Comparison

iSilo vs MarginNote 3

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

Head to head
About

iSilo

Read various document formats including iSilo, Palm Doc, and plain text. Access a vast library of content, organize your files, and customize viewing options for a personalized reading experience. Transfer documents easily via USB, Wi-Fi, or web download.

Highlights
  • Supports iSilo, Palm Doc, and plain text formats
  • Extensive document library and creation tools
  • Organize documents with categories and favorites
  • Customizable viewing options (font, colors, themes)
  • Autoscroll, full-screen, and orientation support
  • Text search, copy, and annotation
  • Multiple document transfer methods (USB, Wi-Fi, Web)
Features
Read full description

Document reader for viewing document files in iSilo, Palm Doc, and plain text format. Bonus: Get the complete edition of the CIA World Factbook for free, with layout optimized for viewing on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad using iSilo. In addition to full information for all the countries of the world, the complete edition contains appendixes, reference maps, field cross-reference links, rank order pages, country profiles for all fields, enlarged flag pages with descriptions, enlarged country maps, and more. Tens of thousands of documents, eBooks, reference works, non-fiction, fiction available for ready download through the iSilo library. Create your own documents too. Document list provides recently viewed list of documents, ability to categorize documents into single or multiple categories, marking of favorite folders for easy access, and file explorer access to entire document directory with document file management operations, such as copying/moving/deleting/renaming document files and creating/deleting/renaming folders. Document viewing options provide for font size and typeface selection, along with customizable color themes with selectable background and text colors. Autoscroll with adjustable speed, view documents in full screen, complete support for both portrait and landscape orientations and rotation. Jump history for easily navigating back and forth when following hyperlinks and jumping to different locations in the document. Documents open to last viewed location. Bookmarks. Document text search. Select a range of text to copy or annotate it with a comment and choice of color highlighting. Easily transfer documents to your device via USB, via Wi-Fi by connecting to iSilo's built-in file server from your computer, or via download from the Web. Configure the screen to perform actions when tapped. Assignable actions include scrolling, full screen mode, font sizing, among many others. The latest version adds the ability to view additional file types. Additional image file types include .jpg, .png, .gif, .tif, among others. Additional document file types include .pdf, .htm, Word (.doc, .docx), Excel (.xls, .xlsx), and PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx). See the manual for more details on the additional file type support.

About

MarginNote 3

This app redefines studying by integrating e-reading with powerful annotation, mind mapping, and flashcard tools. Organize knowledge, connect ideas with hashtags, and enhance memory retention through spaced repetition. It offers a seamless workflow across multiple documents and devices.

Highlights
  • Integrated PDF/EPUB reader
  • Advanced annotation tools
  • Mind mapping and outline organization
  • Flashcard creation and Anki export
  • Multi-document support
  • Handwriting and Apple Pencil support
  • OCR for scanned PDFs
Features
Read full description

MarginNote 3, all brand new e-reader to better study and digest your books Integrating powerful tools for book annotation, mindmapping, flashcards and more, to build up your reading notes as never before. ============================================ Welcome to MarginNote. This is a highly powerful reading and study software and is applicable to Mac, iPad, and iPhone. By integrating the PDF/EPUB reader and multiple powerful study tools, MarginNote will enable learners to reorganize and connect knowledge from different aspects, then memorize and grasp it accordingly. Whatever your profession, such as student, educator, researcher, lawyer, or life-long learner, you may annotate and take notes through MarginNote, organize notes via Mindmap and Outline, connect knowledge horizontally via Hashtag and raise memory effect via the Flashcards. You will discover what MarginNote does is not to simply integrate these tools. Instead, it combines them deeply and skillfully, which makes it easier for users to toggle between different tools. What's New in MarginNote 3 * New and Clean UI Completely redesigned. * Improved performance and Running more smoothly * Support both Document Reading mode & Study Reading mode. * Excerpts & Note-taking * Enhanced Handwriting & apple-pencil support. * Support TextBox on PDF. * Support direct text-typing & sketching when editing note cards. * Support Auto OCR when excerpting on scanned PDFs. * Emphasis & Cloze * Support direct emphasis in powerful Emphasis mode both on PDF or Outline. * Support auto convert emphasis to Cloze in CardDeck. * Support creating Image-Occlusion flashcards. * Multi-Documents * Support both document tabs & split views to switch between documents. * MindMap * Auto grouping new excerpts by Document Table of Contents. * Support new brach display mode: Framework. * Swipe/Drag gestures to slide in/out Outline & Documents in Study mode. * Enhanced grouped cut/paste, drag to merge,.. etc. * Outline * Improved search and displaying keywords in results. * Improved styles. * CardDeck: * View Flashcards in MindMap mode and Document mode. * Enhanced Anki Export: Card styles, Image occlusions, Cloze * Enhanced Research web browser. * iCloud Sync * Fixed several design issue in previous versions. * More stable & improved performance. * Categories * Separate categories for Document, Study and Review. * Trash * Recover data from Trash and make data more safe. * Trial * 14-days free trial. MarginNote 2 features: Reading: - Support PDF and EPUB format; Annotating and NoteTaking: - Support text highlight and rectangular highlight; - Add notes directly at the page margin; the note editing area will not overlap with the book content at all; - Text, voice, picture, sketching and many other forms of comments in note; - Add hashtags to notes to facilitate the connection of notes; Outline and Mindmap: - Outline and Mindmap in one view; - Create Outline tree by swipe gestures; - Multi-selection editing such as group, merge, clone, etc; - Quick searching and filtering according to colors, hashtags, books. Flashcard: - Highlights and notes can be automatically turned into flashcards for review; - Spaced repetition adopting the Anki-based algorithm; - Switch to the linking book page at any time; iPad Pro & Apple pencil: - Split View of multiple tasks; - High-precision drawing by Apple pencil; - Fine tuned for Apple pencil; - Keyboard shortcuts; Import, Export and Sync: - Import webpages and notes from Evernote; - Export flashcards to Anki; - Export Outline to OmniOutliner; - Export Mindmap to iThoughts or MindManager; - Export to Evernote; - Export all the margin notes, MindManager, Outline and Pages to a printable PDF; - Sync books & notes with iCloud; Terms of Use: https://www.marginnote.com/press/marginnote-3-term-of-use Privacy Policy: https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/92678020

