Comparison

MarginNote 4 vs TextMeter

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

TextMeter

This app analyzes text to provide insights into sentence length, vocabulary difficulty, and frequently used words and phrases. It visualizes this data through interactive graphs and a word cloud generator, all processed offline on your device.

Highlights
  • Offline text analysis
  • Word cloud creation
  • Sentence length analysis
  • Vocabulary difficulty assessment
  • Interactive graphs
  • Batch importing and exporting (paid)
Features
Read full description

TextMeter is a fast, offline text analysis and word cloud creation tool built for readers, writers, editors, and anyone who loves the written word. What TextMeter does best is count. But as it turns out, counting, combined with visualizing, can be quite a powerful thing. TextMeter will help you find the longest sentences, the toughest vocabulary, the words and phrases a document leans on the most, and will visualize that information for you via interactive graphs with powerful filtering options, and a totally "what you see is what you get" word cloud tool that lets you turn your documents into highly personal creations. Analysis runs entirely on your device: no account, no advertising, and no tracking. A full-length novel takes seconds to analyze. Native on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. All analysis features are free. A one-time purchase — no subscription — adds history for more than one analysis, iCloud sync, batch importing, and exporting. Find some text and press a button. Then, it's off to the races.

Screenshots

MarginNote 44 screens
TextMeter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: TextMeter at 100% against MarginNote 4's 59%. TextMeter also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). MarginNote 4's advantage is ratings volume (716 vs 4) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.5). 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 TextMeter sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

TextMeter holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MarginNote 4 has 716 ratings behind it against 4, 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 TextMeter's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MarginNote 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, TextMeter weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
MarginNote 4 versus TextMeter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMarginNote 4TextMeter
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (716 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings716 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.5
Further details — not scored
Size330 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBeijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., LtdAndreas Beyer-Bowden

Customer experience

MarginNote 4

All ratings716 ratings
Positive86.3%
Neutral3.6%
Negative10.1%
Written reviews565 reviews
Positive58.6%
Neutral15.6%
Negative25.8%

TextMeter

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 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

TextMeter

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
1 purchases

TextMeter

One-time1
  • TextMeter Pro$0.99

Questions

Is MarginNote 4 free?
MarginNote 4 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is TextMeter free?
TextMeter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MarginNote 4 or TextMeter?
TextMeter is rated higher. MarginNote 4 averages 4.5 out of 5 from 716 ratings, while TextMeter averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do MarginNote 4 or TextMeter have ads?
Neither MarginNote 4 nor TextMeter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MarginNote 4 or TextMeter?
MarginNote 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, and TextMeter weekly. Most recently, MarginNote 4 was updated on October 13, 2026 and TextMeter on October 14, 2026.

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