Comparison

Chirys Draw vs Element Note

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

Head to head
About

Chirys Draw

Easily create complex molecular structures and reaction schemes with intuitive gestures. This app offers chemically aware text, automatic calculations, and publication-quality export options for scientists and students.

Highlights
  • Draw complex molecular structures and reaction schemes
  • Chemically aware text and automatic calculations
  • Intuitive circle gesture for ring creation
  • Publication-quality image and PDF export
  • Airdrop sharing and cross-platform compatibility
  • Import/export MOL files
Read full description

Draw complex molecular structures and reaction schemes using your fingertips. An easy circle gesture (U.S. Patent No. 9754085 and No. 10,424,399) makes even complicated polycyclic rings easy and fun to draw. Multiple double bonds or multiple functional groups are simple to add all at one time. Annotation and reaction condition text is chemically aware and properly subscripts numbers. With over 175k downloads, Chirys Draw is speeding the way scientists draw and communicate. Imagine what you will create! Take notes at those seminars or class lectures! Present your ideas at project or group meetings! Draw structures and reaction schemes for your next paper! See the how-to videos on the Chirys web site. Key Features: • Create saturated, aromatic rings and chains • Draw reactions and reaction schemes with reaction conditions • Draw retrosynthetic pathways • Create multi-line text annotations with fonts and colors • Create complex fused and spirocyclic ring systems • Generate ion pairs • Airdrop sharing with colleagues • Airdrop transfer to your Macintosh • Copy and paste images or PDFs into Pages®, Keynote®, and other applications • Copy images to the Camera Roll • Send images of molecular structures by email, ready for publication • Make publication-quality prints and images • User-defined Groups • Export drawings as a scalable graphics PDF • Import and export molecules as MOL files Additional Features: • Automatic identification of molecular formulas in text • Molecular formula, weight, elemental composition, and exact mass calculations • Automatic layout of functional groups • Resonance and equilibrium arrows • 24 levels of undo and redo User feedback: “Wow. First of all, please let me say that this is the single best iPad application that I have ever used (not to mention one of the best structure drawing programs on any platform). You really nailed using gestures to design and manipulate structures. The app is an awesome example of harnessing the spirit of the iPad. I was up and drawing in 30 seconds. The interface is clean, intuitive, and so very well designed. Beautiful output too.” — Stephen “I use this for all my structure drawing needs now - desktop applications are so expensive and actually harder to use than Chirys Draw. Developer is very responsive. Improvements to the app keep coming. If you're a student, or a lecturer like myself, and need to draw quality chemical structures, then look no further. Exporting features make it easy to create a structure, then email to yourself for incorporation into a Powerpoint, Keynote, Word or any other sort of document. Highly recommended, and well worth the cost (much cheaper than desktop apps and for most purposes just as functional).” — Australian user “Extremely well-done, very easy to learn, and elegant. It will be easier and faster other competitors to sketch high-quality structures and could be really handy for taking notes in meetings.” — Jeff “Brilliant addition to the iPad workload. This is clearly a creative application and the most full featured molecular drawing app. I think the developers here have the most motivation, and have put more original thought into this. I hope they will be encouraged to continue with their vision…” — Cascade “I wanted to let you know directly how much I appreciate this app. It works exactly as advertised, is highly capable, and is now substituting for a desktop-based chemical structure drawing app. I am right now using it to prepare structures for my pharmacognosy lectures, and it is working well.” — Ian “The words that come to mind: Impressive. Quality. The development of Chirys Draw shows your deep, consistent, and scholarly chemistry flair and precision, and is impressive. Professional chemists will continue to love this.” — Atsuo “ChirysDraw represents the best chemical drawing package to date on the iPad.” — Brian “Thank you again for such a lovely program.” — Olivia

About

Element Note

This app offers a distraction-free digital notebook experience with advanced handwriting, PDF annotation, and sketching capabilities. It features unique brushes, a powerful rendering engine, and smart organization tools. Sync your notes across devices and collaborate with others seamlessly.

Highlights
  • Unique handwriting brushes
  • Smooth drawing engine
  • PDF annotation
  • Text, shape, and image attachments
  • On-device OCR search
  • Smart dark mode
  • iCloud sync and collaboration
Features
Read full description

Element Note is the next-gen note taking, PDF annotation, and light sketching app. We stripped down the unnecessaries and carefully polished the elemental functions for a digital notebook. With a modern look and powerful features, Element Note strives to provide an elegant writing space free of distractions. Features: Unique brushes - Pencil (HB Pencil, Mechanical Pencil) - Pen (Pen, Line Pen, Fountain Pen) - Brush (Art Brush, Round Brush) - Marker (Marker, Round Marker) Best-in-class note rendering engine - Smooth and fluid drawing powered by Metal technology - Support gradient ink for more expressive notes Powerful attachments - Text - Shape - Sticker - Image Universal Search - Search through your PDF & Handwritting using on device OCR Smart Darkmode - Smartly adapts all of your notes to the system darkmode without changing the paper or stroke colors. iCloud Sync & Collaboration - Sync via your personal iCloud (No data is passed to our server) - Collaborate through iCloud collaboration for up to 100 users. Desktop class organization - Intuitive multi-select drag and drop gesture to organize your notes or pages Element Note is free to try for up to 3 notes. Unlock the full app with an in app purchase to create unlimited notes. Terms and Conditions https://elementnote.app/terms Privacy Policy https://elementnote.app/privacy

Screenshots

Element Note4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Element Note at 4.6 against Chirys Draw's 2.6. Element Note also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 9 months) and ratings volume (2.6K vs 8). Chirys Draw's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 17.0). On price, review sentiment 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Element Note sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year. Chirys Draw asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Element Note holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Element Note has 2.6K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Chirys Draw's written reviews are positive against 69% of Element Note's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chirys Draw ships an update every 9 months, Element Note fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Chirys Draw versus Element Note: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChirys DrawElement Note
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.6 (8 ratings)4.6 (2.6K ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews68.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings82.6K — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS10.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB129 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJohn ClarkSoysauce Lab

Customer experience

Chirys Draw

All ratings8 ratings
Positive37.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative62.5%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

Element Note

All ratings2,591 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral4.1%
Negative5.4%
Written reviews340 reviews
Positive68.5%
Neutral11.8%
Negative19.7%

Bugs and requests

Chirys Draw

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Element Note

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes and files randomly disappearing
  • Inconsistent behavior when using the floating keyboard
  • Handwriting recognition not working as expected
  • Exported PDFs losing formatting and background colors

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ruler tool
  • Ability to resize/rotate selections
  • Improved text editing and formatting
  • Presentation mode for connecting to displays
  • Ability to import/export multiple files at once
Show 1 more
  • Seasonal or custom sticker packs

In-app purchases

None

Chirys Draw

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Element Note

Subscriptions2
  • Element Note Yearly$3.491 Year
  • Element Note Yearly$4.991 Year
One-time3
  • Lifetime Launch Special$4.99
  • Lifetime$9.99
  • Lifetime$14.99

Questions

Is Chirys Draw free?
Chirys Draw is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Element Note free?
Element Note is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chirys Draw or Element Note?
Element Note is rated higher. Chirys Draw averages 2.6 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Element Note averages 4.6 from 2.6K ratings.
Do Chirys Draw or Element Note have ads?
Neither Chirys Draw nor Element Note shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chirys Draw or Element Note?
Chirys Draw ships an update every 9 months, and Element Note fortnightly. Most recently, Chirys Draw was updated on October 15, 2026 and Element Note on October 18, 2026.

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