Comparison

Kilonotes vs Noteful

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

Head to head
About

Kilonotes

This app offers a flexible digital notebook experience for iPhone users. Easily add images, photos, and text to your notes, and customize layouts with a lasso tool. Choose from various notebook covers and paper templates to personalize your digital workspace.

Highlights
  • Customizable notebook covers and templates
  • Insert images and photos
  • Lasso tool for layout design
  • Resizable and rotatable handwriting
  • Unlimited sheets of paper
  • Undo and eraser tools
Features
Read full description

Kilonotes Pocket is a convenient and flexible note taking tool for iPhone . You could insert images or photos to enrich the content and use the lasso tool to design the layout as you like. [Customized notebooks] A wide range of covers with beautiful colors for you to choose from A rich selection of paper templates: blank, dotted, square, English, etc. Able to choose multiple paper background colors [Escape the limits of analog paper] Move, resize and rotate your handwriting Undo the typed content Adjust the eraser size and control the eraser radius Zoom in and out to write more freely Insert pictures or photos, combine text and images to help your memory recall Insert text information to collect text quickly Create unlimited sheets of paper to free up space for your memory [Contact us] We look forward to receiving your feedback. You can contact us via email :business@top-stack.com [about subscription] Users can subscribe to the monthly subscription service of kilonotes to unlock advanced content, including custom time planning books. The subscription will be automatically renewed. If the user needs to cancel the subscription, the renewal needs to be closed 24 hours before the end of the current cycle Users can close and cancel subscriptions and trials in their iTunes account. Privacy Policy: https://www.top-stack.com/page/Kilonotes_Privacy_Policy_En.html User agreement: https://www.top-stack.com/page/Kilonotes_Terms_of_use_En.html

About

Noteful

This app revolutionizes paperless note-taking on iPad, allowing for handwritten notes, document annotation, and knowledge organization. It offers a fluid writing experience, PDF markup, powerful tagging, and audio recording synced with notes.

Highlights
  • Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil
  • PDF and document annotation
  • Organize notes with tags
  • Layers for annotations
  • Audio recording synced with notes
  • Import PDFs and MS Office documents
Features
Read full description

Noteful is your one-stop note-taking app to experience the new paperless revolution on iPad. Perfect for annotating documents, taking class notes or even building your personal knowledge system. It is time to put aside the paper clutter, as Noteful is a versatile tool that helps you to accelerate your learning and knowledge work. Take Beautiful Handwritten Notes • Natural, fluid and precise handwriting experience • Precise handwriting on iPad with Apple Pencil native support • Custom-built ink engine InfiniteStroke that captures and converts your strokes into high-resolution vector ink • 3 brushes available: ballpoint pen, fountain pen and highlighter • Switch between pen sizes and colours • Recognise geometrical shapes Markup, Highlight, Annotate • Import PDFs, MS Office documents to a notebook • Add images, shapes and typed text to notes • Use multiple paper templates in a single notebook • Export and share handwritten annotations as PDF • Use Quick Create to create a new notebook for quick sketching Powerful Tagging • Organise quickly by tagging with #tag or even #nested/tag anywhere in notebooks • More flexible than folders; Notes can be organised by subjects, by topics or by priorities • Browse notebooks or pages by tags • Rename, delete or re-assign tags to easily re-organise your library Layers in Notebook • Add annotation on separate layers without changing original content* • Hide or show layers independently • Rearrange layers • Make it possible to composite complex layout* All Your Notes, All the Time • Sync to all your iPhone and iPad devices* • Take textbooks, slides, handwritten notes and PDF documents with you wherever you go • Notebooks synced with iCloud are encrypted via account-based keys Powerful Editing • Erase strokes with eraser • Double tap on Apple Pencil to switch to eraser tool • Move and resize annotations with lasso tool • Unlimited undo, redo • Support Split View for multitasking Audio Record Notes • Record audio while you take notes • Audio playback position synced with the notes Modern App Design • A minimalist UI that maximizes content space • Streamlined design that requires fewer taps for common functions • Different orientations are available for the main toolbar • A clean UI that lets you focus on note-taking and the content We will be adding new features so please stay tuned for future updates. — Noteful is free to use without time limit but with certain features (marked with*) only available to users who upgrade to Noteful Pro via In-app purchase. Noteful Pro is available for one-time purchase and the features will be unlocked forever. — If you have support questions or product suggestions, please contact us by support. Wishing you happy note-taking! Customer Support: support@getnoteful.com Privacy Policy: https://www.getnoteful.com/privacy

