Comparison

NeatNotes vs PDFForge

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

Head to head
About

NeatNotes

Organize and take notes quickly with a clean interface. See full note previews, customize note styles, and set reminders. Features smart grouping and automatic link title generation.

Highlights
  • Full note previews
  • Customizable note styles (plain, sticky, lined)
  • Home screen widgets
  • Paragraph-based reminders
  • Smart Stacks for automatic note grouping
  • Readable link titles
  • Photo integration
Features
Read full description

Less is more, when it’s done right. NeatNotes gives you only what you need to organize and take notes quickly. While other apps show you a really tiny preview, with NeatNotes you can see the real note before you open it. This makes the app more fun and easier to find your notes. Make your notes personal with three different note styles. * A plain note, with extensive formatting options. * A sticky note, with large fonts, colors and checklists. * A lined note for that nostalgic yellow pad. Mini Spreadsheets. No Tables. NeatNotes lets you perform spreadsheet-like calculations directly in your notes. Type a simple math expression and the answer is suggested underneath it. Reuse a number by dragging and dropping it elsewhere in your note. This creates a reference, so when you change the original number, every reference and related calculation updates automatically. Make a list of numbers and the total is suggested above the keyboard. You can then calculate splits and averages or count the lines in a list. You can also use units of measurement for length, volume, weight and temperature in your calculations. Convert between more than 150 fiat currencies, popular cryptocurrencies, gold and silver using the latest available exchange rates. Widgets that make sense. You can see your notes on your Home Screen with widgets. You can navigate your note by paragraph, check off checklist items, open links and even see photos in your notes. Create Multiple Reminders. Make any paragraph a reminder. Just tap the bell icon on the keyboard and you can set the date and time of the reminder. It will ring and notify you on the lock screen. When you tap the reminder, it will open the note and take you to the paragraph where you set it. Smart Stacks. All notes apps let you search your notes, but Smart Stacks takes it to the next level. 
 Smart Stacks automatically groups notes that share a trait, into one stack — like notes with contact info, or notes with checklists. You can also enter any word, and it’ll create a stack, with all the notes that contains the word. Photos and Readable links. You can add photos to your notes from your phone camera or photo library. You can even copy and paste them from another app like Safari. When you copy and paste a link, it automatically gets a readable title. So instead of seeing a complicated URL you see the title. This makes it easier for you to understand what the link is about rather than having to visit the link every time. No account needed. Use iCloud to Store and Sync. You don’t need to create another account. Just download the app and start using it. All your notes are automatically stored in iCloud and synced to other devices in your account. Privacy Your notes are extremely personal and we can't see them. In fact we don't even store them. Apple does in iCloud. We recommend that you turn on "Advanced Data Protection" in your iCloud settings, if you wish to prevent even Apple from having access to your notes.

About

PDFForge

Transform your iPhone into a comprehensive document management tool. Easily scan, edit, sign, and extract text from PDFs with advanced OCR capabilities. Sync your work across devices seamlessly.

Highlights
  • High-quality document scanning
  • Bulk scanning for multiple pages
  • Full PDF editing toolkit
  • Advanced OCR text recognition
  • Digital signature insertion
  • iCloud cross-device syncing
Read full description

PDFForge – All-in-One PDF Scanner & Editor Turn your iPhone into a complete document hub with PDFForge — the ultimate tool to scan, edit, sign, and extract text from PDFs quickly and securely. Scan Smarter: High-Quality Scans – Capture sharp, clear documents with smart edge detection. Bulk Scanning – Scan multiple pages in one go — perfect for notes, receipts, or multi-page PDFs. Edit Like a Pro: Full Editing Toolkit – Reorder, rotate, duplicate, or delete pages effortlessly. Import Anything – Add pages from other PDFs, your device, or scan new pages instantly. Annotations & Signatures – Highlight, underline, strike through, add text, or insert your signature. Powerful OCR Text Recognition: Smart OCR Engine – Instantly convert scanned pages into editable, searchable text. Saved OCR Results – Copy, share, or review previous text extractions from your organized history. Sync Across Devices: iCloud Integration – All documents and edits stay synced and accessible across all your Apple devices. Whether you're a student, professional, or just going paperless, PDFForge gives you everything you need to manage PDFs — all in one sleek, fast app. Start free with 3 scans, 3 edits, and 3 OCR uses. Unlock unlimited access with a one-time purchase — no subscriptions, no recurring fees.

Screenshots

NeatNotes4 screens
PDFForge4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: PDFForge at none against NeatNotes's shown. NeatNotes's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, rating, 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. NeatNotes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and PDFForge sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for NeatNotes against 5.0 for PDFForge. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 39 and 8 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of NeatNotes's written reviews are positive against 86% of PDFForge's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NeatNotes ships an update every 4 days, PDFForge every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
NeatNotes versus PDFForge: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNeatNotesPDFForge
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (39 ratings)5.0 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better85.7% of reviews
Number of ratings39 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.217 — better
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFusion EngineeringMefjuDev LLC

Customer experience

NeatNotes

All ratings39 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

PDFForge

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral14.3%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

NeatNotes

One-time1
  • Lifetime Unlock$7.99
4 purchases

PDFForge

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly3 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • 3 Months$7.993 Months
  • Yearly$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • PDFForge Pro$0.99

Questions

Is NeatNotes free?
NeatNotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDFForge free?
PDFForge is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, NeatNotes or PDFForge?
PDFForge is rated higher. NeatNotes averages 4.9 out of 5 from 39 ratings, while PDFForge averages 5.0 from 8 ratings.
Do NeatNotes or PDFForge have ads?
NeatNotes shows ads; PDFForge does not.
Which is updated more often, NeatNotes or PDFForge?
NeatNotes ships an update every 4 days, and PDFForge every 2 weeks. Most recently, NeatNotes was updated on October 5, 2026 and PDFForge on September 24, 2026.

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