Comparison

Mental Note for iPad ๛ vs PDF Notes S

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

PDF Notes S

This app offers a dual-page PDF viewer with smooth scrolling and fast page turns. It also provides document management, quick previews of various file types, and annotation tools. An upgrade removes ads and unlocks full functionality.

Highlights
  • Dual-page PDF viewer
  • Horizontal/vertical scroll and page turns
  • Document browser for file organization
  • Quick Look for various file types
  • ZIP file preview without unzipping
  • 8 handwriting tools
  • Cache manager for fast page turns
Read full description

PDF Notes S gives you a 2 pages viewer with horizontal/vertical scroll, and cache for fast page turns, and thumbnails scrollbar. PDF Notes S gives you ZIP Preview, Quick Look of documents, images, music, videos, and etc. PDF Notes S gives you Document Browser so that you can organize all your files very easily. PDF Viewer - 1 page or 2 pages, horizontal or vertical fast page turns - Scroll or page turns by tap on sides - 8 handwriting tools that you can adjust color and line width - Horizontal or vertical thumbnails scrollbar - PDF outlines, bookmarks, and annotations list - PDF search - Cache manager supports 3 modes, permanent cache, automatic cache, and no cache Quick Look, ZIP Preview - PDF, RTF, TEXT - iWork documents, Office documents - Images, Music, PiP Videos - Without Unzip, preview ZIP contents (password may be requested if locked) Advertisements before upgrade - Banner ads can be shown at the bottom - Interstitial ads can be shown per 30 minutes Information about the auto-renewable nature of the subscription - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. A link to privacy policy and terms of use - http://blog.musebook.com/2017/03/privacy-policy.html The length of the subscription - Monthly or Yearly NOTE: All content contained herein is subject to change without notice.

Screenshots

PDF Notes S4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PDF Notes S at Free against Mental Note for iPad ๛'s $4.99. PDF Notes S also leads on rating (4.2 vs 2.7) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 5 months). Mental Note for iPad ๛'s advantage is ads (none vs shown). On review sentiment, ratings volume, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

PDF Notes S is free to download; Mental Note for iPad ๛ costs $4.99 up front. Mental Note for iPad ๛ sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and PDF Notes S sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PDF Notes S holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 5 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of Mental Note for iPad ๛'s written reviews are positive against 53% of PDF Notes S's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mental Note for iPad ๛ ships an update every 5 months, PDF Notes S every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Mental Note for iPad ๛ versus PDF Notes S: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMental Note for iPad ๛PDF Notes S
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating2.7 (6 ratings)4.2 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews51.7% of reviews52.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings6 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZymbiotic TechnologiesAMuseTec Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Mental Note for iPad ๛

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

PDF Notes S

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive52.9%
Neutral35.3%
Negative11.8%

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
2 purchases

PDF Notes S

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Plan$0.991 Month
  • Yearly Plan$9.991 Year

Questions

Is Mental Note for iPad ๛ free?
Mental Note for iPad ๛ costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is PDF Notes S free?
PDF Notes S is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Mental Note for iPad ๛ or PDF Notes S?
PDF Notes S is rated higher. Mental Note for iPad ๛ averages 2.7 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while PDF Notes S averages 4.2 from 5 ratings.
Do Mental Note for iPad ๛ or PDF Notes S have ads?
PDF Notes S shows ads; Mental Note for iPad ๛ does not.
Which is updated more often, Mental Note for iPad ๛ or PDF Notes S?
Mental Note for iPad ๛ ships an update every 5 months, and PDF Notes S every 6 weeks. Most recently, Mental Note for iPad ๛ was updated on October 13, 2026 and PDF Notes S on October 7, 2026.

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