Screenshots

Kilonotes4 screens
Noteful4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Noteful at none against Kilonotes's shown. Noteful also leads on ratings volume (24K vs 864). Kilonotes's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.4). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. Kilonotes sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Noteful 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Kilonotes against 4.8 for Noteful. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Noteful has 24K ratings behind it against 864, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 88% and 87% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Kilonotes ships an update every 2 weeks, Noteful fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Kilonotes versus Noteful: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKilonotesNoteful
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (864 ratings)4.8 (24K ratings) — better
Positive reviews87.7% of reviews — better86.9% of reviews
Number of ratings86424K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size230 MB157 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHefei T-Stack Information Technology Co., Ltd.Noteful Technologies Ltd

Customer experience

Kilonotes

All ratings857 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.9%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews881 reviews
Positive87.7%
Neutral6.0%
Negative6.2%

Noteful

All ratings23,951 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral2.5%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews1,241 reviews
Positive86.9%
Neutral6.5%
Negative6.6%

User reviews

Kilonotes

From 864 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🎨 Highly customizable
  • 🆓 Lots of free features
  • 📚 Great for note-taking and journaling
  • 🧠 Helps with organization and productivity

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
  • 🔒 Limited functionality without premium subscription
  • 🖍️ Difficulty resizing text and images
  • 🔍 Lack of search or navigation features
  • 🌙 No dark mode option

Noteful

From 24K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth writing experience
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 💡 Layers feature
  • 👍 Affordable one-time purchase
  • 🚀 Efficient and lightweight

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
  • 🔍 No handwriting recognition or search
  • 🔍 Limited text editing options
  • 🔍 Lack of advanced features like math conversion
  • 🔍 Exporting PDFs loses some formatting

Bugs and requests

Kilonotes

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when trying to insert images
  • Text formatting issues when switching between devices
  • Inconsistent performance on older devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Sync across devices
  • More free templates and stickers
  • Improved text editing tools
  • Ability to export notes as PDF
  • Customizable backgrounds and layouts

Noteful

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Syncing issues across devices
  • Lasso tool not working properly with PDFs
  • Eraser tool not functioning as expected

Requested features

6 requests
  • Handwriting recognition and search
  • More text editing options (bullet lists, etc.)
  • Improved PDF handling and annotations
  • Custom templates and sticker support
  • Expanded cloud storage options (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.)
Show 1 more
  • Customizable pen pressure and smoothing

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Kilonotes

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly Subscription$0.991 Month
  • Quarterly subscription$2.493 Months
  • Annual Subscription$3.991 Year
One-time2
  • BerryBaby 2022 Handbook$1.99
  • Salted fish daily$1.99
1 purchases

Noteful

One-time1
  • Noteful Pro, Lifetime$6.99

Questions

Is Kilonotes free?
Kilonotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Noteful free?
Noteful is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Kilonotes or Noteful?
Noteful is rated higher. Kilonotes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 864 ratings, while Noteful averages 4.8 from 24K ratings.
Do Kilonotes or Noteful have ads?
Kilonotes shows ads; Noteful does not.
Which is updated more often, Kilonotes or Noteful?
Kilonotes ships an update every 2 weeks, and Noteful fortnightly. Most recently, Kilonotes was updated on October 24, 2026 and Noteful on October 25, 2026.

Other comparisons