Notability vs QuickNotes X
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notability
Capture, organize, and enhance your thoughts with a versatile digital notebook. Seamlessly blend handwriting, typing, and multimedia to annotate documents, record lectures, and generate summaries. Ideal for students and professionals seeking to boost productivity and learning.
- Handwritten and typed notes
- PDF and document annotation
- Audio recording and transcription
- AI-powered summaries and quizzes
- Customizable organization
- Cross-device sync
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From your first lecture to your next big meeting, Notability helps you think, learn, and work better. Take handwritten notes, annotate documents, record audio, and stay organized in one place so your ideas are always clear, searchable, and ready when you need them. NEW: NOTABILITY CLASSIC IS BACK Prefer to pay one time for Notability? Our Classic plan is a one-time purchase with no subscription required. FREE DIGITAL NOTES FOR WORK & SCHOOL • Write, type, or sketch with digital ink, highlighters, and text tools. • Mark up anything: PDFs, textbooks, lecture slides, images, and more. • Combine handwriting, typed text, images, diagrams, and sketches on the same page. • Stay organized with customizable folders and subjects that grow with you. FOR PROFESSIONALS: WORK SMARTER AND SAVE TIME • Mark up documents, capture meetings, organize ideas, and present with confidence. • Import and handwrite on any document: PDFs, DOCs, presentations, reports, and more. • Fill out forms in the office or on a job site. • Combine handwriting, text, photos and documents in one place. • Record calls and meetings to transcribe voice in real-time. Audio is synced to your notes so nothing is missed. • Receive automated meeting notes, takeaways, and summaries. • Search handwriting, transcripts, text, and PDFs to quickly revisit decisions and action items. • Present notes, documents, and ideas in full screen, with a laser pointer to guide attention. • View and edit two notes side-by-side to stay focused and productive. • Share a PDF of your note in one tap. FOR STUDENTS: STUDY SMARTER AND ACE EXAMS • Take handwritten notes digitally or annotate lecture slides or your textbooks. • Record lectures and get instant audio transcripts and real-time summaries in your notes. • Audio recordings are synced to the exact moment you write in a note — perfect for lectures. • Import lecture slides, textbook PDFs, and assignments into organized folders and subjects. • Search across handwriting, typed notes, and transcripts to instantly find content from classes. • Study content from your note with personalized quizzes and flashcards to practice with active recall. • Chat with your notes to review concepts, clarify ideas, and prepare for exams. WORK YOUR WAY • Seamlessly switch between handwriting and typing. • Import files instantly and keep everything connected. • Share notes easily to collaborate or get feedback when needed. • Access your notes across iPad, iPhone, Mac, and the web. • Create beautiful notes using templates from the Notability Gallery. UPGRADE TO A NOTABILITY SUBSCRIPTION Notability is free to use. With an upgraded subscription, you can receive: • Unlimited note-taking • AI-powered productivity and study tools • Handwriting recognition and math conversion • Live Audio transcripts • Auto-backup and iCloud sync Download for free on iPad, iPhone, Mac, and web. Privacy Policy: notability.com/privacy Terms of Service: notability.com/terms
QuickNotes X
This app offers a fluid and precise note-taking experience with a custom vector ink engine, voice recording synced to writing, and ML-powered shape recognition. Organize notes with notebooks and folders, protect them with passwords and biometrics, and sync seamlessly across devices via iCloud. Mark up PDFs and presentations, and customize your notes with various tools and templates.
- Vector ink engine for fluid writing
- Voice recording synced to notes
- ML-powered shape recognition
- Notebook and folder organization
- Password and biometric protection
- PDF and presentation annotation
- iCloud sync across devices
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ESCAPE THE LIMITS OF PHYSICAL PAPER • Experience a fluid, precise and natural note taking experience powered by the unparalleled performance of QuickNotes X custom vector ink engine; • Choose your drawing style with numerous included tools, such as fountain and ballpoint pen; • Freely customize your stroke color as well as line thickness and pressure sensitivity; • Record and play back lectures with Voice Recording: your writing will be synced to the audio! • Draw perfect shapes and straight lines thanks to automatic, ML-powered shape recognition; • Move, resize, rotate and zoom your handwriting to take notes like a pro; • Never run out of paper: swipe to the next page and a new page will be created if needed! • Take perfect notes with your Apple Pencil, Logitech Crayon or other capacitive styluses. ORGANIZE & PROTECT YOUR THOUGHTS • Never lose your notes again thanks to the powerful organization provided by QuickNotes X; • Create Notebooks to organize your notes; • Add unlimited Folders & Subfolders to group your Notebooks; • Lock individual Notebooks and Folders with a Password to protect your thoughts from prying eyes; • Unlock protected notebooks using Face ID, Touch ID or by entering your Password; • Rearrange your Notebooks and Folders however you like to make sure they are always in the correct order. SEAMLESSLY SYNC TO ALL YOUR DEVICES • Seamlessly back up & sync your notebooks and folders to all your devices thanks to iCloud; • Write once, edit anywhere: when iCloud Sync is active all your content is automatically available on all your devices; • Use the native Mac app to view your notes on the bigger screen and edit them right on your computer. MARK UP & WRITE ON PDFs, SLIDES AND MORE • Import and edit PDFs, PowerPoint presentations more; • Annotate documents on your device with all the tools available, including fountain & ballpoint pen, highlighter and shape recognition; • Open