Comparison

Mental Note for iPad ๛ vs Manipulist Lite

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

Manipulist Lite

This app helps you quickly transform text with various tools. Import text from typing, pasting, or files, apply transformations like case conversion or line manipulation, and then export the result.

Highlights
  • Import text via typing, paste, or file upload
  • Apply numerous text transformation tools
  • Find and Replace functionality
  • Line manipulation (add, remove, sort)
  • Case conversion
  • Export text to clipboard or share
Read full description

Manipulist Lite is a text productivity tool to help you transform text the way you need it, in few clicks. Just few steps needed. Step 1 - Import text To start, type in the textarea, paste text from clipboard or upload a file (plain text file formats). Step 2 - Choose tools Click the Tools icon on the bottom bar. Click on the tool you want to apply. If a tool requires no input, the text will be transformed straight away. If a tool requires input, the sidebar will display all required input fields. Fill the input fields and press the Apply button to update the text. Step 3 - Check and export output After tools have been applied, click on the Import icon in the bottom bar. Check if the text was transformed as you expected. You can export text by copying it to clipboard or sharing it. What can you do with Manipulist? - Add new line - Add text at lines - Add text every nth line - Convert case - Extract every Nth line - Extract line chunk before/after Nth character - Extract line chunk before/after text - Find and Replace - Remove blank lines - Remove every Nth line - Remove new lines - Remove non-alphanumeric characters - Sort lines - Trim lines Limitations Large text files could slow down the application significantly. If possible, split large text files into multiple smaller files. If you spot any bug, please get in touch. For more file upload formats and more tools, get the full-featured Manipulist app. For more info or to use the web application, visit manipulist.com Made by RADOST IT - https://radostit.com

Screenshots

Manipulist Lite4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Manipulist Lite at 100% against Mental Note for iPad ๛'s 52%. Manipulist Lite also leads on price (Free vs $4.99) and rating (5.0 vs 2.7). Mental Note for iPad ๛'s advantage is update cadence (every 5 months vs every 22 months) and ratings volume (6 vs 2). On 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

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

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Manipulist Lite holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of Mental Note for iPad ๛'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Manipulist Lite's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mental Note for iPad ๛ ships an update every 5 months, Manipulist Lite every 22 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 1 level
Mental Note for iPad ๛ versus Manipulist Lite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMental Note for iPad ๛Manipulist Lite
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating2.7 (6 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews51.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 months — betterEvery 22 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZymbiotic TechnologiesRADOST IT j.d.o.o.

Customer experience

Mental Note for iPad ๛

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

Manipulist Lite

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
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

Manipulist Lite

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 Manipulist Lite free?
Manipulist Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mental Note for iPad ๛ or Manipulist Lite?
Manipulist Lite is rated higher. Mental Note for iPad ๛ averages 2.7 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Manipulist Lite averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Mental Note for iPad ๛ or Manipulist Lite have ads?
Neither Mental Note for iPad ๛ nor Manipulist Lite shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mental Note for iPad ๛ or Manipulist Lite?
Mental Note for iPad ๛ ships an update every 5 months, and Manipulist Lite every 22 months. Most recently, Mental Note for iPad ๛ was updated on October 21, 2026 and Manipulist Lite on October 23, 2026.

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