Notability vs Nimbus Note
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
Read full descriptionHide 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
Nimbus Note
This app helps you gather and organize all your information in one place. Create text notes, scan documents, and manage to-do lists. Synchronize your data across devices for easy access and editing.
- Create formatted text notes
- Attach various file types
- Scan and digitize documents with OCR
- Organize with workspaces, folders, and tags
- Collaborate on notes with others
- Create to-do lists with reminders
- Cross-device synchronization
Read full descriptionHide full description
Powerful notes app and organizer that helps you gather and organize your information — all in one place. There’s no need to spend time searching for your notes anymore. Create text notes, scan documents and make to-do lists. Synchronize it all with Nimbus Note for future viewing and editing on other devices. Conveniently manage your notes - Create notes in the editor with formatting support — bold, strike, underline, etc. - Add pictures, audio, video, documents, and other types of files. - Scan and digitise any paper documents and pictures using the camera device. The text recognition feature will let you work with scanned files as well as regular notes. Organize your notes - Workspaces - separate personal information from the work-related kind. Create separate databases of notes (with own folders and tags) for different purposes within a single account; - Create folders and subfolders; - Add context to notes using tags; - Use special color labels to make most relevant notes and folders stand out from the list; - Add most important notes to Favorites; Group collaboration on notes - Invite other people to collaborate on notes; - Assign editing rights to each participant (admin, can edit, or reading only); Get complete control over your workflow and daily errands - Add to-do lists to your notes; - Set time reminders for your tasks; Your notes available anywhere, anytime - All of your notes are available on any of your devices — anytime, anywhere; - Create a note on your iPhone, add to that note on your Mac, and finish it later in a browser; - Offline access to your notes. Document scanner in your phone - Scan documents, pictures, handwritten notes; - Auto-define document borders; - Special filters allow making the document black and white or enhance the colors; Security - Nimbus Note is optionally protected with an additional passcode; Powerful search - Nimbus Note can search through not only text but also images; - Search for text in docs/xls/html/ppt and pdf files; - The unique search snippets will let you see the required text fragment without opening the note itself; - You can find entire words as well as word fragments (for example, the search will find "conscious" in "consciousness"); Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Also Available Nimbus Pro: - 1 GB of new uploads each month; - Large attached files; - Premium support; - More information in every note; - Searching for text in images; - More workspaces; - Advanced encryption; - OCR - getting text from images; - Search in images and documents; $3.99 monthly, $39.99 annually Price may vary by location. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. Manage your subscriptions in Account Settings after purchase. Privacy Policy - https://nimbus.everhelper.me/privacy.php Terms and Conditions - https://nimbus.everhelper.me/terms-and-conditions.php
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Nimbus Note at 82% against Notability's 37%. Nimbus Note also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 17.5). Notability's advantage is ratings volume (457K vs 400) and rating (4.8 vs 4.5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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 Nimbus Note sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Notability holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notability has 457K ratings behind it against 400, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 37% of Notability's written reviews are positive against 82% of Nimbus Note's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Notability ships an update weekly, Nimbus Note fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notability | Nimbus Note |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (457K ratings) — better | 4.5 (400 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 36.5% of reviews | 81.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 457K — better | 400 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | #80 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 411 MB | 85 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ginger Labs | Nimbus Web Inc |
Customer experience
Notability
Nimbus Note
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
Nimbus Note
From 400 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great for notes and screenshots
- 🚀 Better than Evernote
- 👍 Better folder structure and AI search
- 👍 Reliable and constantly improving
- 👍 Useful, beautiful and free
Room to improve
- 🐛 Misleading, just a version of Notes app
- 🐛 Lacks feature parity with web and desktop
- 🐛 Unreliable, lost notes and pictures
- 🐛 Slow and unreliable
- 🐛 Crashes on opening on iPad
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
Nimbus Note
Reported bugs
5 issues- Sync issues, different device counts
- Notes disappearing or getting corrupted
- Crashes when editing notes
- Incompatible with older devices
- Crashes on opening the app
Requested features
10 requests- Ability to scribble/write using pen
- Offline access
- Fujitsu scanner integration
- Ability to change default font colors
- Search in current folder
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Search folders instead of notes
- Sort option per folder
- Pin note
- Search preset or smart folders
- Centralized note with block alias from other notes
In-app purchases
Notability
- Notability Lite$5.991 Month
- Notability Plus$7.991 Month
- Notability Plus$12.993 Months
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- 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
Nimbus Note
- Nimbus Pro$7.991 Month
- Nimbus Pro$71.991 Year