notes and documents side-by-side on your iPad for maximum flexibility; • Quickly export your notes as images, PDF or QuickNotes X Documents for easy sharing ENDLESS CUSTOMIZATION FOR YOUR CREATIVITY • Create an unlimited number of presets for stroke color and line thickness to always have the right one ready at your fingertips; • Choose between Dual or Single Bar Mode to take notes with the maximum level of flexibility and customizability; • Choose to erase entire strokes on only some parts thanks to the new Precision and Whole Stroke Erasers; • Use the Lasso tool to cut, copy, paste or delete groups of strokes or entire pages; • Customize the look of your Notebooks and Folders by choosing from more than 80 options; • Make each notebook cover yours: the Notebook cover is now fully editable so you can draw on it! • Choose the right paper template for your Notebooks, such as Blank Paper, Cornell Paper, Chemistry Paper, Engineering Grid Paper, Music Paper and more! TYPE AND WRITE ANYWHERE • Add Text Boxes anywhere in a page to start typing, with plenty of customization options for color, font style and size, available right at your fingertips in the new Tool Bar; • Move, rotate and scale text boxes to never run out of space; • Combine handwritten notes with typed content and annotate or highlight key words in your Text Boxes; AND THERE IS EVEN MORE! • Swipe left or right to quickly move to the previous or next page in the notebook; • Quickly jump to any page in the Notebook by using the Notes List menu in the Note Editor; • Customize any new page you create thanks to the new "New Page" menu in the Editor; • Create a QuickNotebook to always have a fresh new page when you open the app; • Changing the paper template for a single page or the entire Notebook is only one tap away; QuickNotes X: Note-Taking, Made Easy. Website: https://www.quicknotesx.com Twitter: @QuickNotesX Instagram: @quicknotesx ----------- Privacy Policy: https://www.quicknotesx.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Notability at 4.8 against QuickNotes X's 4.3. Notability also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks) and ratings volume (457K vs 3.8K). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Notability sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and QuickNotes X sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per 3 months. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Notability holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notability has 457K ratings behind it against 3.8K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 37% of Notability's written reviews are positive against 38% of QuickNotes X's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Notability ships an update weekly, QuickNotes X every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notability | QuickNotes X |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (457K ratings) — better | 4.3 (3.8K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 36.5% of reviews | 38.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 457K — better | 3.8K |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 5 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #77 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 411 MB | 354 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ginger Labs | Alessandro Sassi |
Customer experience
Notability
QuickNotes X
User reviews
Notability
From 457K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great app for note-taking
- 👍 Smooth handwriting experience
- 📝 Excellent organization and file management
- 🎙️ Useful audio recording feature
- 🔍 Handwriting recognition and search
Room to improve
- 🐛 Sync issues with iCloud
- 🔍 Limited search and organization options
- 🖍️ Frustrating highlighter behavior
- 🔒 Concerns about subscription model
- 🔧 Buggy after recent updates
QuickNotes X
From 3.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💻 Intuitive and easy to use
- 📚 Helpful for organizing notes
- 🎨 Variety of paper templates and pens
- 🔊 Voice recording feature
- ⚡️ Smooth writing experience with Apple Pencil
Room to improve
- 🔒 Limited functionality without paying for pro version
- 🐛 Glitches, crashes, and data loss issues
- 💭 Handwriting can appear blurry or distorted
- 🖋️ Lack of palm rejection when writing
- 📁 Inability to reorder or move pages
Bugs and requests
Notability
Reported bugs
4 issues- Notes disappearing or getting corrupted
- Frequent crashes and performance issues
- Palm rejection problems after updates
- Inconsistent behavior when importing files
Requested features
5 requests- Improved folder/hierarchy organization
- More shape recognition and drawing tools
- Side-by-side viewing of multiple notes
- Ability to edit/rename audio recordings
- Better integration with other apps and services
QuickNotes X
Reported bugs
4 issues- Notes randomly disappearing or becoming corrupted
- Pen input not registering correctly or lagging
- Unexpected page flipping or navigation issues
- Syncing problems between devices
Requested features
5 requests- Add text typing option for those with poor handwriting
- Implement cloud sync and cross-device access
- Include more customization options like templates and colors
- Improve shape recognition and drawing tools
- Allow rearranging and organizing of pages/notebooks
In-app purchases
Notability
- Notability Lite$5.991 Month
- Notability Plus$7.991 Month
- Notability Plus$12.993 Months
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- Notability Lite$14.991 Year
- Notability Plus1 Year trial2 variants$19.991 Year
- Notability Plus$19.991 Year
- Notability Pro$19.991 Month
- Notability Plus$29.991 Year
- Notability Pro3 Days trial$99.991 Year
- Notability Classic$49.99
QuickNotes X
- Cloud & ML Pack$0.993 Months
- Covers Pack$0.99
- Templates Pack$0.99
- QuickNotes X AI: 50000 Tokens$0.99
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- QuickNotes X AI: 100000 Tokens$1.99
- Notebooks & Folders Pack$2.99
- Tools Pack$2.99
- QuickNotes X AI: 300000 Tokens$3.99
- QuickNotes X Pro$4.99
- Pro Pack$5.99
- QuickNotes X AI: 500000 Tokens$5.99








