Noteful vs UltraNotes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
UltraNotes
This app combines powerful note-taking, handwriting, and PDF annotation features. Create rich text notes, sketch with various tools, and mark up documents. Organize, search, and sync your notes across devices.
- Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil
- Rich text formatting and templates
- PDF annotation and signing
- Cross-device synchronization via iCloud
- Searchable handwriting and text
- Side-by-side multitasking on iPad/Mac
- Audio recording with notes
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UltraNotes is a powerful note-taking app and writing app that supports handwriting with Apple Pencil, typing with a keyboard, and annotating PDFs. Handwritten Notes • Create notes with covers and paper templates. Built-in 19 covers and 17 templates. And you could also import your own covers and templates. • 10+ Pens and Brushes: Ball Pen, Fountain Pen, Marker, Crayon, Water Color, Laser, Scribble, Tape etc. • Adjust the thickness and color of the pen tip • Draw perfect shapes and lines. • Write with scribble tool by using Apple Pencil, and it will convert to text instantly. • Use tape tool to help you memorize learning content. • Squeeze Apple Pencil Pro to show contextual palette. • Add text box, stickers and images to make your note more beautiful. • Export note to PDF and image Text Notes • Set headings to make TOC(Table of Contents). • Format text with bold, italics, strikethrough, underline • Highlight text with colors • Bullet List, Numbered List and To-Do List. • Set your own font, font size, line spacing, paragraph spacing, and more • Attach files and images on note. • Templates: Resume, Essay, Shopping List, To-Do List, Weekly Planner etc. • Export note to PDF, RTF, HTML, Markdown and Plain TXT Annotation • Mark up PDFs. • Sign documents Search • Search text and handwritting in notes and PDFs. Multi-task • Work with two notes side-by-side on iPad and Mac. • Drag & Drop handwriting, typed text, and images between notes. Presentation • Present your notes on TV screen via AirPlay or HDMI cable. • 3 Presentation Modes: Entire Screen, Current Page and All Pages. • Use laser tool to point out the content what you’re presenting. More • Record audio while you’re taking note. • Set reminder on note. • Organize notes into categories and folders. • Move, copy and delete notes and folders. • Show notes in grid view and list view. • Sort notes by name, date etc. • Scan physical documents and import to UltraNotes. • Import PDFs and images. • Lock app with password or Face ID. Synchronization & Backup • Synchronize notes among your iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud. • Backup notes to Google Drive. ===== CONTACT US ===== Email: support@skyjos.com Twitter: @SkyjosApps Facebook: @SkyjosApp
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Noteful at 24K against UltraNotes's 187. Noteful also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Noteful sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and UltraNotes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Noteful holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Noteful has 24K ratings behind it against 187, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of Noteful's written reviews are positive against 81% of UltraNotes's.
Noteful ships an update fortnightly, UltraNotes every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Noteful | UltraNotes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (24K ratings) — better | 4.6 (187 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 87.0% of reviews — better | 81.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 24K — better | 187 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 157 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Noteful Technologies Ltd | Skyjos Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
Noteful
UltraNotes
User reviews
Noteful
From 24K App Store ratingsWhat 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
UltraNotes
From 187 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✍️ Excellent handwriting and pen experience
- 👍 Simple and intuitive user interface
- 🎨 Variety of pen styles and drawing tools
- 💰 One-time purchase with no subscription
- 🔒 Strong privacy policy
Room to improve
- 🐛 Writing/drawing input not registering properly
- 🐛 Frequent page scrolling when attempting to write
- 🔄 Slow or unreliable iCloud sync
- 📤 Export functionality issues
- 🔍 Search feature crashes the app
Bugs and requests
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 moreShow fewer
- Customizable pen pressure and smoothing
UltraNotes
Reported bugs
12 issues- Writing and drawing input not working
- Page scrolling interferes with writing
- iCloud sync not functioning
- Export to other apps failing
- Hand gestures changing page zoom during writing
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Shape resizing not working after cutting
- Search functionality crashes app
- Added pages not saving when importing PDFs
- PDF import quirks related to iCloud sync
- App crashes causing data loss
- Pro version access lost unexpectedly
- Audio recording cannot be exported
Requested features
21 requests- Ability to lock zoom while writing with Apple Pencil
- Resize shapes after cutting/moving them
- Export notes to PDF and other apps
- Dark/light theme toggle for pages
- Nested list item support
Show 16 moreShow fewer
- Additional font options
- More sticker varieties
- Infinite canvas on all sides
- Password protection for individual notes
- Straightened highlighter tool
- Zoom video with auto-advance feature
- LaTeX conversion support
- Hierarchical folder navigation panel
- Left-right page swiping navigation
- Borderless canvas option
- Selection tool with resize capability
- One-click PDF annotation save option
- Category deletion/renaming without cloud deletion
- Audio recording export
- UI language selection independent of system settings
- Finger tap to undo functionality
In-app purchases
Noteful
- Noteful Pro, Lifetime$6.99
UltraNotes
- UltraNotes Pro Lifetime$4.99









