PaperDoc vs Persimmon
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PaperDoc
This app provides healthcare professionals with AI-powered summaries of scientific articles, saving time and keeping them updated on the latest advancements in their field. It offers personalized selections based on specialty and category for efficient knowledge enhancement.
- Personalized scientific article selection
- AI-generated article summaries
- Time-saving content analysis
- Updates tailored to specialty
- Efficient knowledge enhancement
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Discover a new era of scientific monitoring with PaperDoc! Our application dedicated to healthcare professionals offers you an optimal experience to stay up-to-date with the latest scientific advancements. Personalized Selection: Explore a curated selection of scientific articles tailored to your preferences, sorted by specialty, category, or theme. Precise Summaries: Thanks to our sophisticated artificial intelligence, each article is summarized concisely and relevantly, preserving the essential information. Time Saving: No more hours wasted on navigating complex articles. In less than 5 minutes, gain a comprehensive understanding of the latest updates. Download PaperDoc today for intelligent and efficient scientific monitoring. Stay informed effortlessly, enhance your knowledge, and stay ahead in your field. Join us in this revolution of scientific monitoring! EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Persimmon
This app simplifies complex scientific research papers from arXiv and SocArXiv using AI. It offers customizable summaries tailored to your expertise level and allows you to search, save, and get daily updates on new publications. You can also use it as a basic preprint browser without AI.
- AI-powered paper summaries
- Customizable AI models and expertise levels
- Search arXiv and SocArXiv
- Save papers for offline access
- Daily updates and notifications
- Privacy-focused, no data collection
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Welcome to Persimmon, the ultimate AI-assisted research exploration tool for iOS! In a world where scientific breakthroughs are accelerating faster than ever but many struggle to keep pace, Persimmon bridges the gap between cutting-edge research and everyday understanding. Designed for researchers, scientists, students, and anyone with a passion for discovery, the app transforms complex arXiv and SocArXiv paper abstracts into digestible, tailored insights using the language models of your choice. Whether you’re diving into machine learning, quantum computing, or macroeconomic trends, Persimmon makes research accessible, engaging, and available at your fingertips. Why Persimmon? The sheer volume of scientific research published today is staggering. Thousands of papers flood leading preprint servers like arXiv and SocArXiv each week, making it nearly impossible to stay informed without specialized knowledge. At the same time, scientific literacy is declining, with many people feeling disconnected from the innovations shaping our future. Persimmon tackles these challenges head-on by simplifying the process of exploring, understanding, and saving research papers – no PhD required! Key Features: - Customizable AI Summaries: Choose your preferred OpenAI-compatible language model (LLM) to generate summaries. Control costs and model preferences with your own API configurations. - Switch Between Providers: Seamlessly toggle between multiple LLM providers (e.g., OpenAI, Mistral, DeepSeek, Claude, custom models) using secure, on-device saved settings. - Tailored to Your Level: Set your expertise level (beginner, intermediate, or expert) for each topic to receive summaries that match your understanding. - arXiv & SocArXiv Search Made Easy: Find papers instantly with full-text search across arXiv and SocArXiv. Filter by categories to discover what interests you. - Offline Access: Save your favorite papers to read without an internet connection. - Daily Updates: Never miss a breakthrough! Get automatic notifications for the latest arXiv and SocArXiv papers in your chosen fields. - Privacy First: Persimmon respects your privacy. There’s no data collection, tracking, or analytics. - Breezy Performance: Built entirely in SwiftUI with minimal dependencies, Persimmon is snappy, intuitive, and optimized for iOS. - AI-Optional: Prefer raw data? Use Persimmon as a no-frills preprint browser. How It Works: 1. Set Your Interests: Select arXiv/SocArXiv categories or topics that fascinate you. 2. Choose Your AI Model: Configure your preferred LLM and expertise level to personalize summaries. 3. Explore & Save: Dive into abstracts, search papers, or save key findings for offline access. 4. Stay Informed: Get daily notifications to keep up with the latest advancements in your field. Privacy & Control: We believe knowledge should be private and empowering. Persimmon stores all configurations and preferences securely on your device – accounts are absolutely not required. Optional cloud syncing of preferences is available via Persimmon Cloud. Your exploration stays yours. Persimmon is completely free to use, with a setup time under 30 seconds. At best, it becomes your go-to tool for staying ahead of the curve. At worst, you’ve got a sleek, private browser for preprints. Either way, we’re excited to help you unlock the world of research. Join the movement to make science accessible to all. Download Persimmon now and start exploring the future of knowledge – one paper at a time.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Persimmon at none against PaperDoc's 2. PaperDoc's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.1). 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. PaperDoc sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month. Persimmon asks for nothing beyond the download.
PaperDoc ships an update every 5 weeks, Persimmon every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | PaperDoc | Persimmon |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | — | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 18.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 42 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | PaperDoc | Momenta Lab LLC |
Customer experience
PaperDoc
Persimmon
In-app purchases
PaperDoc
- Pro monthly$12.991 Month
- Pro yearly$129.991 Year
Persimmon
No in-app purchases









