# Notability vs Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing

The clearest difference is rating: Notability at 4.8 against Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing's 4.3. Notability also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 4 months) and ratings volume (459K vs 51). Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing's advantage is review sentiment (55% vs 36%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Notability sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month and Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Notability holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notability has 459K ratings behind it against 51, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 36% of Notability's written reviews are positive against 55% of Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

Notability ships an update weekly, Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Notability | Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.8 (459K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notability-ai-notes-and-pdf/id360593530/reviews)** | [4.3 (51 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carbo-pencil-notes-and-drawing/id956811074/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **459K** | 51 |
| Positive reviews | 36.1% of reviews | **54.8% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Weekly** | Every 4 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | **#111** | — |
| Size | 457 MB | 36 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Ginger Labs](https://appshunter.io/developer/318126112) | [Creaceed SRL](https://appshunter.io/developer/291683889) |

## What reviewers say

### Notability

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notability-ai-notes-and-pdf/id360593530)

**Currently charting:** #111 Top Grossing · Productivity, #171 Top Free · Productivity (US App Store)

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.

**Highlights:** 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

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support, iPhone Duo support

**In-app purchases (9)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Notability Lite | $5.99 | per month |
| Notability Plus | $7.99 | per month |
| Notability Plus | $12.99 | per 3 months |
| Notability Lite | $14.99 | per year |
| Notability Plus | $19.99 | per year |
| Notability Plus | $19.99 | per year |
| Notability Plus | $19.99 | per year |
| Notability Pro | $19.99 | per month |
| Notability Pro | $99.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great app for note-taking
- 👍 Smooth handwriting experience
- 📝 Excellent organization and file management
- 🎙️ Useful audio recording feature
- 🔍 Handwriting recognition and search

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Sync issues with iCloud
- 🔍 Limited search and organization options
- 🖍️ Frustrating highlighter behavior
- 🔒 Concerns about subscription model
- 🔧 Buggy after recent updates

**Reported bugs**

- Notes disappearing or getting corrupted
- Frequent crashes and performance issues
- Palm rejection problems after updates
- Inconsistent behavior when importing files

**Requested features**

- 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


### Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carbo-pencil-notes-and-drawing/id956811074)

Capture and organize handwritten notes and sketches digitally. This app preserves the expressiveness of your original drawings with innovative visualization technology. Tag, annotate, and store your creations in the cloud for easy retrieval and sharing.

**Highlights:** Hybrid visualization technology, Image-based input options, Natural sketching with Apple Pencil support, Editable notes and drawings, Tagging and annotation for search, Cloud storage integration, Customizable export styles

**Features:** Family Sharing

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pro Plan (Monthly) | $3.99 | per month |
| Pro Plan (Yearly) | $9.99 | per year |
| Pro Pack 2 | $23.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Great for sketching ideas
- 👍 Pleasantly surprised by subscription plan
- 👍 Laser-focused on B&W scanning
- 👍 Excellent for capturing notes
- 👍 Manipulate scans easily

**What reviewers complain about**

- 👎 Lacking features for daily use
- 👎 Difficult for diagrams and notes
- 👎 Rudimentary editing tools
- 👎 Lacks color
- 👎 Crippled by lack of export options

**Reported bugs**

- Keeps crashing on iPad
- Update bricks app (crashes on launch)
- Carbo keeps crashing
- Sync problem with Evernote
- Exporting pages (archiving) doesn't work

**Requested features**

- Adding colors
- More pencil sizes
- Ability to handle multi-page docs
- Viable export options (PDF, etc.)
- Ability to bundle pages into PDF


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Notability free?

Notability is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing free?

Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Notability or Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing?

Notability is rated higher. Notability averages 4.8 out of 5 from 459K ratings, while Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing averages 4.3 from 51 ratings.

### Do Notability or Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing have ads?

Neither Notability nor Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Notability or Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing?

Notability ships an update weekly, and Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing every 4 months. Most recently, Notability was updated on November 10, 2026 and Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing on November 1, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*