Comparison

Mental Note for iPad ๛ vs Papyrus

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

Head to head
About

Mental Note for iPad ๛

This app transforms your iPad into a versatile digital notepad. Seamlessly combine text, drawings, pictures, and voice recordings on a single page. Capture ideas in any format and share them easily.

Highlights
  • Combine text, pictures, audio, and drawings
  • Freehand sketching with multiple colors
  • Organize notes with tags
  • Password protect private notes
  • Export notes in PDF, text, and other formats
  • Share notes via email and cloud services
Read full description

"...a true notepad experience that may help you make a clean break from the pencil-and-paper era." -New York Times. Users describe Mental Note as "the only notepad app... that's actually better than, and as simple as, a pen and paper." It's "the future of note taking", and "a big sketchpad... [to] free-associate and put stuff down in any format". Mental Note for iPad brings the future closer with an even bigger sketchpad for you to capture your ideas on. Turn your iPad into a digital notepad.  Combine pictures, voice recordings, drawings and text - all on the same page, in any order you choose. An idea... a flash - a moment of genius.  When a thought hits, and you have to remember it, why limit how you record it?  The more context and sensory details you can capture, the clearer the idea can be put down. Use pictures, audio, sketching and text together on the same page... a digital page that can be shared with anyone. Mental Note allows you to capture ideas as they happen: use pictures, dictate, add text, sketch on anything.  Ideas clarified. Creativity captured. FEATURES - Draw with your finger using multiple colours and widths on top of pictures, text, or anywhere else on the page. Zoom in to sketch fine details. - Choose a picture from your album and add it to the page. - Add audio to the page by recording with the built-in microphone. Continue to edit your note while recording. - Organize your notes using tags. - Password protect your private notes and flag your important ones. - Attach Calendar events to your notes. - Undo, redo anything in the note by shaking the device. - Delete note sections using the toolbar button or by swiping any note section. - Move a note section by swiping and then dragging it to its new location. - Length of a note is limited only by device memory. - Export in a variety of formats including PDF, text, Mental Note format, and more. Send using email, iCloud, Dropbox, and more. * Send a note in Mental Note format so the note may be imported into another person's Mental Note app. * Using email, export a complete note directly from Mental Note as either a PDF document or a picture (each audio recording is attached to the email as a separate file). You can also email just the text from your note. - Export your notes and backups to your iCloud and/or Dropbox account. - Share a note with your friends using most installed apps. - Map the location a note was created at (if location services are enabled). - Change the size and font of the text in your notes. - Change the color and background of your notes. - Numerous other configuration options. THIS VERSION IS OPTIMIZED FOR iPad. FOR iPhone, PLEASE SEE Mental Note - the digital notepad. Read more: www.zymbiotic.com X @zymbiotic facebook.com/zymbiotic

About

Papyrus

Organize and quickly access your important files, notes, and web links. Easily save documents, photos, and URLs shared from other apps for instant retrieval.

Highlights
  • Access files (photos, videos, documents)
  • Create text notes
  • Save URL links
  • Share from other apps
  • Intuitive design
  • Cross-app interaction
Features
Read full description

Quickly and easily access your files (Photos, Images, Videos, Documents and more), you can also create text notes and URL links from the web or social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Youtube, WhatsApp, among others). Many times we need to open important files such as: ID documents, tax documents, digital certificates and even vaccination certificates to access different places, and we have had to search for these files among the folders of our device, sometimes without being sure where they really are. It is no longer necessary to perform these searches every time we need to open them, just add the files or share them from any other app so that it will never be difficult to find them again. This app started as a project to have a quick access to our vaccination certificate, however, it had potential for much more. The tickets to enter the cinema to see our favorite movie is very easy and comfortable. It was no longer necessary to send the files to our friend or family by WhastApp or any other app to be accessible, to all this was included the option to create text notes and register URL links to save any important information or have quick access to any publication, social networking profile, websites and even information that we have stored in the cloud. The features of this app make it unique and versatile allowing interaction with many other apps to share files or data with each other. Its simple design makes it very intuitive for any type of user, from the most advanced to those who are not very familiar with technology. Privacy Policy: https://kaptaz.com/papyrus/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Website: https://kaptaz.com/papyrus/

Screenshots

Papyrus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Papyrus at Free against Mental Note for iPad ๛'s $4.99. Papyrus also leads on rating (5.0 vs 2.7) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). Mental Note for iPad ๛'s advantage is ratings volume (6 vs 2). On update cadence and ads 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

Papyrus is free to download; Mental Note for iPad ๛ costs $4.99 up front. Mental Note for iPad ๛ sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Papyrus asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Papyrus holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Mental Note for iPad ๛ versus Papyrus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMental Note for iPad ๛Papyrus
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating2.7 (6 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews51.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB8 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperZymbiotic TechnologiesKAPTAZ SpA

Customer experience

Mental Note for iPad ๛

All ratings6 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews149 reviews
Positive51.7%
Neutral22.8%
Negative25.5%

Papyrus

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Mental Note for iPad ๛

One-time3
  • Paper Customization feature$2.99
  • Straight Line Drawing feature$3.99
  • Dark Mode Override feature$3.99
None

Papyrus

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mental Note for iPad ๛ free?
Mental Note for iPad ๛ costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Papyrus free?
Papyrus is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mental Note for iPad ๛ or Papyrus?
Papyrus is rated higher. Mental Note for iPad ๛ averages 2.7 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Papyrus averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Mental Note for iPad ๛ or Papyrus have ads?
Neither Mental Note for iPad ๛ nor Papyrus shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mental Note for iPad ๛ or Papyrus?
Mental Note for iPad ๛ ships an update every 5 months, and Papyrus every 5 months. Most recently, Mental Note for iPad ๛ was updated on November 1, 2026 and Papyrus on November 3, 2026.

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