# Noteful vs JustNotes

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: JustNotes at none against Noteful's 1. JustNotes also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Noteful's advantage is ratings volume (24K vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.5). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Noteful sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. JustNotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

JustNotes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Noteful has 24K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Noteful ships an update fortnightly, JustNotes monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Noteful | JustNotes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.8 (24K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334/reviews) | **[5.0 (1 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/justnotes-notetakingmarkup/id6751740392/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **24K** | 1 |
| Positive reviews | 86.9% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Fortnightly** | Monthly |
| Monetization | Freemium | **Free** |
| Size | 157 MB | 5 MB |
| Requires iOS | **16.4** | 18.5 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Noteful Technologies Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1587904336) | [Neel Roy](https://appshunter.io/developer/1834533455) |

## 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.)


### JustNotes

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/justnotes-notetakingmarkup/id6751740392)

Create handwritten notes and annotate PDFs on your iPad with Apple Pencil. Organize your thoughts with folders and export them as PDFs or images. Enjoy a full-featured, offline notebook experience without ads or tracking.

**Highlights:** Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil, PDF import and annotation, Folder organization, Export as PDF or PNG, Offline functionality with autosave, Pinch-to-zoom and pan

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

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Noteful free?

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

### Is JustNotes free?

JustNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

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

JustNotes is rated higher. Noteful averages 4.8 out of 5 from 24K ratings, while JustNotes averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.

### Do Noteful or JustNotes have ads?

Neither Noteful nor JustNotes shows ads.

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

Noteful ships an update fortnightly, and JustNotes monthly. Most recently, Noteful was updated on October 29, 2026 and JustNotes on October 24, 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.*