# Noteful vs Note Fold

The clearest difference is ads: Noteful at none against Note Fold's shown. Note Fold's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Noteful sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Note Fold sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Noteful ships an update every 3 weeks, Note Fold every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Noteful | Note Fold |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (24K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noteful-notes-and-pdf-markup/id1587904334/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **24K** | — |
| Positive reviews | 87.6% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | **Every 3 days** |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Size | 158 MB | 62 MB |
| Requires iOS | 14.3 | **13.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Noteful Technologies Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1587904336) | [Barrel of Sunshine](https://appshunter.io/developer/1774936914) |

## 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.)


### Note Fold

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/note-fold-structured-notes/id6757318935)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly - Note Fold Pro | $1.99 | per month |
| Annual - Note Fold Pro | $9.99 | per year |
| Lifetime - Note Fold Pro | $24.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Noteful free?

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

### Is Note Fold free?

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

### Do Noteful or Note Fold have ads?

Note Fold shows ads; Noteful does not.

### Which is updated more often, Noteful or Note Fold?

Noteful ships an update every 3 weeks, and Note Fold every 3 days. Most recently, Noteful was updated on September 25, 2026 and Note Fold on September 15, 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.*