Comparison

Calligrapher vs Element Note

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Calligrapher

Transform your handwriting into a custom font and use it across your device. Design beautiful pages with personalized backgrounds and writing styles. Export your creations as PDFs or images for printing and sharing.

Highlights
  • Handwriting to font conversion
  • Custom keyboard for typing
  • Page designer with custom backgrounds
  • AI-powered letter scanning
  • Font editing tools
  • Export as PDF or image
Features
Read full description

Create your own handwriting font in minutes and use it anywhere. Turn your real handwriting into a custom cursive or calligraphy-style font and type with it in our keyboard, write notes, design pages, and share unique messages. Handwriting to Font – instantly. Scan your letters from paper, or draw them on your device. Our smart font maker extracts every character and builds a clean, beautiful font you can edit anytime. Write in your own style. Use our handwriting keyboard to type messages, notes, captions, and stories that look like they were written by hand. Perfect for personal messages, journaling, schoolwork, creative projects, or aesthetic posts. Powerful font editor. • Scan letters with AI or capture them from images • Draw characters by hand • Adjust letter spacing, size, and curves • Modify or replace any letter later • Import .otf and .ttf fonts • Export your own font file Paper & page designer. Customize your writing page with: • Page size, colour, margins • Lined, dotted, or blank paper • Custom backgrounds • Pen colour and stroke • Letter spacing, word spacing, line height • Mirror pages for double-sided printing Create stunning handwriting pages. Write notes, letters, stories, assignments, or aesthetic layouts that look fully handwritten. Export as PDF or images and print or share them anywhere. Perfect for: • Students (essays, homework, notes) • Calligraphy and lettering lovers • Designers & creators • Personalized messages and gifts • Journaling and scrapbooking • Social media stories with your real handwriting Font Usage License: Fonts you create with this app are for personal use only. To use your font commercially — for example, to sell it, license it, or include it in paid products — an active subscription is required. Subscriptions: A subscription is valid for 1 week, 1 month, 3 months or 1 year, depending on the subscription type selected. Payment will be charged to your iTunes account upon confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions will automatically renewed unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime with your iTunes account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial will be forfeited if you purchase a subscription. Terms of use: https://kreativityapps.com/terms-of-use-hw Privacy policy: https://kreativityapps.com/privacy-policy-hw

About

Element Note

This app offers a distraction-free digital notebook experience with advanced handwriting, PDF annotation, and sketching capabilities. It features unique brushes, a powerful rendering engine, and smart organization tools. Sync your notes across devices and collaborate with others seamlessly.

Highlights
  • Unique handwriting brushes
  • Smooth drawing engine
  • PDF annotation
  • Text, shape, and image attachments
  • On-device OCR search
  • Smart dark mode
  • iCloud sync and collaboration
Features
Read full description

Element Note is the next-gen note taking, PDF annotation, and light sketching app. We stripped down the unnecessaries and carefully polished the elemental functions for a digital notebook. With a modern look and powerful features, Element Note strives to provide an elegant writing space free of distractions. Features: Unique brushes - Pencil (HB Pencil, Mechanical Pencil) - Pen (Pen, Line Pen, Fountain Pen) - Brush (Art Brush, Round Brush) - Marker (Marker, Round Marker) Best-in-class note rendering engine - Smooth and fluid drawing powered by Metal technology - Support gradient ink for more expressive notes Powerful attachments - Text - Shape - Sticker - Image Universal Search - Search through your PDF & Handwritting using on device OCR Smart Darkmode - Smartly adapts all of your notes to the system darkmode without changing the paper or stroke colors. iCloud Sync & Collaboration - Sync via your personal iCloud (No data is passed to our server) - Collaborate through iCloud collaboration for up to 100 users. Desktop class organization - Intuitive multi-select drag and drop gesture to organize your notes or pages Element Note is free to try for up to 3 notes. Unlock the full app with an in app purchase to create unlimited notes. Terms and Conditions https://elementnote.app/terms Privacy Policy https://elementnote.app/privacy

Screenshots

Calligrapher4 screens
Element Note4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Element Note at 4.6 against Calligrapher's 3.8. Element Note also leads on review sentiment (70% vs 31%) and ads (none vs shown). Calligrapher's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Calligrapher sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and Element Note sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Element Note holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Element Note has 2.6K ratings behind it against 115, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 31% of Calligrapher's written reviews are positive against 70% of Element Note's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calligrapher ships an update every 5 weeks, Element Note fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Calligrapher versus Element Note: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalligrapherElement Note
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (115 ratings)4.6 (2.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews30.6% of reviews69.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1152.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size133 MB129 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKREATIVITY APPS SRLSoysauce Lab

Customer experience

Calligrapher

All ratings103 ratings
Positive70.9%
Neutral1.9%
Negative27.2%
Written reviews36 reviews
Positive30.6%
Neutral5.6%
Negative63.9%

Element Note

All ratings2,625 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral4.1%
Negative5.4%
Written reviews361 reviews
Positive69.8%
Neutral11.4%
Negative18.8%

Bugs and requests

Calligrapher

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Element Note

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes and files randomly disappearing
  • Inconsistent behavior when using the floating keyboard
  • Handwriting recognition not working as expected
  • Exported PDFs losing formatting and background colors

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ruler tool
  • Ability to resize/rotate selections
  • Improved text editing and formatting
  • Presentation mode for connecting to displays
  • Ability to import/export multiple files at once
Show 1 more
  • Seasonal or custom sticker packs

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Calligrapher

Subscriptions7
  • Weekly subscription7 Days trial$1.997 Days
  • Weekly subscription7 Days trial$2.997 Days
  • Weekly subscription7 Days trial$4.997 Days
Show 4 more
  • Weekly subscription7 Days trial$5.997 Days
  • Monthly subscription$6.991 Month
  • 3 months subscription$15.493 Months
  • Annual subscription$69.991 Year
One-time3
  • Einstein font$1.99
  • Curie font$1.99
  • Lifetime$89.99
3 purchases

Element Note

Subscriptions2
  • Element Note Yearly$3.491 Year
  • Element Note Yearly$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$14.99

Questions

Is Calligrapher free?
Calligrapher is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Element Note free?
Element Note is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Calligrapher or Element Note?
Element Note is rated higher. Calligrapher averages 3.8 out of 5 from 115 ratings, while Element Note averages 4.6 from 2.6K ratings.
Do Calligrapher or Element Note have ads?
Calligrapher shows ads; Element Note does not.
Which is updated more often, Calligrapher or Element Note?
Calligrapher ships an update every 5 weeks, and Element Note fortnightly. Most recently, Calligrapher was updated on November 9, 2026 and Element Note on November 7, 2026.

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