Comparison

Note Taker HD vs IAAI

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

Head to head
About

Note Taker HD

This app allows for versatile handwritten note-taking and PDF annotation on iPad and iPhone. It offers features like zoomed ink, shapes, typed text, and image insertion, with flexible organization and sharing options.

Highlights
  • Zoomed ink for detailed writing
  • PDF annotation capabilities
  • Insert photos and shapes
  • Typed text blocks
  • Organize with folders and tags
  • Export as PDF
Features
Read full description

Zoomed ink, PDF markup, photos, shapes, typed text, folders and tagging, extensive AirPlay control, and much more. The latest upgrade of one of the first note taking apps designed specifically for the Apple iPad and now also available for the Apple iPhone, Note Taker HD has long been known as a powerful and stable application for writing and organizing handwritten notes and diagrams. Note Taker HD can also be used to annotate PDF files. It can shrink your writing so you can easily fit a lot of text on a page. You can read the reduced-size "ink" as if you had written those letters with a very fine pen. It gives you solid functionality and control to produce the pages you need. Documents are flexibly organized by tags, date/time last modified, favorites, and more, with a scrolling list of thumbnail images of part of each page to help you find them later. You can email one or more pages as a single PDF file, "Open In" other apps, or, if your device supports it, print. Note Taker HD lets you create pages by writing on the screen with your finger or an iPad/iPhone-compatible stylus. You can either write directly on the page for large drawings, or have the "ink" you write shrunk down. You can write in large letters on the screen rather than trying to make tiny motions like a pencil. You just keep writing and Note Taker HD automatically adds new writing next to the old. To quickly correct mistakes, it has multi-level undo and redo buttons as well as an eraser -- just drag your finger over the page to erase the "ink" under it. You can zoom in and out on a page using the pinch gesture while viewing or editing. The Zoomed Editing window lets you see both a zoomed-out overview and a zoomed-in close-up writing area at the same time. You can use "Open In" in other apps send PDF files to Note Taker HD for annotation. Other features include: - Pages organized into documents and folders - Typed blocks of text with optional borders - 60+ highly customizable shapes - Insert and crop images from Photo Albums, Pasteboard, or the iPad/iPhone camera - Custom backgrounds from images or PDF pages - Free templates and clip art on the support web site - VGA/HDMI/AirPlay support with zoom, pan, and a moveable pointer - Wrist guard to avoid inadvertent touches - Layout variations better suited to some left-handed users - Optional fields in output footers like in a word processor - Extensive built-in help - Smooth and crisp ink on screen and in PDF output - Share editable copies of your documents with others - Backup to a single file for off-iPad/iPhone storage - Password protected folders - Support for the iOS Data Protection API - Support for languages written right-to-left - Full-screen preview mode - Automatic advance and auto-return in zoomed editing - Copy/Cut/Paste between pages, rotate/resize ink Note Taker HD was designed and programmed by Dan Bricklin, the same person who over 40 years ago came up with VisiCalc, the pioneering electronic spreadsheet that made working with numbers on a personal computer so easy. To see it in action, click on the Support link here or go directly to www.notetakerhd.com.

About

IAAI

Access event details, agendas, and check-in information for fire investigation professionals. This app connects members of an international association dedicated to suppressing arson through professional investigation.

Highlights
  • Event information access
  • Agenda details
  • Evaluation forms
  • Check-in functionality
  • Maps
Features
Read full description

The International Association of Arson Investigators® (IAAI®) is an international professional association of more than 10,000 fire investigation professionals, united by a strong commitment to suppress the crime of arson through professional fire investigation. Using this app you can access IAAI event information, agenda, evaluations, check-in, maps, and more!

Screenshots

Note Taker HD4 screens
IAAI3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: IAAI at Free against Note Taker HD's $4.99. IAAI also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and iOS requirement (14.1 vs 17.0). Note Taker HD's advantage is ratings volume (140 vs 4). On update cadence, ads, 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

IAAI is free to download; Note Taker HD costs $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

IAAI holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Note Taker HD has 140 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Note Taker HD ships an update every 4 months, IAAI every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Note Taker HD versus IAAI: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNote Taker HDIAAI
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (140 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings140 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 4 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.014.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB47 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSoftware GardenResults at Hand Software LLC

Customer experience

Note Taker HD

All ratings140 ratings
Positive73.6%
Neutral7.1%
Negative19.3%
Written reviews595 reviews
Positive83.7%
Neutral6.1%
Negative10.3%

IAAI

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Note Taker HD

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when exporting PDFs
  • Crashes when adding photos
  • Crashes and loses data
  • Exporting to email not working well

Requested features

9 requests
  • Evernote integration
  • Ability to scroll between pages
  • Ability to underline, bold or italicize typed text
  • Ability to group objects together
  • Voice recording and clip function
Show 4 more
  • Dropbox/iCloud sync and backup
  • Ability to convert handwriting to text
  • Folders and sub-folders for better organization
  • Ability to rotate objects

IAAI

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Note Taker HD

No in-app purchases

None

IAAI

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Note Taker HD free?
Note Taker HD costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is IAAI free?
IAAI is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Note Taker HD or IAAI?
IAAI is rated higher. Note Taker HD averages 4.0 out of 5 from 140 ratings, while IAAI averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Note Taker HD or IAAI have ads?
Neither Note Taker HD nor IAAI shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Note Taker HD or IAAI?
Note Taker HD ships an update every 4 months, and IAAI every 5 months. Most recently, Note Taker HD was updated on October 17, 2026 and IAAI on October 7, 2026.

Other comparisons