Comparison

archive vs Folio

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

Head to head
About

archive

Access and view scientific preprints from arXiv.org with this free application. Search for papers across various scientific disciplines and read them directly within the app. All features are available without cost.

Highlights
  • arXiv preprint search
  • PDF viewer
  • Access scientific papers
  • Free to use
  • Supports multiple disciplines
Read full description

It's arXiv preprint search & PDF viewer app. All features are completely free to use. arXiv.org e-Print archive https://arxiv.org/ URL scheme: preprint:// Note: - This app uses arXiv APIs. - This app is run by an individual and has nothing to do with arXiv. Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. --- * arXiv arXiv (pronounced "archive"—the X represents the Greek letter chi [χ]) is an open-access repository of electronic preprints and postprints (known as e-prints) approved for posting after moderation, but not peer review. It consists of scientific papers in the fields of mathematics, physics, astronomy, electrical engineering, computer science, quantitative biology, statistics, mathematical finance and economics, which can be accessed online. In many fields of mathematics and physics, almost all scientific papers are self-archived on the arXiv repository before publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Some publishers also grant permission for authors to archive the peer-reviewed postprint. Begun on August 14, 1991, arXiv.org passed the half-million-article milestone on October 3, 2008, and had hit a million by the end of 2014. As of April 2021, the submission rate is about 16,000 articles per month. Quoted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArXiv

About

Folio

Features
Read full description

Folio turns staying current with research into something you actually look forward to. Instead of cluttered tables and endless tabs, you get one paper per screen — swipe up for the next, just like your favorite feed. Pulled live from the open-access world: arXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv, OpenAlex, Europe PMC, and Semantic Scholar. Whether you're a researcher, a grad student, or just science-curious, Folio meets you where your attention already is. WHY FOLIO • One paper at a time - a calm, full-screen feed instead of noisy lists • Real coverage - millions of preprints and papers across physics, biology, medicine, CS, and beyond • Math that renders - equations display properly, not as broken symbols • Save & tag - build your own library and organize it your way • Tune your feed - pick the sources and topics you care about • Fast and private - your library and settings live on your device, no account required OPTIONAL AI (BETA) Want a hand making sense of a paper? Folio's optional AI features can: • Summarize at your level - explain-like-I'm-12, standard, or expert • Ask the paper - get answers grounded in the abstract • Translate - read papers in your language • Synthesize - pull themes across a set of papers AI is completely optional and off by default. The whole app works without it. During the beta, AI runs on your own Anthropic Claude API key, stored only on your device — there's no subscription and nothing to buy inside the app. NO ADS. NO TRACKING. NO ACCOUNT. Folio doesn't sell your data and doesn't show ads. Your saved papers, tags, and settings stay on your device. Science moves fast. Folio helps you keep up - one swipe at a time.

Screenshots

archive4 screens
Folio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Folio at none against archive's shown. Folio also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

archive ships an update every 2 months, Folio weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
archive versus Folio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterarchiveFolio
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB6 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperFugaPiyo Inc.Saksham Gupta

In-app purchases

None

archive

No in-app purchases

None

Folio

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is archive free?
archive is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Folio free?
Folio is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do archive or Folio have ads?
archive shows ads; Folio does not.
Which is updated more often, archive or Folio?
archive ships an update every 2 months, and Folio weekly. Most recently, archive was updated on November 3, 2026 and Folio on October 25, 2026.

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