Comparison

GUGA vs BBnotes

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Import various notebook formats
  • Multi-layer handwriting support
  • Create and link cards
  • Multi-level whiteboard functionality
  • Cross-device data sharing
  • Community sharing platform
Read full description

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.

About

BBnotes

This app acts as an AI-powered study companion, helping you prepare for classes, take precise notes during lectures, and review material effectively. It offers features like AI summarization, parallel translation, audio-note synchronization, and automatic mistake book creation for exam preparation.

Highlights
  • AI-powered PDF summarization
  • Parallel language translation
  • Audio-note synchronization
  • Handwriting recognition
  • AI Tutor for explanations
  • Automatic mistake book
  • One-click export to study guides
Features
Read full description

BBnotes is an AI notebook for international students studying in a second language. Translate PDFs side by side, follow lectures with bilingual captions, handwrite with Apple Pencil and ask an AI tutor about the exact passage, formula or note on the page—all in one study workspace. READ AND TRANSLATE PDFs • View the original text and its translation side by side. • Scroll both versions together to keep the same passage aligned. • Keep the source visible while you highlight, annotate and handwrite. FOLLOW LECTURES IN TWO LANGUAGES • Record a lecture and see bilingual captions on supported devices. • Review a timestamped bilingual transcript after class. • Jump back to the relevant moment instead of searching the entire recording. ASK AI IN CONTEXT • Circle a passage, formula or handwriting and ask directly from the page. • Keep each question and explanation connected to the source material. • Get guided explanations and next-step prompts when working through a problem. WRITE, ORGANISE AND REVIEW • Take handwritten notes with Apple Pencil on iPad. • Generate an outline to navigate long documents. • Keep important explanations beside the material they refer to. • Bring reading, writing, translation, lecture audio and AI support into one notebook. BUILT AROUND THE STUDY DAY Use BBnotes before class to prepare, during class to follow along, and after class to return to what was said and where it appeared in your notes. Download BBnotes for free. New users get a 14-day Pro trial. Optional Pro plans and AI point packs are available as in-app purchases. Pricing is determined by your local App Store. Available on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Some features require compatible devices and system versions, and feature availability may vary by platform. Terms of Use: https://bbnotes-legal.liushenpeng1.workers.dev/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://bbnotes-legal.liushenpeng1.workers.dev/privacy.html Apple Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

GUGA1 screens
BBnotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: BBnotes at 100% against GUGA's 70%. GUGA's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (163 vs 8). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. GUGA sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and BBnotes sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

GUGA holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GUGA has 163 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 70% of GUGA's written reviews are positive against 100% of BBnotes's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GUGA ships an update every 4 days, BBnotes every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on July 3, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
GUGA versus BBnotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGUGABBnotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (163 ratings) — better4.4 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews70.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings163 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 4 daysEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
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
Size705 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGutenbergGalaxy Technology Co.甡朋 刘

Customer experience

GUGA

All ratings163 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral3.1%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews57 reviews
Positive70.2%
Neutral7.0%
Negative22.8%

BBnotes

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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
Show 26 more
  • 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)
Show 19 more
  • 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

BBnotes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

GUGA

One-time3
  • Limited-time Discount C$4.99
  • Limited-time Discount B$6.99
  • Unlock GUGA PRO$9.99
8 purchases

BBnotes

Subscriptions3
  • Pro Monthly$8.991 Month
  • pro semester$19.993 Months
  • Pro Yearly$69.991 Year
One-time5
  • 500 AI Points$2.99
  • 1000 AI Points$4.99
  • 3000 AI Points$12.99
Show 2 more
  • 5000 AI Points$17.99
  • 10000 AI Points$24.99

Questions

Is GUGA free?
GUGA is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BBnotes free?
BBnotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, GUGA or BBnotes?
GUGA is rated higher. GUGA averages 4.7 out of 5 from 163 ratings, while BBnotes averages 4.4 from 8 ratings.
Do GUGA or BBnotes have ads?
Neither GUGA nor BBnotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GUGA or BBnotes?
GUGA ships an update every 4 days, and BBnotes every 3 days. Most recently, GUGA was updated on July 3, 2026 and BBnotes on September 13, 2026.

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