand and review.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: MarginNote 5 at 4.5 against touchnotesPro's 2.5. MarginNote 5 also leads on review sentiment (58% vs 30%) and ratings volume (739 vs 4). touchnotesPro's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium). 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
Both are free to download. MarginNote 5 sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 3 months and touchnotesPro sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
MarginNote 5 holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MarginNote 5 has 739 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 58% of MarginNote 5's written reviews are positive against 30% of touchnotesPro's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.
| Parameter | MarginNote 5 | touchnotesPro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (739 ratings) — better | 2.5 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 58.5% of reviews — better | 30.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 739 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.2 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 372 MB | 667 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Beijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd | 广东新空电子科技股份有限公司 |
Customer experience
MarginNote 5
touchnotesPro
Bugs and requests
MarginNote 5
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
touchnotesPro
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
MarginNote 5
- Subscription to MAX (3 months)7 Days trial$4.993 Months
- 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 (New)$40.00
- Unlock MAX Forever (New)$51.99
touchnotesPro
- Basic Cloud Package$1.99
- Premium Cloud Package$1.99
- 享做笔记vip-1年$3.99
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- Premium Cloud Package$3.99
- 享做笔记vip-2年$4.99
- Basic Cloud Package$6.99
- Student Cloud Package$6.99
- Student Cloud Package$9.99
- vip$9.99
- Premium Cloud Package$14.99







