Noteful vs Better Notes
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
Better Notes
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Better Notes is a focused idea studio for handwriting, sketching, typed notes and PDF annotation. It combines the freedom of paper with the organisation and editing tools of a modern native app. WRITE NATURALLY Capture smooth, pressure-aware ink with fountain pen, ballpoint, fineliner, pencil, calligraphy, brush, reed pen, marker and highlighter tools. Adjust colour, width and stabilisation, then erase by stroke or precisely through ink. BUILD PAGES YOUR WAY Choose blank, ruled, dotted, grid, Cornell and margin paper. Mix A4, A5, Letter and Legal pages in portrait or landscape—even inside the same notebook. Add, duplicate, bookmark and reorder your thinking page by page. MORE THAN HANDWRITING Add editable styled text, shapes and images. Move, rotate, recolour and organise content across independent layers with visibility, locking and opacity controls. ANNOTATE PDFs Import a PDF, write directly over it and keep its links intact. Export finished work as PDF, PNG, JPEG, Markdown or plain text whenever you need to share or continue elsewhere. RECORD THE MOMENT Attach audio to a page during a lecture, meeting or brainstorming session. Rename recordings and jump back to the page where each recording began. FIND AND ORGANISE IDEAS Create spaces and nested folders, add tags, mark favourites, revisit recent notes and recover items from Trash. Search notebook titles, tags and typed page content from one fast local library. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Better Notes works locally and offline. Your notebooks and recordings stay on your device unless you choose to export or share them. There is no required account, advertising or behavioural tracking. BUILT FOR APPLE DEVICES Enjoy a responsive light interface designed for touch, Apple Pencil, pointer and keyboard. Better Notes supports keyboard shortcuts, accessibility labels and Reduce Motion. Make space for your next thought—and keep every stroke editable.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Better Notes at none against Noteful's 1. Noteful's advantage is iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, ads and device support 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. Better Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Noteful | Better Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (24K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 86.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 24K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 157 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Noteful Technologies Ltd | Luke Mclaughlin |
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.)
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- Customizable pen pressure and smoothing
Better Notes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Noteful
- Noteful Pro, Lifetime$6.99
Better Notes
No in-app purchases









