GUGA vs LiveNote
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GUGA
This app combines notebook, whiteboard, and card functionalities for diverse learning needs. It allows for importing various formats, multi-layer handwriting, and creating interconnected learning materials. Share your progress and access cross-device data with ease.
- Import various notebook formats
- Multi-layer handwriting support
- Create and link cards
- Multi-level whiteboard functionality
- Cross-device data sharing
- Community sharing platform
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GUGA is a hyper learning tool that can meet your learning needs in different scenarios. “Notebook”, “Whiteboard” and “Cards” are the three most important functions of GUGA. In addition, GUGA also provides users with a community-SharePlace to share learning data; and provides a "Inspiration Shorthand" function to send data and record information across devices; and GUGA also provides a large number of shortcuts for you to use after connecting to the keyboard mouse. The “Notebook” is the most common learning material and the most basic learning scenario. GUGA's notebook: 1. Not only other notebook software, but also support a variety of formats to be imported into notebooks, create new notebooks, add/reduce pages, provide more than 100 inner pages and cover templates, DIY outline catalogues, edit page jumps, import pictures/text, etc. 2. It also supports adding an unlimited number of handwriting layers to each page of the notebook, hiding/displaying/merging handwriting layers, which is convenient for brushing questions and other uses when learning. And, 3. You can also long press to select the content on the notebook to mark/excerpt while writing and taking notes, and make cards for other uses based on the excerpt content. The “Whiteboard” is a multi-data learning console and a richer learning scenario. GUGA's whiteboard: 1. Support the import of multiple notebooks and use them in one whiteboard at the same time. You can also add/import data in other formats to learn and use them together. 2. Provide a notebook floating window system, which makes it more convenient for you to use multiple notebooks and whiteboards at the same time. The notebook in the whiteboard can be presented in the form of a floating window. The floating window has a variety of states (maximizing/mini window/up and down left and right side windows), which can hide/close/display all floating windows with one click; support floating window memory, type again Open the whiteboard, and all floating windows that are not closed can continue to be used. 3 Provide the "multi-level" whiteboard function. The whiteboard can create a lower-layer whiteboard, or it can be connected with other whiteboards to form a link relationship, thus creating a relationship between learning scenes. 4 You can copy the selected content in the floating notebook to the whiteboard to form a card. The cards on the whiteboard can be freely combined and split, and the cards can also be connected to form a brain map; the jump relationship can be set between the cards. 5 The whiteboard can be divided by frame, and it can also be positioned with pins to make it easier to use and manage the whiteboard content. In addition, 6 The entire whiteboard can be emitted as pdf, and the frame can also be emitted as a multi-page PDF, and the jump relationship between the frames will also be retained. The card is the achievement of atomization learning, and the card package is the collection of your achievements. GUGA's card: 1. Excerpt cards in the notebook and cards on the whiteboard can be collected in the card package. 2. You can use the "Inspiration Catcher" function of the GUGA WeChat official account/browser's GUGA plug-in to transfer the information you want to save to any of your card package at any time. 3. Each card is a "blocked" rich text editor, which can be combined and split on the whiteboard, or any block can be set as an answer block in flash card mode. 4. Card packs can be converted between ordinary packs and flash card packs; the function of flash card packs is consistent with other flash card software (Anki). 5. Each flash card pack can choose different learning modes and different memory algorithms to help you better learn and review cards. In addition, 6. The daily learning plan of flash cards will automatically appear in the GUGA log (My Logbook) on the right to learn flash card packages at any time. Have Fun with GUGA 2.0, and Enjoy Your Serious Learning Power.
LiveNote
This app allows users to create handwritten journals, diaries, and notes using a stylus or finger. It features a realistic page-turning design, the ability to embed Live Photos, and customizable image cropping. Users can also utilize special stickers and import PDF templates for a personalized experience.
- Handwritten notes and journaling
- Realistic page-turning design
- Live Photo integration
- Customizable image cropping
- Special stickers
- Import PDF templates
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LiveNote 是一款专为手写设计的手账、日记、笔记类 App 您可以使用 Apple Pencil 或者手指手绘、书写记录您的想法 LiveNote 特色功能 1. 拟物翻页设计,模拟实物手账、本子感觉 2. 支持动图记录美好时刻更生动有趣 3. 异形裁剪图片和动图,可以裁剪成任意形状或者提前定义好的形状 4. 特色贴纸 5. 支持导入 PDF 手账模板
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: GUGA at 163 against LiveNote's 5. GUGA also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 8 days). LiveNote's advantage is review sentiment (79% vs 70%). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. GUGA sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and LiveNote sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for GUGA against 4.8 for LiveNote. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GUGA has 163 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of GUGA's written reviews are positive against 79% of LiveNote's.
GUGA ships an update every 4 days, LiveNote every 8 days. Both last shipped on October 16, 2026.
| Parameter | GUGA | LiveNote |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (163 ratings) | 4.8 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.2% of reviews | 78.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 163 — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 8 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 705 MB | 114 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | GutenbergGalaxy Technology Co. | 楠 唐 |
Customer experience
GUGA
LiveNote
Bugs and requests
GUGA
Reported bugs
31 issues- Pencil direction does not rotate with pencil movement
- Cannot check Terms and Privacy Policy on first app open
- Cannot log in
- iCloud sync is glitchy
- Notes get erased when switching devices
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- All notes disappeared after not using for half a year
- Lost purchase and notes after re-login
- Cannot convert to flashcards or use mind map
- PDF viewing mode changed in version 2.0
- PDF cards open in a very small window
- Cannot view PDF in split-screen mode
- Handwritten notes on imported PDFs lost after automatic update
- Lasso tool gets stuck when moving objects
- Frequent crashes when using two-finger undo function
- Developers not responsive to English customers
- Two-finger undo is clumsy and often undoes too many steps
- Drawing a line from outside an image to inside adds points that cannot be removed by eraser
- Cannot edit curvature of drawn curves
- Lag when using ruler and pasting images
- Notes sometimes disappear and are hard to find
- Whiteboard viewing feature not yet released
- Pasting URLs no longer shows preview images
- App is laggy after update, especially when moving cards
- Cannot login with Apple account
- PDF export quality is blurry (exported as image/screenshot)
- Cannot delete pen stroke colors
- iCloud syncing is slow
- Handwriting search failed
- Card excerpt from PDF does not direct back to its location in PDF
- Vertical videos become horizontal with black bars
- Added fonts are not usable
Requested features
24 requests- Allow Apple Pencil to transition to previous tool
- Adapt to Apple Pencil Pro squeeze gesture
- Return to previous PDF card viewing mode
- Allow Mac OS version with iCloud syncing
- Add auto backup to other cloud drives (Google Drive, OneDrive)
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- Add backlinking feature
- Speedy, glitchless movement of cards
- Faster UI
- Ability to zoom with mouse scroll wheel
- Add presentation mode with set paths
- iPhone and iMac versions for syncing
- Add folder functionality for whiteboard organization
- Allow modification of pen stroke color with lasso tool
- Allow deletion of pen stroke colors
- Improve PDF export quality to vector quality
- Export whole canvas as PDF without limitation
- Allow adding more fonts
- Improve URL link preview functionality
- Allow inputting numbers to adjust pen size
- Allow editing curve curvature
- Fix issue with drawing lines from outside to inside images
- Fix issue with two-finger undo
- Allow users to see remaining free trial count
- Allow sign in with Google
LiveNote
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
GUGA
- Limited-time Discount C$4.99
- Limited-time Discount B$6.99
- Unlock GUGA PRO$9.99
LiveNote
- LiveNote 付费用户$0.99









