# Kilonotes vs Noteful

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.

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.

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.

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

## The numbers

| Metric | Kilonotes | Noteful |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.7 (864 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kilonotes-pocket/id1574139091/reviews) | **[4.8 (24K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 864 | **24K** |
| Positive reviews | **87.7% of reviews** | 86.9% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | **Fortnightly** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 230 MB | 157 MB |
| Requires iOS | **13.0** | 16.4 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Hefei T-Stack Information Technology Co., Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1514322478) | [Noteful Technologies Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1587904336) |

## What reviewers say

### Kilonotes

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kilonotes-pocket/id1574139091)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (5)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Subscription | $0.99 | per month |
| Quarterly subscription | $2.49 | per 3 months |
| Annual Subscription | $3.99 | per year |
| BerryBaby 2022 Handbook | $1.99 | one-time |
| Salted fish daily | $1.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

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

**What reviewers complain about**

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

**Reported bugs**

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

**Requested features**

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


### Noteful

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Noteful Pro, Lifetime | $6.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

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

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 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

**Reported bugs**

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

**Requested features**

- 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.)


## Frequently asked 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.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*