Pen and Paper vs AxNote
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pen and Paper
Create handwritten notes and drawings, annotate PDFs, and add text and shapes. Zoom in for detailed editing, organize content with layers, and import custom fonts and page styles. Share your creations as PDFs or JPEGs.
- Handwritten notes and drawings
- PDF import and annotation
- Text and shape insertion
- Zoom and split view
- Layer management
- Custom font installation
- PDF export
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Pen and Paper is perfect for hand-written notes on your iPad or iPhone. You can even import and write on PDFs. INK Draw ink with your finger. Resize, recolor, and move your doodles. TEXT Add text and text boxes. Change alignment, fonts, color, and install additional fonts. Perfect for adding comments to PDF. SHAPES Add geometric primitives, arrows, curves, and polygons Use the built in diagram elements and arrows to create diagrams. Create clip art of portions that you wish to reuse. shapes can be colored using gradients and fill with patterns. Use "rough" outline to make it look more like a drawing. ZOOM AND SPLIT VIEW Zoom more than 10 times to edit and draw even tiny details. Use split view (iPad only) to see full page view or look at another page PHOTOS Include photos. You can crop and rotate photos. BOOKMARKS Add bookmarks to navigate in your documents PDF SUPPORT AND SLIDE NOTES Import and annotate PDFs from other apps or Files. Use any of the built-in "Slide Note" templates to annotate presentations. When you are done export as PDF again. Use the "clone" tool to copy a portion a PDF and marker to mark text in the PDF for easy search. SHARING To share your notes with the world, simply email them as PDF. You can also extract individual pages as JPEG images. LAYERS Use the layer list to organize order of shapes and ink on the page PAGE STYLES Pen and paper comes with a variety of page styles, but you can also create your own. Import a PDF of your favourite page style and store it as a "page style" in the app. ICLOUD SUPPORT Documents, clipart and page styles, can be stored in iCloud. FONTS Are the built-in fonts not interesting enough? Install extra Truetype fonts from sites like FontSquirrel and Blambot within the app. Features: • Layers • Pen tool with color and thickness • Marker tool for marking text in PDFs • Smooth pan and zoom • Split-view to see two parts of your documents at the same time • Bookmarks and search • Insert text, arrows, photos, rectangles, circles and polygons easily • Fill shapes with gradients and patterns • Area selection, for moving and resizing large areas of your note • Built-in icon library • PDF import and export (email or other accounts) • Install additional fonts (Truetype) • Various page styles and add your own. • Fullscreen mode • iCloud support SUBSCRIPTION Subscription removes watermark (on export) and enables lasso tool. All other features are part of free version. TERMS OF USE (EULA) Uses Apple's standard terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
AxNote
This app offers an intelligent canvas for note-taking, allowing users to generate summaries from text, handwriting, and audio recordings. It supports image annotation, data visualization with tables and charts, and handwriting conversion to typed text. Designed for Apple Pencil, it provides flexible layouts and on-device AI features.
- AI-powered summaries from text, handwriting, and audio
- Audio transcription and topic exploration
- Image and PDF annotation
- Data visualization with tables and charts
- Handwriting to typed text conversion
- Apple Pencil integration
- Customizable layouts
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AxNote is an intelligent canvas that thinks with you. Generate summaries from your notes and audio recordings with Apple Intelligence. Explore topics in recordings and jump to where they're discussed. Create flashcards from your notes with a single tap. Handwrite your notes and convert it to typed text. Drag and drop images, and instantly annotate on a blank canvas, lined, or grid paper. Snap perfect shapes. Create beautiful tables and charts to visualize your data. AxNote is a next-level digital note-taking experience. FEATURES Magic Summary: Generate summaries of your text, handwriting, or audio recordings using a device that supports Apple Intelligence. Summaries are perfect for catching up with meetings, revision, and for creating flashcards. Magic Summary cards can also be converted to a PDF or plain text for use in your favorite flashcard platform. Ask About Topics: Magic Summary automatically finds key topics discussed in your audio recordings and gives you summaries of those topics. You can also ask specific questions about the contents of your recording and Magic Summary will give you an answer using your recording as the source of truth. Jump To Topic: Instantly skip to the part of a recording where a specific topic is discussed with Magic Summary. No more manually scrubbing through hours of lectures or meetings. Audio Transcription: AxNote features fast, accurate audio transcription that runs directly on your device and supports languages other than English. Audio transcriptions can be added to your note or shared with others. Images, PDFs, Tables, and Charts: Drag and drop images and PDFs anywhere in a note. Images can be annotated directly over using a markup tool. Create simple tables with CSV support and link them with charts to create beautiful data visualizations. Images, tables, and charts live right alongside your handwriting and typed text. AxNote also supports Image Playground, so you can turn a prompt into an image and add it to your note (requires a device with Apple Intelligence enabled). Made for Pencil: AxNote is the perfect companion for Apple Pencil. With support for tilt and pressure sensitivity, shape snapping, Apple Pencil Hover, and handwriting-to-text, it's the only app you need to turn your ideas into beautiful ink. Layouts: Transform your iPad or iPhone into a real notebook with a selection of preset Layouts, including lined, grid, dot grid paper, and a freeform canvas. Customize your layouts with specific measurements for line and grid spacing and colors. Bookmarks: Pin what matters most in your notes. You can access your bookmarks from anywhere in a note, allowing you to jump within (and between) pages for quick access to important content. Privacy and Flexibility: With AxNote, you're in control of your data and where it's stored. Save your documents in your preferred cloud storage provider with the Files app or keep them on your device. AxNote's AI features also run directly on your Apple Intelligence-supported device, so your notes are never sent to an online service for processing or AI model training. Offline Support: AxNote's AI features (including Magic Summary and Audio Transcription) don't need an internet connection after initial setup, so you can work even when you're off the grid. --- AxNote+ - Unlimited pages - Unlimited Magic Summary usage - Customize Layouts These features are available with a one-time in-app purchase to AxNote+. Please read the Terms of Service at animantlabs.com/axnote/terms --- Need help? Please visit support.animantlabs.com/axnote Terms of Service: animantlabs.com/axnote/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: AxNote at free against Pen and Paper's freemium. Pen and Paper's advantage is review sentiment (70% vs 50%) and ratings volume (41 vs 7). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Pen and Paper sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and AxNote sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for Pen and Paper against 4.3 for AxNote. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pen and Paper has 41 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Pen and Paper's written reviews are positive against 50% of AxNote's.
Pen and Paper ships an update every 5 weeks, AxNote every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pen and Paper | AxNote |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (41 ratings) — better | 4.3 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 70.5% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 41 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro |
| Requires iOS | 15 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 50 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vivid Apps | Jonathan Benjamin |
Customer experience
Pen and Paper
AxNote
In-app purchases
Pen and Paper
- Pen and Paper PRO monthly$0.991 Month
- Pen and Paper PRO$5.991 Year
- Pen and Paper PRO$7.99
AxNote
- AxNote+$24.99









