# Noteful vs Wellnote

The clearest difference is monetization model: Wellnote at free against Noteful's freemium. Wellnote also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 16.4). Noteful's advantage is ratings volume (24K vs 914) and review sentiment (87% vs 77%). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Noteful sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Wellnote sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Noteful against 4.7 for Wellnote. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Noteful has 24K ratings behind it against 914, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Noteful's written reviews are positive against 77% of Wellnote's.

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Noteful | Wellnote |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (24K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334/reviews)** | [4.7 (914 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wellnote-ai-notes-pdf-docs/id6450023979/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **24K** | 914 |
| Positive reviews | **87.1% of reviews** | 77.1% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Fortnightly |
| Monetization | Freemium | **Free** |
| Size | 157 MB | 445 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | **14.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Noteful Technologies Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1587904336) | [MAXEYE US INC.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1804912173) |

## What reviewers say

### 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.)


### Wellnote

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/wellnote-ai-notes-pdf-docs/id6450023979)

Experience natural handwriting with a stylus for note-taking and document annotation. Organize your thoughts with categorization and search, and study more effectively using split-screen and custom templates. Import and mark up PDFs, Word, and PPT files for interactive learning.

**Highlights:** Real handwriting experience with stylus, Categorize and search notes, Import and annotate PDFs, Word, PPT, Split-screen for multitasking, Customizable templates, Masking tape feature for memorization

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (4)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AI+VIP | $1.99 | per month |
| AI+VIP | $10.99 | per year |
| AI Pro VIP | $99.99 | per year |
| AI Credits | $9.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Noteful free?

Noteful is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Wellnote free?

Wellnote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Noteful or Wellnote?

Noteful is rated higher. Noteful averages 4.8 out of 5 from 24K ratings, while Wellnote averages 4.7 from 914 ratings.

### Do Noteful or Wellnote have ads?

Neither Noteful nor Wellnote shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Noteful or Wellnote?

Noteful ships an update fortnightly, and Wellnote fortnightly. Most recently, Noteful was updated on October 14, 2026 and Wellnote on October 13, 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.*