Paperless vs Checklist
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Paperless
Create and organize any type of list with this beautifully designed, simple, yet powerful application. Customize your lists with icons and themes, and easily share them via email or text. Sync your data across devices for seamless access.
- Create any type of list
- Customizable icons and themes
- Checklist or regular list format
- Send lists via email or iMessage
- Automatic backup and syncing
- Manual reordering and sorting
- Passcode lock
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Get the app that Macworld says "deserves a spot on your iPhone"! MAKE LISTS OF ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING Paperless is a simple but powerful app for making lists. Use it to create to do lists, make grocery lists, take notes, write an outline of a story, prepare notes for a presentation, make a list of gift ideas, plan a vacation... or anything else you'd want to make a list for. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED Assign a fun icon to each of your lists - there are over 450 to choose from. You can also select from 30 themes to customize the app's design to your liking. SIMPLE AND VERSATILE Paperless is easy to use with a clean, elegant and well thought out interface. Each list can either be a checklist or a regular list without checkboxes, making a wide variety of uses possible. REALLY HELPS YOU GET THINGS DONE For checklists and todo lists, many people prefer using Paperless over traditional "getting things done" apps - or, they use it in addition to one. There are no due dates or priority settings, so you're left to focus on the actual tasks at hand, rather than waste time changing those settings when your priorities change. Instead, if a particular task becomes important, you can simply move it to the top of the list. AUTOMATIC BACKUP AND SYNCING Automatically backup your lists and sync them between iOS devices via a free Dropbox account. POWERFUL FEATURES - send lists via email, others can import your list into their copy of Paperless - send a plain text version of a list via iMessage, or copy it into another app - easily duplicate lists - manually reorder lists and list items - sort list items alphabetically - copy and move items from one list to another - comprehensive search - passcode lock PRAISED BY THE PRESS "Paperless deserves a spot on your iPhone" - Lex Friedman, Macworld (4.5 out of 5 mice rating) "Paperless has a permanent spot on the first page of my iPhone's home screen... it will probably earn a similar spot on yours." - Marianne Schultz, AppShopper "... a good way to ensure things get done at your own pace, free of the disappointment of missing deadlines." - Nick Spence, Macworld UK "I've been trying many To Do apps since iPhone 1.0 -- from the expensive Things to Toodledo and others -- and I don't use any of them regularly. Most just require too much effort. Paperless is the first one I've found that hits that sweet spot between being simple enough you'll actually use it and powerful enough to be useful." - Marc Zeedar, REALbasic Developer Magazine (4.8 out of 5 rating) "This is one nice-looking list / task app... As a basic list app, the beautiful Paperless reigns supreme." - Bonnie Eisenman, 148apps.com (4 out of 5 rating) PRAISED BY USERS "Best app ever - The most incredibly useful app I've come across. Simple, effective and bloody marvelous!!!" "The simplicity of the interface and the flexibility given to the user is perfection." "Simply loved it - Best app I've ever downloaded, my life is so organized now! ..." "After having tried a good deal of apps to get myself more organized - both free and paid - it is clear that this tops them all. Other apps presented a kind of novelty; I could fool myself into thinking that I was more organized, but it was never long before I abandoned them because it was obvious that they consumed unnecessary time. Paperless, however, has truly helped. It is streamlined, it is simple, it is sumptuous" PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW If you love Paperless, please leave a review and star rating. Thank you!
Checklist
Organize packing, shopping, and daily tasks with nested lists and reusable templates. Quickly check off items and reset lists for future use. Core features are free, with an option to remove ads via a one-time purchase.
- Nested lists and sub-categories
- Reusable list templates
- Quick check and reset functionality
- Continuous item addition
- List export to other apps
- Dark Mode support
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Make a list once and use it again. Organize packing, shopping and daily to-dos with nested items, your own templates and quick check resets. Core features are free; ad removal is a one-time purchase. ■ Organize items into lists and sublists Group items by category: Trip → Clothes → Shirts and socks. Parent and child items keep longer lists organized, and you can reorder items to suit your plans. ■ Reuse your lists Save a frequently used list as a template for your next shopping trip or vacation. Copy items or entire lists instead of entering everything again. ■ See what is left to do Checking a parent item also checks its children. Switch between To-Do and All to see the remaining items. Use Uncheck All to reset your list for next time. ■ Everyday conveniences Add items continuously, search your lists, and move or copy items. Use Dark Mode and a badge showing the number of unchecked items. Export lists to Notes, email or other apps to share them. ■ Remove ads with a one-time purchase Core features are free. Premium removes ads with a one-time purchase, not a subscription. After changing devices, use Restore Purchases with the Apple Account used for your purchase. Make everyday preparation a little easier.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Checklist at Free against Paperless's $2.99. Checklist also leads on update cadence (every 9 days vs every 2 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). Paperless's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (92% vs 68%). On in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Checklist is free to download; Paperless costs $2.99 up front. Paperless sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Checklist sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Checklist holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Checklist has 2.9K ratings behind it against 494, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 92% of Paperless's written reviews are positive against 68% of Checklist's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Paperless ships an update every 2 months, Checklist every 9 days. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Paperless | Checklist |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (494 ratings) | 4.7 (2.9K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 91.7% of reviews — better | 67.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 494 | 2.9K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | James Rhoades | Koji Ito |
Customer experience
Paperless
Checklist
User reviews
Paperless
From 494 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💻 Excellent organization and productivity tool
- 📋 Customizable lists and checklists
- 🔄 Reusable and recyclable lists
- 🔒 Secure with Dropbox backup
- 🌟 Simple and intuitive interface
Room to improve
- 🔍 Lack of search functionality
- 🖼️ Inability to add photos or images
- 🔀 Difficulty rearranging list items
- 🔒 Limited backup/sync options beyond Dropbox
- 🔔 Absence of reminder or alarm features
Checklist
From 2.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Simple and intuitive
- 🚀 Straightforward checklist functionality
- 💡 Nested lists and sub-categories
- 🎨 Customizable colors and organization
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 📵 Invasive and disruptive ads
- 🔒 Lack of syncing/sharing between devices
- 🔍 No search or sorting options
Bugs and requests
Paperless
Reported bugs
4 issues- Occasional app crashes or freezes
- Syncing issues between devices
- List data loss or disappearance
- Compatibility problems with iOS updates
Requested features
6 requests- Add search and filtering capabilities
- Integrate photo/image attachment support
- Implement advanced list management features
- Expand backup and sync options (e.g., iCloud)
- Introduce reminder and alarm functionalities
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- Implement folder or category organization for lists
Checklist
Reported bugs
3 issues- Checklist items disappearing after being checked
- Inability to edit or delete last list item
- Text editing issues when trying to modify longer entries
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to import/export checklists
- Automatic reset/unchecking of daily tasks
- Option to rearrange order of main list items
- Notification/reminder functionality
In-app purchases
Paperless
- Small Tip$0.99
- Medium Tip$4.99
- Large Tip$9.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Huge Tip$29.99
Checklist
- Remove Ads$6.99









