MarginNote 4 vs Calflow
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
Read full descriptionHide 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
Calflow
This app integrates with your existing iOS Reminders and Calendars to help you track how you spend your time. It offers features for daily planning, time tracking, and goal setting, providing insights into your productivity within the Apple ecosystem.
- 2-way sync with iOS Reminders & Calendar
- Time tracking for reminders and events
- Time distribution insights
- Powerful tag system for filtering
- Goal and habit tracking
- Apple Health and app usage sync
Read full descriptionHide full description
If you’re using Apple Reminders and iOS Calendar/ Google Calendar in your workflow, and you wonder how you spend your time, tasks, daily activities, etc, it’s for you. Calflow is a powerful time-tracking planner based on iOS Reminders & Calendar, helping you keep track of your day and stay productive within the Apple ecosystem. Daily & Weekly Planner ◆ 2-way sync with iOS Reminders & Calendar (Free) ◆ Use Spaces to separate personal and work tasks, helping you declutter your schedule and stay focused Streamline Time-tracking into your Apple Workflow ◆ Track how much time you spend on your Reminders & events: - Reminders: Auto-populate time entries in Apple Calendar - Events: Auto-update your planned event details in Apple Calendar Apple Calendar Time Insights ◆ Also supports Google Calendar ◆ Track your time distribution across day/week/month/year Powerful Tag System ◆ Create smart tags to filter your calendar event entries, and learn about their activity across day/week/month/year ◆ Create groups to analyze time from multiple perspectives Goals, Habits Tracking ◆ Track goals, habits based on your iOS Reminders & Calendars to help ensure your time align with your goals Track anything and sync them to iOS Calendar ◆ Apple Health sync (mindful minutes, sleep time, workout time) ◆ App usage time tracking (via Shortcuts) ◆ Daily activities (via tracker widgets) Need help or have ideas to share? We’re always here: contact@calflow.app Terms of Use(EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://calflow.app/privacypolicy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Calflow at 88% against MarginNote 4's 59%. Calflow also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.5). MarginNote 4's advantage is ratings volume (716 vs 121). 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 4 sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Calflow sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Calflow holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MarginNote 4 has 716 ratings behind it against 121, 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 88% of Calflow's.
MarginNote 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, Calflow every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MarginNote 4 | Calflow |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (716 ratings) | 4.9 (121 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 58.8% of reviews | 88.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 716 — better | 121 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 330 MB | 181 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Beijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd | Kyovan Ltd. |
Customer experience
MarginNote 4
Calflow
User reviews
MarginNote 4
From 716 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Powerful features
- 📚 Great for academic/research use
- 👍 Useful note-taking and organization
- 🖊️ Improved handwriting and annotation
Room to improve
- 🐛 Buggy and crashes frequently
- 🕰️ Slow and laggy sync between devices
- 🤯 Steep learning curve, poor documentation
- 💰 Expensive upgrade from previous version
Calflow
From 121 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ⏱️ Excellent time tracking with automatic logging
- 📱 Seamless cross-device synchronization (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch)
- 📅 Perfect integration with Apple Calendar and Reminders
- 🎯 Comprehensive goal-setting and insights features
- 🧩 Simple, intuitive user interface with low friction
Room to improve
- 🐛 Timer synchronization issues across devices
- 🐛 Confusing insights calculation (double-counting existing calendar events)
- 🐛 Apple Watch complications not fully functional
- 🌙 No dark mode support
- 📱 iPad lacks some features available on iPhone
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
Calflow
Reported bugs
11 issues- Timer doesn't sync across devices (iPhone to iPad/Mac)
- Live Activity not showing on iPad when timer active
- Apple Watch timers not accessible on other devices
- Widget display showing only black and white screen
- Insights double-counting time on existing calendar events
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Goals feature sometimes fails to record correctly
- iPad reminders list not syncing with iPhone
- Timer in notification center and widget not syncing
- iPad doesn't show timer notifications in notification center
- Apple Watch connectivity issues after paid subscription activation
- Mac and iPad timer not showing when started on iPhone
Requested features
27 requests- Dark mode support
- Mac menu bar timer widget
- Multiple simultaneous timers on iPhone
- Larger font size options
- Ability to copy and paste calendar events
Show 22 moreShow fewer
- Custom goal cadences (not just daily/weekly/monthly)
- Daily focus note area (like weekly focus)
- Hashtag support in notes for better app integration
- Apple Watch complications
- Faster widget refresh rates
- Drag and drop support for weekly plans
- Collaboration/sharing features
- Data export to CSV/Excel format
- URL field for events and tasks
- Callback URL support
- Notification/reminder alerts for events
- Milestone and skill tree features
- Import data from other time tracking apps
- Japanese language support
- Custom day start time for analytics
- Notebook/note-taking integration
- Customizable todo background colors
- Reminders list and tags binding
- Mac automation scheduling
- Website usage tracking on Mac
- Ambient sounds and tick sounds for focus mode
- Collaborative task management
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
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- 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
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- 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
Calflow
- Monthly plan$3.991 Month
- Annual plan7 Days trial$12.991 Year
- One-time purchase$37.99









