Notability vs Cue
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notability
Capture, organize, and enhance your ideas with handwritten notes, document annotation, and audio recording. This app streamlines learning and work by making your notes searchable, shareable, and interactive.
- Handwritten notes and sketching
- PDF and document annotation
- Audio recording synced to notes
- Handwriting recognition
- AI-powered summaries and takeaways
- Customizable organization with folders
- 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
Cue
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Cue is a simple speaker notes app for people who present. Whether you are giving a conference talk, a lightning talk, a wedding speech or a class presentation, Cue keeps your notes in front of you and your timing on track, without the clutter of a full slide editor. WRITE YOUR TALK • Create a talk with a title and an estimated duration. • Break it into parts, one thought per part. • Edit any time. Everything saves automatically. PRESENT WITH CONFIDENCE • Large, auto-sizing text fills the screen so your notes are readable at a glance. • Swipe up to move to the next part. • A timer shows elapsed time against your estimate and turns red when you run over. • Pause and resume whenever you need to. • Gentle haptic feedback confirms every step. • The screen stays on while you present. YOUR TALKS STAY WITH YOU • Your talks live on your device. • No account and no sign-up. • Cue sends basic anonymous stats, like which screens are used, to help fix crashes and slow screens. It never sends your talks. Cue does one thing and does it well: it helps you deliver your talk.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is chart position: Notability at #115 against Cue's unranked. Notability also leads on update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 27.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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 9 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Cue sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Notability ships an update weekly, Cue fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notability | Cue |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (459K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 36.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 459K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #115 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 27.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 457 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ginger Labs | Florian Schuster |
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
Cue
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
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 Plus7 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Notability Plus$19.991 Year
- Notability Pro$19.991 Month
- Notability Pro3 Days trial$99.991 Year
Cue
- Premium Lifetime$0.99









