Notesnook vs PDF Offline Studio
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notesnook
This open-source app offers secure, encrypted note-taking and organization across all your devices. It features a robust editor, to-do lists, and a private journal with advanced security to protect your personal information.
- Military-grade encryption
- Cross-platform synchronization
- To-do lists and task management
- Private journal with media support
- Rich text and Markdown editor
- Notebook organization
- App lock with fingerprint support
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Your notes are yours. Notesnook encrypts every one of them on your device before it ever reaches the cloud — so no one can read them. Not advertisers, not us. UNLIMITED NOTES. EVERY DEVICE. FREE. Most note apps cap the free plan until it hurts. Others stop after a few dozen notes. Notesnook never limits how much you write or how many devices you sync. A REAL EDITOR Headings, tables, code blocks, maths, outlines, Markdown and full-quality images. Notes that hold up whether you are writing a shopping list or a thesis chapter. ORGANISED AT ANY SIZE Nested notebooks, tags, colours, pinned and favourite notes, and search that stays instant at 10,000 notes. Link notes to each other and build your own private wiki. PRIVACY YOU CAN CHECK YOURSELF • End-to-end encryption is always on — you cannot switch it off, so you cannot forget • Encrypted on your device, in transit and at rest, using XChaCha20-Poly1305 and Argon2 • Even your notebook and tag names are encrypted • 100% open source under AGPLv3 — read every line, or run your own sync server • Recommended by Privacy Guides IMPORT YOUR OLD NOTES Bring your notes, notebooks and tags with you. Import from your previous notes app, plus plain Markdown and HTML files. EVERYWHERE YOU WRITE iPhone, iPad, Mac and the web. Sync is instant, and encrypted the whole way. ALSO INSIDE • Web clipper — save any article, ad-free and offline • Reminders across all your devices • Note version history, so nothing is ever really lost • Publish a note to a shareable link • Dark mode and custom themes FREE FOREVER Unlimited notes, unlimited devices, 50 notebooks, 50 tags and full end-to-end encryption. No ads. No trial countdown. PAID PLANS Add task lists, callouts, recurring reminders, more storage, and — on Pro — app lock, an encrypted vault and full-quality images. From $19.99 a year. Questions or feedback: support@streetwriters.co Privacy policy: https://notesnook.com/privacy Terms: https://notesnook.com/terms
PDF Offline Studio
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Every PDF tool you need. None of your documents ever leave your device. Most free PDF apps quietly upload your files to a server to do the work. This one doesn't, because it can't. The app is built with no internet permission at all. Your contracts, IDs, medical records and tax forms are handled entirely on your phone or Mac. It doesn't keep them either. There's no library and no cloud folder: you open a file, work on it, and save the result wherever you like. Nothing is left behind. PAGES - Merge several PDFs into one - Split a PDF: see exactly where it will divide before you commit - Extract only the pages you want - Delete, rotate and reorder pages by dragging MARK UP - Draw, highlight and add text anywhere on the page - Sign with your finger or mouse - Fill in PDF forms: type into fields, tick boxes, pick from lists - Stamp a page: Draft, Confidential, Approved and eleven more, or make your own - Watermark every page, once or tiled - Add page numbers SECURITY - Redact: removes what's underneath instead of covering it - Flatten PDF: fixes your marks and filled-in forms into the page so nobody can change them - Lock a PDF with a password, or remove one you know READ & TRANSLATE - Translate a whole PDF into another language, laid out where the original text was, or read the translation as clean text with Easy to read - Make searchable: find and copy the text in scanned pages CONVERT - PDF to images, images to PDF: photos go in without their location or camera details - Scan paper documents with the camera, straightened and cropped (iPhone and iPad) - Compress, with an honest warning when there's nothing to gain Redaction is the one worth explaining. Drawing a black box over a name doesn't remove it: anyone can still select the text underneath, and people have lost jobs over exactly that. Redact rebuilds the pages so what you covered is genuinely not in the file, then checks its own work and refuses to hand you the result if any readable text survived. Translation and text recognition use Apple's own frameworks, on your device, like everything else here. Translating needs iOS 18 or macOS 15 or later and the two languages downloaded once by your system; after that it works with no connection at all. It translates into languages written in Latin, Greek or Cyrillic letters. BUILT FOR PRIVACY, NOT MARKETED AS IT - No internet permission: verifiable, not just a promise - No library, no cache, no account, no sign-up - No ads, no analytics, no tracking, no crash reporting - Photos you turn into a PDF lose their location, time and camera details - Works on a plane, in a tunnel, anywhere Free. No subscription, no unlock, no Pro tier. Available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French and Italian.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PDF Offline Studio at none against Notesnook's 20. On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Notesnook sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. PDF Offline Studio asks for nothing beyond the download.
Notesnook ships an update every 8 days, PDF Offline Studio every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notesnook | PDF Offline Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (672 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 78.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 672 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 96 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Streetwriters LLC | THEJ KUMAR SIDDHOTAM ARULRAJ |
Bugs and requests
Notesnook
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes on launch on older iOS devices
- Sync issues leading to data loss
- Unreliable login and verification process
Requested features
5 requests- Improved search functionality
- Reminders and calendar integration
- Handwriting and drawing support
- Multilingual support
- Improved table and spreadsheet features
PDF Offline Studio
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Notesnook
- Notesnook Pro$0.991 Month
- Notesnook Essential Plan7 Days trial$1.991 Month
- Notesnook Pro$2.491 Month
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- Notesnook Pro Plan7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Notesnook Pro3 variants$4.491 Month
- Notesnook Pro1 Month trial$4.491 Month
- Notesnook Pro Plan7 Days trial$6.991 Month
- Notesnook Believer Plan7 Days trial$8.991 Month
- Notesnook Pro$9.991 Year
- Notesnook Essential Plan14 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Notesnook Pro$24.991 Year
- Notesnook Pro Plan14 Days trial$29.901 Year
- Notesnook Pro Yearly$49.991 Year
- Notesnook Pro2 variants$49.991 Year
- Notesnook Pro1 Year trial$49.991 Year
- Notesnook Pro Plan14 Days trial$69.991 Year
- Notesnook Believer Plan14 Days trial$89.991 Year
PDF Offline Studio
No in-app purchases









