Absolute Board Mini vs Paintwork
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Absolute Board Mini
A free, simple, and convenient drawing and handwriting app for capturing ideas on an unlimited canvas. Save and share your notes and sketches easily via email or print.
- Unlimited board size
- Unlimited color choice
- Path traceable eraser
- Email snapshot of drawings
- Zooming in/out
- Undo/Redo functions
- Import photos
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This is a MINI version of "Absolute Board", which is * April 2011 - "New & Noteworthy" (Productivity) iPad application on the American App Store * * April 2011 - "What's Hot" (Productivity) iPad application on the American App Store * * April 2011 - "Staff Favorites" (All) iPad application on the Korea App Store * Best quality FREE drawing & handwriting app for iPhone/iPod It's so simple & convenient - just sketch & take notes about anything in your mind. Save and share your novel ideas in the school, cafeteria, office or even on the bed. ▶ Unlimited board size ▶ Unlimited color choice for pen & background ▶ Path traceable eraser ▶ Ability to email snapshot of your drawing ▶ Zooming in/out & moving with two fingers ▶ Undo/Redo functions ▶ Import a Photo ▶ Print Snapshot (Air Print)
Paintwork
Create handwritten notes, diaries, and drawings with a vast array of tools. Features include customizable brushes, vector graphics, a rich color palette, and image import. Export your creations as PDFs or images.
- Customizable brushes and erasers
- Extensive vector graphics tools
- Rich color palette
- Image and material import
- Handwriting assistance
- PDF and image export
- Customizable backgrounds and canvas
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Paintwork is a simple and powerful software for handwritten notebooks, diaries, and hand drawn images. It includes functions such as: brush list (hundreds of brush effects, customizable brush thickness, color, transparency, dynamic strength weights, etc.), eraser list (each brush effect can be used as an eraser), Vector graphics tools (including lasso, vector eraser, vector pen, annotation pen, highlighter, wavy pen, double line pen, text box, illustration, dashed line, horizontal and vertical dashed line, curve, closed shape, text pen, rectangle, ellipse, straight line, arrow, triangle, pentagram, polygon, etc.), and also include many related attribute settings, Color list (with a rich color palette and customizable manual configuration of commonly used colors), copy and cut the content of specified areas on the page, import images or materials, as well as a simple calculator, handwriting assistance, and photo scanning of document files. Unlimited writing, ruler, recognition of text, printing of text, filling, and the ability to export PDF files or images. Supports custom background functionality, custom canvas paper, and more. It can be used to write for classroom or book learning notes, handwritten notes for work meetings, hand drawn mind maps, hand drawn account creation, hand made account book making, writing diaries, recording life thoughts, calligraphy practice, handwritten brush and pencil characters, hand drawn artistic characters, and so on. Supports Apple pencil. Can export images or PDFs. If you have any comments or feedback, please feel free to contact us. Contact email: pw_team@163.com If you like our application, please give us a good review. Thank you.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Absolute Board Mini at none against Paintwork's 3. Absolute Board Mini also leads on review sentiment (82% vs 65%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.6). Paintwork's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 34 months) and ratings volume (17K vs 3). On price, rating, ads 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
Both are free to download. Paintwork sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Absolute Board Mini asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Absolute Board Mini against 4.6 for Paintwork. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paintwork has 17K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Absolute Board Mini's written reviews are positive against 65% of Paintwork's.
Absolute Board Mini ships an update every 34 months, Paintwork weekly. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Absolute Board Mini | Paintwork |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (3 ratings) — better | 4.6 (17K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.8% of reviews — better | 65.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 17K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 34 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 200 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hyeoseong Hwang | 伟典 苏 |
Customer experience
Absolute Board Mini
Paintwork
Bugs and requests
Absolute Board Mini
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Paintwork
Reported bugs
3 issues- App freezing or crashing when using certain features
- Artwork getting deleted or not saving properly
- Inability to import or work with external images
Requested features
4 requests- Add more color options and blending tools
- Improve stability and reduce crashes
- Provide more tutorials and onboarding for new users
- Allow users to save and access their artwork easily
In-app purchases
Absolute Board Mini
No in-app purchases
Paintwork
- Monthly subscription premium$0.991 Month
- Annual subscription premium$3.991 Year
- Unlock local version$9.99
Questions
Is Absolute Board Mini free?
Is Paintwork free?
Which has better reviews, Absolute Board Mini or Paintwork?
Do Absolute Board Mini or Paintwork have ads?
Which is updated more often, Absolute Board Mini or Paintwork?
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