Comparison

Pages vs Google Docs

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Pages

Create visually appealing documents with a wide range of templates and editing tools. Enhance your work with multimedia, track changes, and collaborate seamlessly. Offers advanced features for writing, design, and presentation.

Highlights
  • Apple-designed templates
  • Add images, video, audio
  • Track changes and comments
  • Screen View for mobile editing
  • Interactive EPUB creation
  • Drawing and annotation with Apple Pencil
  • Writing Tools for AI assistance
Features
Read full description

Pages is now part of Apple Creator Studio, an amazing collection of Apple’s most powerful creative apps designed to help you bring your ideas to life. The suite includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage — plus premium content and intelligence features in Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform, all in one simple plan. Creating, viewing, and editing documents in Pages, as well as collaborating with others in real time, does not require a subscription. Create beautiful documents with Pages on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Start with an Apple-designed template for a report, resume, poster, or digital book. Easily add images, movies, audio, tables, charts, and shapes. Use comments, change tracking, and highlights to review your work. On iPhone and iPad, Screen View optimizes content for your screen, making it easier to edit. Get Started Quickly • Work from iPhone, iPad, Mac, or even a PC with iCloud.com • Select from a wide variety of Apple-designed templates • Add from a library of shapes, tables, and charts with pre-defined styles • Import and edit Microsoft Word and text files Create Beautiful Documents • Format your document with gorgeous styles, fonts, and textures • Make your content more engaging with recorded audio, video, and image galleries • Create page templates to keep the design consistent across your page layout document • Use powerful graphics tools including image background removal and masking • Design interactive EPUB books that can be shared with others or published to Apple Books • Draw, write or annotate with Apple Pencil on iPad Advanced Tools • Use the table of contents view to easily navigate your document or book • Add comments and join threaded conversations • Turn on change tracking to mark up a document as you edit it • Create footnotes and endnotes and view character, word, and paragraph counts • Add elegant mathematical equations using LaTeX or MathML notation • Use presenter mode on iPhone and iPad to auto scroll text while giving a speech • Seamless integration with EndNote for inserting citations on Mac* Share with Anyone • Share your document publicly or collaborate with specific people using iCloud or Box • Make changes from any device and see a list of changes from others in real-time • Export your document in EPUB, Microsoft Word, RTF, TXT, and PDF format Apple Intelligence • Use Writing Tools to proofread, rewrite, summarize, and compose text • Create your own fun images with Image Playground based on a description Some features of Apple Creator Studio require an Apple Intelligence–capable device. For full system requirements and usage limits for Apple Creator Studio intelligence features, see Apple Support article 125029. * EndNote sold separately. EndNote integration requires a plug-in available from Apple Support.

About

Google Docs

Create, edit, and collaborate on documents online in real time. Work together seamlessly with your team, even offline, and access a variety of file types. AI-powered features can help draft and refine content.

Highlights
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Offline editing
  • Template library
  • Multiple file type support
  • AI-powered drafting
  • Commenting and action items
Read full description

Create, edit, and collaborate on online documents with the Google Docs app. Work together in real time • Share documents with your team • Edit, comment, and add action items in real time Create anywhere, anytime—even offline • Capture spontaneous ideas on the fly • Get things done, even on the go, with offline mode • Save time and add polish with easy-to-use templates Edit and share multiple file types • Open a variety of files, including Microsoft Word files, right in Google Docs • Frictionless collaboration, no matter which application your teammates use • Convert and export files seamlessly Google Docs is part of Google Workspace: where teams of any size can chat, create, and collaborate. Google Workspace paid subscribers have access to additional Google Docs features, including: Use Gemini in Docs to quickly draft and edit content • Draft outlines, blog posts, briefs, and more on the go • Improve your writing with AI-powered suggestions Learn more about Google Docs: https://workspace.google.com/products/docs/ Follow us for more: • X: https://x.com/googleworkspace • Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/googleworkspace • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/googleworkspace

Screenshots

Pages4 screens
Google Docs4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pages at none against Google Docs's 1. Google Docs's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 months) and rating (4.8 vs 4.6). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Google Docs sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $199.99 per year. Pages asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Google Docs holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Google Docs has 3.2M ratings behind it against 551K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 59% of Pages's written reviews are positive against 70% of Google Docs's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pages ships an update every 3 months, Google Docs weekly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Pages versus Google Docs: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPagesGoogle Docs
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (551K ratings)4.8 (3.2M ratings) — better
Positive reviews59.4% of reviews69.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings551K3.2M — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
Best chart rank—#9 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size656 MB348 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAppleGoogle

Customer experience

Pages

All ratings550,742 ratings
Positive91.4%
Neutral3.4%
Negative5.2%
Written reviews7,856 reviews
Positive59.4%
Neutral9.3%
Negative31.3%

Google Docs

All ratings3,243,575 ratings
Positive95.4%
Neutral1.9%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews3,469 reviews
Positive69.8%
Neutral5.9%
Negative24.3%

User reviews

Pages

From 551K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Versatile writing app
  • 🎨 Excellent creative features
  • 🤝 Collaborative capabilities
  • 📚 Great for writing books/stories
  • 🏫 Useful for school/work documents

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional glitches and crashes
  • 🔍 Difficult to find/organize documents
  • 🖋️ Frustrating cursor and text editing
  • 🔄 Inconsistent sync and file management
  • 🔢 Limited font and formatting options

Google Docs

From 3.2M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Convenient and accessible
  • 👍 Seamless collaboration
  • 🔒 Automatic saving
  • 💡 Offline functionality
  • 👍 Versatile for various uses

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Laggy performance and input delays
  • 👎 Limited formatting and customization options
  • 🔍 Difficult to organize and navigate documents
  • 👎 Compatibility issues with other platforms

Bugs and requests

Pages

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Documents disappearing or failing to save
  • Keyboard freezing and unresponsive typing
  • Formatting issues when importing/exporting files
  • Compatibility problems with older devices/OS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more font and formatting options
  • Improve cursor and text editing controls
  • Streamline document organization and search
  • Enhance sync and offline editing capabilities
  • Integrate grammar/spelling correction tools

Google Docs

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unexpected crashes and document loss
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps
  • Issues with image insertion and manipulation

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved document organization with folders
  • Expanded font and formatting options
  • Better integration with Microsoft Office
  • Smoother scrolling and navigation

In-app purchases

None

Pages

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Google Docs

Subscriptions1
  • Google AI Pro (5 TB)$199.991 Year

Questions

Is Pages free?
Pages is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Google Docs free?
Google Docs is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pages or Google Docs?
Google Docs is rated higher. Pages averages 4.6 out of 5 from 551K ratings, while Google Docs averages 4.8 from 3.2M ratings.
Do Pages or Google Docs have ads?
Neither Pages nor Google Docs shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pages or Google Docs?
Pages ships an update every 3 months, and Google Docs weekly. Most recently, Pages was updated on September 24, 2026 and Google Docs on September 24, 2026.

Other comparisons