Comparison

Notability vs Whiteboard

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

Whiteboard

This digital whiteboard app offers a simple yet powerful interface for various uses, from teaching and design to note-taking and doodling. It provides flexible canvas options, including multi-page and infinite free-form canvases, and supports PDF imports.

Highlights
  • Infinite free-form canvas
  • Multi-page canvas option
  • Direct PDF import
  • Geometric shape drawing
  • Simple and clean interface
  • Quick startup
  • Small storage space
Features
Read full description

The Whiteboard App always adheres to the concept of "simplicity to the extreme" and "Nothing more Nothing less". Despite offering many small tools, its interface remains simple and user-friendly. This app is suitable for various scenarios, including teaching, creativity, meeting presentations, prototype design, and learning drafts, among others. It provides users with a variety of universally applicable paper formats, objects, and prototype designs to choose from. It also offers instant drawing of geometric shapes, making teaching, creativity, and on-site communication more convenient. Additionally, it can be used for students' homework drafts, doodling, note-taking, temporary notepads, word dictation, and math problems, among other purposes. Users highly praise its simple and easy-to-use button layout and tool exit mechanism. The app offers two forms of creating new files, allowing users to choose the one that suits them best: - The first form is a multi-page file (Pages), where each page serves as a canvas with size limitations, similar to a PDF file. This makes it easy to organize knowledge. - The second form is a free-form file (Free Form), where a file consists of one infinitely large canvas without boundaries. This allows for unlimited creativity. The app also supports direct import of PDF files, even large files with hundreds or thousands of pages, without crashing. It opens instantly. Features: - Small storage space - Simple operation - Clean interface - Quick startup - Rich functionality Welcome to download and experience the Whiteboard App as soon as possible! Contact information: - Twitter: chenlidongorg - Threads: chenlidongorg - WeChat: ichenlidong - Email: chenlidong@gmail.com - Official website: whiteboardapp.org End-User License Agreement (EULA): http://whiteboardapp.org/TermsofUse Privacy Policy: http://whiteboardapp.org/fsaf-88bdbc6b

Screenshots

Notability4 screens
Whiteboard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Whiteboard at 75% against Notability's 37%. Notability's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.3) and ratings volume (457K vs 944). On price, update cadence, 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 Whiteboard sells 7 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

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 944, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 37% of Notability's written reviews are positive against 75% of Whiteboard's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notability ships an update weekly, Whiteboard every 9 days. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Notability versus Whiteboard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotabilityWhiteboard
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (457K ratings) — better4.3 (944 ratings)
Positive reviews36.5% of reviews74.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings457K — better944
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#81 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.517.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size411 MB80 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGinger LabsEndless AI LLC

Customer experience

Notability

All ratings456,880 ratings
Positive94.8%
Neutral1.3%
Negative3.9%
Written reviews3,594 reviews
Positive36.5%
Neutral8.6%
Negative54.8%

Whiteboard

All ratings944 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral5.4%
Negative12.8%
Written reviews228 reviews
Positive74.6%
Neutral8.8%
Negative16.7%

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

Whiteboard

From 944 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 🚀 Smooth and responsive
  • 💡 Useful templates and backgrounds
  • 🤩 Great for quick sketching and note-taking
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Eraser issues (automatically switches to marker, hard to use)
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or performance issues
  • 🔍 Limited customization options (e.g., pen size, colors)
  • 🔍 Lack of advanced features (e.g., layers, text editing)

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

Whiteboard

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Eraser automatically switches to marker
  • Drawing sometimes gets blurry or distorted
  • App crashes or freezes after prolonged use
  • Inability to delete or clear the canvas

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add undo/redo functionality
  • Improve palm rejection and eraser usability
  • Allow customizing pen size and color presets
  • Implement text editing and formatting options
  • Add ability to save/load drawings and annotate PDFs

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
7 purchases

Whiteboard

Subscriptions2
  • Whiteboard Pro7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Whiteboard Pro7 Days trial$12.991 Year
One-time5
  • Recharge 100 Points - Attempt$3.99
  • Sponsorship to unlock I$14.99
  • Sponsorship to unlock II$17.99
Show 2 more
  • Sponsorship to unlock III$24.99
  • Recharge 1000 Points$39.99

Questions

Is Notability free?
Notability is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Whiteboard free?
Whiteboard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Notability or Whiteboard?
Notability is rated higher. Notability averages 4.8 out of 5 from 457K ratings, while Whiteboard averages 4.3 from 944 ratings.
Do Notability or Whiteboard have ads?
Neither Notability nor Whiteboard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notability or Whiteboard?
Notability ships an update weekly, and Whiteboard every 9 days. Most recently, Notability was updated on September 24, 2026 and Whiteboard on September 24, 2026.

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