Comparison

Notability vs Kanbana

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

Kanbana

This app helps you manage daily tasks and responsibilities with an intuitive visual interface. Organize work, personal life, and projects using customizable boards and color-coded task cards. Track progress and gain clarity at a glance.

Highlights
  • Create lists and tasks
  • Prioritize tasks
  • Track progress
  • Visual workflow management
  • Customizable boards
  • Color-coded task cards
  • Drag-and-drop task management
Features
Read full description

Did you know that 91% of people are stressed about managing their day-to-day tasks? Are you one of them? Then, you’re in the right place. Juggling work, personal life, and various responsibilities can feel like an overwhelming task. Enter Kanbana, a powerful app designed to revolutionize the way you manage your life. Whether you’re a busy professional, a student, or a homemaker, Kanbana offers a fresh approach to task and time management, organization, and work-life balance. With Kanbana, you can easily: • Create new lists and tasks, • Prioritize your tasks, • Track your progress, and • See and manage all your “to do’s” in one place Kanbana uses a very intuitive design: • Start a new board for work, home, school, or a new project, • Add task cards that look like “sticky notes,” • Assign colors to those task cards, and • Move task cards to different columns to track progress (or whatever way makes sense to you!) What makes Kanbana different from other task management apps? • See the flow of tasks at a glance. Identify bottlenecks and optimize your workflow. • Easily drag tasks between your varied To Do lists to maximize your efficiency. • Custom lists and color-coded cards that fit YOUR personal organizational style. Kanbana is free to use across devices - on the iPhone or iPad apps or on the web at www.Kanbana.com. Kanbana allows users to create and manage up to 20 task cards with a single board. You can upgrade to Kanbana Premium if you want to use more than 20 task cards or create multiple boards. Create multiple boards to separate your work life from your personal life or for different projects. Download Kanbana now and simplify your life. With Kanbana, you can manage your tasks and to-do lists with colorful sticky notes and achieve clarity and control in one easy glance. Good luck on your journey towards a calmer, more organized lifestyle. We’ll be cheering for you! Learn more at: https://www.kanbana.com By installing Kanbana, you agree to our Terms of Service: www.kanbana.com/terms_of_services

Screenshots

Notability4 screens
Kanbana4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Notability at 4.8 against Kanbana's 4.1. Notability also leads on ratings volume (458K vs 187) and chart position (#101 vs unranked). Kanbana's advantage is review sentiment (75% vs 36%) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). 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 Kanbana sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 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 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notability has 458K ratings behind it against 187, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 36% of Notability's written reviews are positive against 75% of Kanbana's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notability ships an update every 6 days, Kanbana every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Notability versus Kanbana: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotabilityKanbana
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (458K ratings) — better4.1 (187 ratings)
Positive reviews36.1% of reviews74.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings458K — better187
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#101 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size415 MB60 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGinger LabsHomestake Digital LLC

Customer experience

Notability

All ratings458,336 ratings
Positive94.8%
Neutral1.3%
Negative3.9%
Written reviews3,781 reviews
Positive36.1%
Neutral8.8%
Negative55.1%

Kanbana

All ratings187 ratings
Positive80.2%
Neutral2.7%
Negative17.1%
Written reviews332 reviews
Positive74.7%
Neutral6.0%
Negative19.3%

User reviews

Notability

From 458K 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

Kanbana

From 187 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Simple and efficient
  • 👍 Visually appealing
  • 💡 Flexible organization
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 🚀 Helps improve productivity

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitches and data loss
  • 🔒 Poor customer support
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🐛 Syncing issues across devices
  • 🔨 Functionality regressed after update

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

Kanbana

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Tasks disappearing or reappearing unexpectedly
  • Boards and lists getting deleted without warning
  • Subscription issues and being stuck in trial mode
  • Slow performance and UI responsiveness

Requested features

5 requests
  • More color options
  • Ability to set reminders and due dates
  • Improved drag-and-drop functionality
  • Customizable backgrounds and layouts
  • Offline access and data export

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 Plus7 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Notability Plus$19.991 Year
  • Notability Pro$19.991 Month
  • Notability Pro3 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time1
  • Notability Classic$49.99
2 purchases

Kanbana

Subscriptions2
  • Kanbana Premium7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Kanbana Premium7 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Notability free?
Notability is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Kanbana free?
Kanbana is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Notability or Kanbana?
Notability is rated higher. Notability averages 4.8 out of 5 from 458K ratings, while Kanbana averages 4.1 from 187 ratings.
Do Notability or Kanbana have ads?
Neither Notability nor Kanbana shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notability or Kanbana?
Notability ships an update every 6 days, and Kanbana every 10 days. Most recently, Notability was updated on October 30, 2026 and Kanbana on October 23, 2026.

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