# Noteful vs UltraNotes

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.

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 82% 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.

## The numbers

| Metric | Noteful | UltraNotes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (24K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334/reviews)** | [4.6 (187 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ultranotes-note-taking-and-pdf/id6468902627/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **24K** | 187 |
| Positive reviews | **87.0% of reviews** | 81.6% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Fortnightly** | Every 3 weeks |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 157 MB | 30 MB |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | **16.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Noteful Technologies Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1587904336) | [Skyjos Co., Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/499470116) |

## 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.)


### UltraNotes

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ultranotes-note-taking-and-pdf/id6468902627)

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.

**Highlights:** 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

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| UltraNotes Pro Lifetime | $4.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- ✍️ 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

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 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

**Reported bugs**

- 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

**Requested features**

- 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


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Noteful free?

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

### Is UltraNotes free?

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

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

Noteful is rated higher. Noteful averages 4.8 out of 5 from 24K ratings, while UltraNotes averages 4.6 from 187 ratings.

### Do Noteful or UltraNotes have ads?

Neither Noteful nor UltraNotes shows ads.

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

Noteful ships an update fortnightly, and UltraNotes every 3 weeks. Most recently, Noteful was updated on November 7, 2026 and UltraNotes on November 3, 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.*