Comparison

Notability vs Bits

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Handwritten and typed notes
  • PDF and document annotation
  • Audio recording and transcription
  • AI-powered summaries and quizzes
  • Customizable organization
  • Cross-device sync
Features
Read full description

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

About

Bits

This app helps professional stand-up comedians organize their writing process. Quickly capture ideas, add notes, build and reorder sets, and use on-stage mode for performances. Organize jokes with labels and track their status.

Highlights
  • Quickly capture joke ideas
  • Add detailed notes to each bit
  • Build and reorder performance sets
  • On-stage mode for live shows
  • Organize bits with custom labels
  • Track bit status (draft, done, gold)
  • Estimate and time bit performance
Features
Read full description

Bits is an app for professional stand-up comedians. It’s designed to keep your writing process fast and organized so you can focus on your comedy instead of the tools. Here's what it offers: *WRITE BITS* Whenever a funny thought pops into your brain, you can quickly add it to your infinite bits list. Just open the app, hit that plus button, and start writing. All your bits are saved securely*, instantly, and automatically so you won’t have to worry about that. *ADD NOTES* Writing the perfect bit comes with lots of experimentation and small details to remember. To help you with the ongoing process of adjustments, each bit has its section of notes. Bits and notes always come together so you won’t be able to lose important notes you’ve written to yourself. *BUILD SETS* We all wish for the perfect set. The set will catch the crowd on its first bit and finish with resounding laughter. This glory set is the easiest to build and manage. You can add bits to existing sets or create a new set and add bits to it. Simply drag & drop to reorder the bits and have them ready one by one. Move jokes up and down, remove and add until you find that perfect balance of laughs. *ON STAGE MODE* The old days of paper pages on a stool are over! When you’re up there on stage, you can switch to the on-stage mode and have your set ready for your performance. The screen will remain turned on and all black. While you perform, you can swipe right or left to indicate if the joke did well or not so you can come back to it later and reshape it the way you think best. *ORGANIZE WITH LABELS* Planning a Christmas set? And how about those airport bits? Or where did you put all of your funny bits about your dad? Oh, they’re all labeled! Label each bit with any label(s) you want. Either apply labels from the bit screen or add bits to an existing label from the labels screen. Access by bit the themes you think are most suitable for your next set. *SET STATUSES* Writing a bit is a process. It starts with a thought and moves up the ladder until it’s done. Draft, done, or gold - these are predefined statuses for your bits which will help you plan ahead and easily see which bits need more work, which can be performed and get laughs, and which are so good that you can close and get max cheers from your crowd. *TIME YOUR BITS* You got only 5 minutes, 5:10 at most. Which bits can be squeezed in to fit that time limitation? Oh, that’s easy. Each bit is generated with an approximate time it’ll take you to perform it, but you can always tweak it and make sure you can plan every bit to fit perfectly into its time slot. ---- --- *Please note that material backup, bit feedback, and custom icons are available to paid subscribers only. ---- --- I’d love to answer your questions or just hear what you think about Bits. Find me online at: amitay@thebits.club Twitter: @standUpBitsApp ---- --- Privacy Policy: https://www.thebits.club/privacy-policy Terms & Conditions: https://www.thebits.club/termsnconditions

Screenshots

Notability4 screens
Bits4 screens

Verdict

The call

Notability and Bits both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 79% of Bits's written reviews are positive against 36% of Notability's. Notability's advantage is ratings volume (457K vs 228) and update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). On price, rating, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Notability sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Bits sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 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 — 4.8 for Notability against 4.7 for Bits. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notability has 457K ratings behind it against 228, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 36% of Notability's written reviews are positive against 79% of Bits's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notability ships an update weekly, Bits fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and August 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Notability versus Bits: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotabilityBits
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (457K ratings) — better4.7 (228 ratings)
Positive reviews36.3% of reviews79.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings457K — better228
Update frequencyWeekly — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
Best chart rank#84 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.5 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size411 MB263 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGinger LabsAmitay Tweeto

Customer experience

Notability

All ratings456,880 ratings
Positive94.8%
Neutral1.3%
Negative3.9%
Written reviews3,632 reviews
Positive36.3%
Neutral8.7%
Negative55.0%

Bits

All ratings228 ratings
Positive93.0%
Neutral1.3%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews62 reviews
Positive79.0%
Neutral6.5%
Negative14.5%

User reviews

Notability

From 457K App Store ratings

What 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

Bits

From 228 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and intuitive interface
  • 📝 Excellent for organizing comedy bits and sets
  • ⏱️ Built-in time tracking for jokes
  • 🎯 Comedy gym feature with daily writing prompts
  • 🏷️ Flexible labeling and categorization system

Room to improve

  • 💰 Paywall implementation frustrates long-time free users
  • 🔒 Data deletion for non-paying users feels like ransomware
  • 🐛 Sync issues between desktop and mobile platforms
  • 🗑️ Unexpected data loss and material deletion
  • 📱 Web version needs improvement

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

Bits

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • App fails to save edits and loses material
  • Cross-platform synchronization not working properly
  • Entire joke libraries deleted without warning
  • Writing streak counter resets unexpectedly
  • Bits randomly dropped from sets
Show 6 more
  • Text formatting jumps to bottom of page when adding line breaks
  • Sets page pops up repeatedly when trying to navigate back
  • Gags stuck scrolled to top when editing
  • Keyboard stays on screen blocking text visibility
  • Showtime swipe function has unintuitive directional logic
  • Data loss on app updates or device transfers

Requested features

17 requests
  • Font size adjustment for visually impaired users
  • Better web version functionality
  • iPad-optimized version
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to record and playback jokes
Show 12 more
  • Keyword search functionality for set building
  • Performance tracking with worked/didn't work indicators
  • Gag title feature for better organization
  • Bullet points and checkbox formatting within gags
  • Drag-and-drop custom gag organization
  • Social component to connect with other comedians
  • Timer with toggle visibility during showtime
  • Better text formatting and color highlighting
  • Improved showtime display with larger text
  • Filter and sort gags by status (drafts, completed, etc.)
  • Ability to edit gags while in a set
  • Auto-correct and spell-check functionality

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Notability

Subscriptions9
  • Notability Lite$5.991 Month
  • Notability Plus$7.991 Month
  • Notability Plus$12.993 Months
Show 6 more
  • 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
One-time1
  • Notability Classic$49.99
14 purchases

Bits

Subscriptions14
  • Monthly Written Back Up7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Monthly Written Back Up7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Monthly Written Back Up7 Days trial$7.991 Month
Show 11 more
  • Yearly Written Back Up1 Month trial$9.991 Year
  • Monthly Written Back Up7 Days trial2 variants$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Written Back Up3 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Written Back Up7 Days trial$11.991 Month
  • Yearly Written Back Up1 Month trial$29.991 Year
  • Yearly Written Back Up14 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Yearly Written Back Up1 Month trial2 variants$39.991 Year
  • Yearly Written Back Up14 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Yearly Written Back Up1 Month trial$49.991 Year
  • Yearly Written Back Up7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Yearly Written Back Up1 Month trial$59.991 Year

Questions

Is Notability free?
Notability is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bits free?
Bits is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Notability or Bits?
Notability is rated higher. Notability averages 4.8 out of 5 from 457K ratings, while Bits averages 4.7 from 228 ratings.
Do Notability or Bits have ads?
Neither Notability nor Bits shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notability or Bits?
Notability ships an update weekly, and Bits fortnightly. Most recently, Notability was updated on September 28, 2026 and Bits on August 21, 2026.

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