Comparison

Pen and Paper vs Plank.md

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Handwritten notes and drawings
  • PDF import and annotation
  • Text and shape insertion
  • Zoom and split view
  • Layer management
  • Custom font installation
  • PDF export
Features
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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/

About

Plank.md

Features
Read full description

Plank is the AI assistant that actually does the work — not just answers questions. Hand it your spreadsheets, documents, and data. Get back clean reports, organized files, and hours of your day. CHATBOTS GIVE YOU TEXT. PLANK GIVES YOU FINISHED FILES. When you ask Plank for a report, you get an actual document — a formatted doc, a structured spreadsheet with formulas, a chart-ready analysis. No copying, no reformatting, no extra steps. HOW IT WORKS 1. Upload and describe — drop in your files (a spreadsheet, a folder of invoices, a messy CSV) and tell Plank what you need in plain English. 2. Plank does the heavy lifting — it reads the files, crunches the numbers, spots the patterns, and creates the output. It works in the background so you can move on. 3. Review, tweak, and send — open the finished files, make adjustments, and share them with your team. Need changes? Just ask. WHAT PLANK HANDLES • Accounting & Finance — categorize transactions, reconcile accounts, flag duplicates and anomalies • Data & Business Analysis — clean messy datasets, analyze trends, build charts and executive summaries • Notes & Knowledge — capture notes, organize a knowledge base, and ask questions across everything you've saved • Legal, Marketing, Operations, HR, Sales, Research — the weekly grunt work that eats hours but doesn't need your expertise BUILT FOR REAL WORK • Full file support — sheets, docs, CSVs, PDFs, and more • Real documents out — formatted reports, spreadsheets, charts • Your second brain — notes, files, and team knowledge in one workspace, searchable and always at hand • Connect your tools — plug in the apps and services you already use • Persistent workspace — files saved with version history and one-click restore • Team collaboration — shared workspaces, private spaces, granular sharing • Scheduled automations — recurring tasks on autopilot • Works everywhere — your phone, tablet, and the web No installation. No setup. Sign in, open your workspace, and start handing off work. The work gets done. You get the credit.

Screenshots

Pen and Paper4 screens
Plank.md4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Plank.md at none against Pen and Paper's 1. Plank.md also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 5 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Both are free to download. Pen and Paper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Plank.md asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pen and Paper ships an update every 5 weeks, Plank.md every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Pen and Paper versus Plank.md: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPen and PaperPlank.md
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (43 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews69.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings43 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB46 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVivid AppsBeksultan Mambetov

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pen and Paper

One-time1
  • Pen and Paper PRO$7.99
None

Plank.md

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pen and Paper free?
Pen and Paper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Plank.md free?
Plank.md is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Pen and Paper or Plank.md have ads?
Neither Pen and Paper nor Plank.md shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pen and Paper or Plank.md?
Pen and Paper ships an update every 5 weeks, and Plank.md every 5 days. Most recently, Pen and Paper was updated on October 29, 2026 and Plank.md on October 24, 2026.

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