Comparison

PDF Editor vs Notewise

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

Head to head
About

PDF Editor

This application allows users to annotate PDF documents on Mac and iOS devices. Easily add notes, highlights, and comments to your files with a simple and intuitive interface. It's ideal for providing feedback or filling out forms.

Highlights
  • Add notes and comments
  • Highlight important text
  • Fill in PDF forms
  • User-friendly interface
  • Cross-device compatibility
Features
Read full description

PDF Editor is a powerful PDF annotator for Mac and iOS . It allows you to add notes, highlights, comments, and annotations to your PDF documents with ease. With a user-friendly interface, you can quickly navigate through your documents and make changes with just a few clicks. Whether you need to add feedback to a colleague's report, highlight important information, or fill in forms, PDF Editor is the perfect tool for you.

About

Notewise

This app offers a versatile digital canvas for note-taking, PDF annotation, and sketching. It leverages AI to summarize content, generate quizzes, and transcribe audio. Designed for students, professionals, and creators, it provides tools for organization, collaboration, and enhanced productivity.

Highlights
  • AI-powered note summarization and quizzing
  • Handwritten notes and PDF annotation
  • Audio recording with synced transcripts
  • OCR for searchable handwriting
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Infinite freeform canvas
Features
Read full description

Featured multiple times on the App Store. 8M+ downloads. Trusted by millions worldwide. Your meetings, lectures, ideas, and research don’t arrive in one format. Your notes shouldn’t have to either. Notewise brings together what you write, record, draw, read, and save. Capture it once, then find it again, ask about it, learn from it, and build on it. Notewise is an AI note-taking app for iPhone and iPad with handwritten notes, audio recording and transcription, PDF annotation, documents, web sources, and AI search and chat. ■ CAPTURE EVERYTHING IN ONE NOTE • Write, type, or handwrite notes • Sketch ideas and diagrams on a freeform canvas • Record meetings, lectures, conversations, and voice notes • Import 25+ file formats, including PDFs, documents, slides, images, and more • Add website links and bring web research into your notes • Scan paper notes and whiteboards Start with whatever is in front of you. Add things in any order, and keep related notes, recordings, files, and ideas together as you go. ■ SEARCH & ASK ACROSS YOUR NOTES Search handwritten notes, typed text, audio transcripts, PDFs, documents, and images. Ask Notewise AI about the note you’re in or across all your notes. Search the web when you need more context. Answers can cite the notes, recordings, files, and sources behind them, so you can always see where the information came from. Search less. Pick up where you left off and keep thinking. ■ RECORD, TRANSCRIBE & ASK IN REAL TIME Stay focused on the meeting, lecture, or conversation instead of trying to write down every word. • Automatic transcription in 20+ languages • Key points, decisions, and next steps • Ask questions while a meeting or lecture is still happening • Ask across past recordings later • Keep audio, meeting notes, PDFs, and related documents together Meeting notes become more than transcripts. Class notes stay useful long after the lecture ends. ■ WRITE, DRAW & ANNOTATE FREELY Handwrite a page. Draw a diagram. Work through a problem. Mark up a PDF. Move things around until the idea makes sense. Choose from 30+ brushes and tools — including pencil, oil paint, watercolor, highlighter, lasso, tape, shapes, tables, rulers, sticky notes, and more. Start from 20+ templates or create your own, from Cornell notes to meeting notes and custom workflows. ■ TURN NOTES INTO FLASHCARDS, QUIZZES & PODCASTS Good notes don’t all look the same. Turn study notes, meeting notes, or research into AI notes, summaries, flashcards, quizzes, podcasts, and more — using the same material in the format that helps you most. Summarize a recording. Ask questions about a PDF. Search handwritten notes. Find connections across different notes. Sometimes you want AI. Sometimes you just want a blank page. Notewise gives you both. ■ FOR WORK, STUDY & RESEARCH Use Notewise for meeting notes, lecture recording, handwritten and digital notes, voice notes, PDF annotation, research papers, brainstorming, and search across everything you save. On iOS 27, use Siri AI to create, edit, and find information in your notes, or Visual Intelligence to surface related content from what you see. Whether you’re building a company, studying for an exam, researching your next idea, or simply trying to remember what matters, Notewise gives your thinking one place to grow. ■ PRIVACY FIRST Notewise is built by a small, independent team. We don’t sell your data or show ads. Your notes are encrypted, secure, and under your control. ■ TRY NOTEWISE FREE Start with 10 free canvas notes and import your own slides and documents. Explore Notewise with a 7-day free trial, while core features remain free to use. Write. Record. Draw. Remember. Privacy Policy: https://www.notewise.dev/privacy-policy Terms & Conditions: https://www.notewise.dev/terms-conditions