Screenshots

iSilo4 screens
MarginNote 34 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: MarginNote 3 at Free against iSilo's $9.99. MarginNote 3 also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.8) and ratings volume (5K vs 50). iSilo's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 11.2). On update cadence, ads 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

MarginNote 3 is free to download; iSilo costs $9.99 up front. MarginNote 3 sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. iSilo asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MarginNote 3 holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: MarginNote 3 has 5K ratings behind it against 50, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 51% of iSilo's written reviews are positive against 75% of MarginNote 3's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

iSilo ships an update every 3 weeks, MarginNote 3 every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
iSilo versus MarginNote 3: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteriSiloMarginNote 3
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating3.8 (50 ratings)4.7 (5K ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.6% of reviews74.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings505K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better11.2
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB392 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperDC & Co.Beijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd

Customer experience

iSilo

All ratings50 ratings
Positive68.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative22.0%
Written reviews269 reviews
Positive50.6%
Neutral16.7%
Negative32.7%

MarginNote 3

All ratings5,043 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews983 reviews
Positive74.6%
Neutral11.5%
Negative13.9%

User reviews

iSilo

From 50 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Works well with Christian books
  • 📚 Excellent for reading documents with embedded hyperlinks
  • ⚡ Fast and smooth on many devices
  • 🙌 Hands down a life-saving app
  • 🏆 Basic but wonderful functionality

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes upon opening
  • 🐛 Unable to download new material since 2017
  • 🐛 Crashes when trying to open code-protected file
  • 🐛 Scrolling issues and performance problems
  • 🤖 Outdated and abandoned by developers

MarginNote 3

From 5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Powerful and efficient for studying and research
  • 👍 Excellent mind mapping and note-taking features
  • 💡 Unique and innovative functionality like video annotation
  • 🚀 Handles large volumes of documents and notes well
  • 👍 Useful for organizing and synthesizing information from multiple sources

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • 👎 Steep learning curve and lack of comprehensive documentation
  • 👎 Unreliable cloud syncing between devices
  • 👎 Cluttered and unintuitive user interface in some areas
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches with certain features like handwriting and OCR

Bugs and requests

iSilo

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes when trying to open certain file formats
  • Displaying issues with Palm format (PDB) files
  • Inability to download files from Dropbox
  • Text going off-screen after recent updates
  • Bookmarks and annotations not syncing across devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add dark mode feature
  • Improve text highlighting and annotation capabilities
  • Implement cloud sync and cross-device support
  • Modernize the user interface
  • Add support for iOS Files app

MarginNote 3

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Syncing issues causing data loss across devices
  • Crashes and freezes when working with large documents
  • Inconsistent behavior with highlighting, erasing, and text formatting
  • OCR not functioning reliably for non-Latin scripts
  • Difficulty managing and organizing large document libraries

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved export options and ability to share projects
  • Better integration with other productivity apps like Anki
  • More customization options for mind maps and annotations
  • Smoother handwriting experience and better palm rejection
  • Support for more file formats like PowerPoint

In-app purchases

None

iSilo

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

MarginNote 3

Subscriptions2
  • OCR Pro (Monthly)3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • OCR Pro (Annually)3 Days trial$9.491 Year
One-time3
  • 14 days Free TrialFree
  • Unlock Full$12.99
  • Upgrade to Full$12.99

Questions

Is iSilo free?
iSilo costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is MarginNote 3 free?
MarginNote 3 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, iSilo or MarginNote 3?
MarginNote 3 is rated higher. iSilo averages 3.8 out of 5 from 50 ratings, while MarginNote 3 averages 4.7 from 5K ratings.
Do iSilo or MarginNote 3 have ads?
Neither iSilo nor MarginNote 3 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, iSilo or MarginNote 3?
iSilo ships an update every 3 weeks, and MarginNote 3 every 6 weeks. Most recently, iSilo was updated on October 27, 2026 and MarginNote 3 on October 28, 2026.

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