Comparison

Outliner vs PAD Footing

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

Head to head
About

Outliner

Organize your thoughts, tasks, and projects with a powerful outlining tool. Create structured lists, track project progress with visual indicators, and collaborate with others. Sync your work across devices and cloud storage for seamless access.

Highlights
  • Create structured outlines
  • Track project progress with pie charts
  • Sync with cloud storage (OneDrive, Dropbox)
  • Collaborate with other users
  • Drag and drop editing
  • Search and filter outlines
  • Archive old outlines
Features
Read full description

CarbonFin Outliner allows you to organize your thoughts, tasks, and projects. Easily create a todo list for today, or track an entire project anywhere you are. Share your outlines, edit them online, and collaborate with other Outliner users. Highlights • Create outlines full of notes, structured lists, tasks, or detailed projects • Sync your outlines automatically to Outliner Online, OneDrive, or Dropbox for web or desktop editing • Get a quick view of project progress - tasks with subtasks show a pie-chart indicating percent completed Organize • Search through all your outlines or an individual outline • Tag your outlines, and filter based on tag • Archive old outlines to hide them from view without deleting Easy-to-use Editor • Drag and drop to move items within an outline • Copy, paste • Undo, redo • Expand all, collapse all • Optional outline numbering • Zoom in to focus on a single subtree Outliner Online • Securely synchronize your outlines with Outliner Online • View and edit your outlines in any web browser • Import and export outlines as plain text or OPML • Keep all your devices synchronized • Share an outline with other Outliner users to collaborate OneDrive and Dropbox • Sync your outlines with OneDrive or Dropbox to allow quick import/export • Seamlessly access and edit across your iOS devices and PCs -= Recent version history =- Version 3.21 • iPhone Duo support • Bug fixes Version 3.20 • iOS 27 support • Updated Dropbox and OneDrive integrations • Bug fixes Version 3.19 • iOS 26 support and adoption of liquid glass Version 3.18 • iOS 18 support • Dark and tinted app icons Version 3.17 • Minor bug fixes Version 3.16 • Minor bug fixes • iOS 17 support Version 3.15 • Fixed Dropbox integration • Show a warning when unlinking Dropbox/OneDrive if there are unsynced outlines • iOS 16 support Version 3.12 • Dark mode • Added confirmation to "Delete Completed" • Changing "Archived" won't update the outline's modification time • iOS 13 support Version 3.11 • OneDrive sync support Version 3.10 • Sync the order of outlines across devices (CarbonFin outlines only) • iOS 12 support Version 3.9 • iPhone X support • iOS 11 support Version 3.8 • Open In... support • Ability to hide the outline list on iPad • Minor UI tweaks

About

PAD Footing

This structural design tool analyzes single-column footings for vertical loads and bending moments. It's based on a long-standing program, offering reliable engineering calculations for structural analysis.

Highlights
  • Analyzes single-column footings
  • Resists vertical loads (Y-direction)
  • Handles bending moments (X & Z directions)
  • Based on established engineering software
  • Structural analysis calculations
Features
Read full description

PAD Footing is a structural design tool used to analyze simple, single-column footings to resist vertical loads in the Y-direction and bending moments in the X & Z directions. PAD-98 was originally written in 1998 and subsequently included in the Foot2000 program release which is still in publication today.

Screenshots

Outliner4 screens
PAD Footing4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Outliner at 4.8 against PAD Footing's 3.5. Outliner also leads on ratings volume (89 vs 2). PAD Footing's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months) and price ($1.99 vs $4.99). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Outliner costs $4.99 and PAD Footing $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Outliner holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Outliner has 89 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Outliner ships an update every 4 months, PAD Footing fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Outliner versus PAD Footing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOutlinerPAD Footing
Price$4.99$1.99 — better
Rating4.8 (89 ratings) — better3.5 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews86.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings89 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.016.0
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB86 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCarbonFinCharles Roberts

Customer experience

Outliner

All ratings89 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral1.1%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews327 reviews
Positive86.5%
Neutral6.1%
Negative7.3%

PAD Footing

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Outliner

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unexpected error: 500 when saving data
  • Pane that lists outlines won't go away or resize
  • Keyboard takes up too much screen space

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add due dates and priority levels for tasks
  • Improve export and sharing options (e.g., PDF, Word)
  • Implement better organization and search capabilities
  • Introduce a desktop companion app for easier editing
  • Add support for voice notes and other multimedia

PAD Footing

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Outliner

No in-app purchases

None

PAD Footing

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Outliner free?
Outliner costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is PAD Footing free?
PAD Footing costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Outliner or PAD Footing?
Outliner is rated higher. Outliner averages 4.8 out of 5 from 89 ratings, while PAD Footing averages 3.5 from 2 ratings.
Do Outliner or PAD Footing have ads?
Neither Outliner nor PAD Footing shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Outliner or PAD Footing?
Outliner ships an update every 4 months, and PAD Footing fortnightly. Most recently, Outliner was updated on October 31, 2026 and PAD Footing on October 30, 2026.

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