Screenshots

PDF Editor3 screens
Notewise4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PDF Editor at none against Notewise's 16. PDF Editor also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Notewise's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks) and ratings volume (284 vs 20). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Notewise sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. PDF Editor asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Notewise holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notewise has 284 ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 57% of PDF Editor's written reviews are positive against 53% of Notewise's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, Notewise every 2 days. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PDF Editor versus Notewise: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF EditorNotewise
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (20 ratings)4.6 (284 ratings) — better
Positive reviews57.1% of reviews — better53.0% of reviews
Number of ratings20284 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB426 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRainbowFactory LTDZIIKR

Customer experience

PDF Editor

All ratings20 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive57.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative42.9%

Notewise

All ratings283 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral2.8%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews151 reviews
Positive53.0%
Neutral12.6%
Negative34.4%

Bugs and requests

PDF Editor

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Notewise

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • App crashes on every update
  • Handwritten content randomly disappears
  • Annotations vanishing intermittently
  • Lasso selection tool malfunctions
  • Text input fields not responding
Show 13 more
  • App freezes when highlighting large areas with markers
  • Handwriting input not registering
  • Palm rejection issues causing unwanted marks
  • Shape recognition failures
  • Scribble-to-erase function unreliable
  • PDF export causing app crashes
  • Notes auto-deleting or getting corrupted
  • Sync getting stuck mid-process
  • Slow and delayed cross-device synchronization
  • UI elements obscuring page content after 20+ minutes of use
  • Copy-paste functionality limited and unreliable
  • App performance degradation over time
  • Glitchy behavior with shape drawing mode

Requested features

20 requests
  • Add layers feature for advanced editing
  • Implement automatic zoom box that follows writing
  • Add pencil, waterbrush, and crayon drawing tools
  • Sticker marketplace or sticker customization
  • Horizontal page flipping/swiping navigation
Show 15 more
  • Ability to pause real-time syncing
  • MacBook native app with full feature parity
  • More shape customization (arcs for graphing)
  • Improved text formatting and customization options
  • Single page view mode (vertical and horizontal)
  • Notebook organization beyond just pages
  • Magnifying glass tool like GoodNotes
  • More pen and pencil style options
  • Line spacing customization for text
  • PDF import from web/internet
  • Printing functionality
  • Audio recording and sharing capabilities
  • Hyperlink support on desktop version
  • Scroll locking to prevent accidental page movement
  • Better shape recognition (arrows, parentheses)

In-app purchases

None

PDF Editor

No in-app purchases

16 purchases

Notewise

Subscriptions6
  • Notewise Cloud Basic Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Notewise Cloud Starter Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Notewise Cloud Pro Monthly$15.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Notewise Cloud Basic Yearly$28.991 Year
  • Notewise Cloud Starter Yearly7 Days trial$36.991 Year
  • Notewise Cloud Pro Yearly7 Days trial$129.991 Year
One-time10
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$1.99
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$2.99
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$3.99
Show 7 more
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$4.99
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$5.99
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$6.99
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$7.99
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$8.99
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$9.99
  • Notewise Unlimited$19.99

Questions

Is PDF Editor free?
PDF Editor is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Notewise free?
Notewise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PDF Editor or Notewise?
Notewise is rated higher. PDF Editor averages 4.5 out of 5 from 20 ratings, while Notewise averages 4.6 from 284 ratings.
Do PDF Editor or Notewise have ads?
Neither PDF Editor nor Notewise shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Editor or Notewise?
PDF Editor ships an update every 2 weeks, and Notewise every 2 days. Most recently, PDF Editor was updated on October 25, 2026 and Notewise on October 25, 2026.

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