Comparison

SoundNote vs Audio Notebook

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

Head to head
About

SoundNote

Record audio while taking notes and drawing. Tap any word or drawing to instantly jump to the corresponding moment in the audio recording. Perfect for students and journalists to capture every detail.

Highlights
  • Audio recording with synchronized notes
  • Tap notes to jump to audio time
  • Integrated drawing tools
  • Easy editing and manipulation of drawings
  • Export text, drawings, and audio
  • High-quality M4A audio format
Features
Read full description

SoundNote is the best way to take notes in meetings, lectures, and interviews. It tracks what you type and draw while recording audio, so you'll never worry about missing an important detail. During playback, just tap a word: SoundNote will jump right to the proper time in the audio. • Use SoundNote's powerful drawing tool for quick sketches. It's easy to edit them, too. Tap a drawing to select it, or tap twice to select an individual stroke. From there, you can drag it to wherever you want, or tap "Delete" to get rid of it. Use two fingers to zoom and scroll. • SoundNote is perfect for students. If you ever fall asleep in class, don't worry — SoundNote's got your back. Just tap what you wrote while you were awake, and SoundNote will play the audio to help you fill in the blanks. • SoundNote is also great for journalists. Ever miss an important detail during an interview and have to skim through your entire recording to find out what it was? With SoundNote, just tap a word from that part of the interview — it'll play back what you missed. • When you're done, share your text, drawings, and audio notes via email, or transfer them directly to your Mac or PC. Audio notes are recorded in standard M4A format: One hour of high quality audio is only 25MB.

About

Audio Notebook

Record lectures, meetings, or thoughts with this voice recorder and note-taking app. Features include 2x playback speed for faster review and a wide-screen editor for comfortable note-taking on your iPad. Try the free edition with limited notes.

Highlights
  • All-day audio recording
  • 2x playback speed
  • Wide-screen text editor
  • Note-taking for lectures and meetings
  • Free edition available
Features
Read full description

All-Day Audio Recorder, 2x Playback, and Wide-Screen Text Editor. Audio Notebook is perfect for: - Students: To record all your lectures, and take notes on all your classes, - Professionals: For every meeting and interview, - Everyone else: To capture your thoughts and ideas for all of life's projects. 2x Playback Speed Saves you Precious Time. Imagine if you can review your notes twice as fast. This is built-into Audio Notebook. You'll never want to go back. Comfortable Wide-Screen Editing Use your iPad as a note-taking machine, with or without an attached hardware keyboard. TRY AUDIO NOTEBOOK RISK FREE! We're confident you'll find Audio Notebook to be the best and easiest to use audio note system for your iPad, so we've prepared a special Free Edition you can use right now. Download the Free Edition and try it risk free. It has all the features of the Full Edition, but is limited to 4 notes at a time.

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Audio Notebook at Free against SoundNote's $4.99. Audio Notebook also leads on rating (4.2 vs 3.8) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.5). SoundNote's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (70% vs 50%). On ratings volume, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support 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

Audio Notebook is free to download; SoundNote costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Audio Notebook holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13 and 5 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 70% of SoundNote's written reviews are positive against 50% of Audio Notebook's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
SoundNote versus Audio Notebook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSoundNoteAudio Notebook
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating3.8 (13 ratings)4.2 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews69.7% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings13 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS17.513.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDavid EstesQrayon, LLC

Customer experience

SoundNote

All ratings13 ratings
Positive69.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative30.8%
Written reviews320 reviews
Positive69.7%
Neutral11.9%
Negative18.4%

Audio Notebook

All ratings4 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

SoundNote

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Typing issues, such as duplicate characters or unresponsive keyboard
  • Audio recording cutting out or becoming distorted
  • Syncing issues between notes and audio

Requested features

5 requests
  • Folders or notebooks to organize notes
  • Text formatting options (bold, italic, underline, etc.)
  • Pause/rewind/fast-forward controls for audio playback
  • Integration with cloud storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)
  • Ability to insert images or diagrams into notes

Audio Notebook

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

SoundNote

No in-app purchases

None

Audio Notebook

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SoundNote free?
SoundNote costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Audio Notebook free?
Audio Notebook is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SoundNote or Audio Notebook?
Audio Notebook is rated higher. SoundNote averages 3.8 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Audio Notebook averages 4.2 from 5 ratings.
Do SoundNote or Audio Notebook have ads?
Audio Notebook shows ads; SoundNote does not.
Which is updated more often, SoundNote or Audio Notebook?
SoundNote ships an update every 3 months, and Audio Notebook every 3 months. Most recently, SoundNote was updated on November 1, 2026 and Audio Notebook on October 24, 2026.

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