Comparison

MarginNote 4 vs ReadFlow

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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

About

ReadFlow

This app transforms PDF documents into a comfortable reading experience on small screens. It offers text reflow, customization options for fonts and themes, and iCloud sync for seamless access across devices. Enjoy reading PDFs as easily as other ebook formats.

Highlights
  • PDF text reflow for mobile
  • Customizable fonts and themes
  • Import custom font files
  • iCloud sync
  • PDF file cropping
  • Metadata editing
  • Generate and share reflowed text
Features
Read full description

Designed for mobile reading! Readflow is a reading app specially designed for small screens. The text reflow feature is elaborately designed to solve the problem that PDF documents are difficult to read on mobile devices, such as text that is too small and the scan is not clear, and obtain a reading experience consistent with EPub, txt and other formats. Key features include: - PDF text reflow, supporting multiple languages¹ - Custom font family, font size, line height, etc - Importing font files² - Reading themes, switching automatically - iCloud sync, supporting on-demand download to save storage space and cellular data - PDF file cropping - PDF file metadata editing and saving - Reflow text generating and sharing for a whole PDF file³ - More detailed features: favorites, searching, etc. - Purchase once, use everywhere⁴ --- ¹ Currently supported: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Ukrainian ² Supported file formats: otf, ttf ³ txt format ⁴ iOS / iPadOS universal app Term of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula Privacy policy: https://is.gd/TgnFzI

Screenshots

MarginNote 44 screens
ReadFlow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ReadFlow at 100% against MarginNote 4's 59%. ReadFlow also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). MarginNote 4's advantage is ratings volume (716 vs 5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. MarginNote 4 sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and ReadFlow sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ReadFlow holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MarginNote 4 has 716 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 59% of MarginNote 4's written reviews are positive against 100% of ReadFlow's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MarginNote 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, ReadFlow every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
MarginNote 4 versus ReadFlow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarginNote 4ReadFlow
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (716 ratings)4.8 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings716 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size330 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBeijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd实 许

Customer experience

MarginNote 4

All ratings716 ratings
Positive86.3%
Neutral3.6%
Negative10.1%
Written reviews563 reviews
Positive58.8%
Neutral15.3%
Negative25.9%

ReadFlow

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

ReadFlow

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

12 purchases

MarginNote 4

Subscriptions5
  • 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
Show 2 more
  • Subscription to MAX (Annually)1 Month trial$12.991 Year
  • MarginNote Max Annual1 Month trial$16.991 Year
One-time7
  • 14 days Free Trial2 variantsFree
  • Upgrade to PRO from MN3(iOS)$4.99
  • Unlock PRO Forever (New)$12.99
Show 4 more
  • 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
3 purchases

ReadFlow

Subscriptions2
  • ReadFlow Pro 1x$0.991 Month
  • ReadFlow Pro 12x$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • ReadFlow Pro ∞$19.99

Questions

Is MarginNote 4 free?
MarginNote 4 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ReadFlow free?
ReadFlow is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MarginNote 4 or ReadFlow?
ReadFlow is rated higher. MarginNote 4 averages 4.5 out of 5 from 716 ratings, while ReadFlow averages 4.8 from 5 ratings.
Do MarginNote 4 or ReadFlow have ads?
Neither MarginNote 4 nor ReadFlow shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MarginNote 4 or ReadFlow?
MarginNote 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, and ReadFlow every 4 days. Most recently, MarginNote 4 was updated on September 22, 2026 and ReadFlow on September 19, 2026.

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