Draw Pad Pro vs Element Note
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Draw Pad Pro
This app provides a digital space for capturing thoughts, ideas, and sketches. It offers extensive customization and productivity tools, with sharing capabilities, designed for seamless use across all your devices.
- Note taking
- Sketching
- Idea management
- Customization options
- Productivity features
- Sharing capabilities
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Draw Pad Pro helps you capture ideas the moment they appear. Turn quick sketches into organized notebooks without slowing down your flow. Keep everything clear so you can return to your work with confidence. From first concept to final draft, Draw Pad Pro combines a smooth PencilKit canvas with practical organization tools. You can build notebooks, split them into sections, and keep each sketch easy to find. The app is built for daily creative work, whether you are planning, studying, or designing. **Organized Notebooks That Stay Clean** Create notebooks for each project and add sections to separate topics, phases, or clients. A clear structure keeps your drawing library readable as it grows. You spend less time searching and more time creating. **Natural Drawing on a Fast Canvas** Use PencilKit for responsive drawing that feels fluid with Apple Pencil and touch. Capture rough ideas, refine details, and keep momentum during busy sessions. The canvas stays focused so your work moves quickly. **Tags and Captions for Instant Context** Add tags and captions to sketches so every image carries meaning at a glance. This makes review sessions faster when you are handling many drafts at once. You can track progress without building extra documents. **Flexible Actions for Real Workflow** Duplicate sketches, move them between notebooks, and share results when feedback is needed. These actions support iterative work without forcing you into complicated steps. You can finish handoffs faster with less friction. **Local-First Reliability with Optional Sync** Your core drawing workflow works without a subscription and without depending on constant connectivity. Optional sync is available through subscription when you want continuity across devices. You stay in control of when and how your work travels. Download Draw Pad Pro and start building a cleaner, calmer sketch workflow today.
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.
- Unique handwriting brushes
- Smooth drawing engine
- PDF annotation
- Text, shape, and image attachments
- On-device OCR search
- Smart dark mode
- iCloud sync and collaboration
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Element Note at 4.6 against Draw Pad Pro's 4.0. Element Note also leads on review sentiment (69% vs 36%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Draw Pad Pro sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Element Note sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Element Note holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Element Note has 2.6K ratings behind it against 159, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Draw Pad Pro's written reviews are positive against 69% of Element Note's.
Draw Pad Pro ships an update every 2 months, Element Note fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Draw Pad Pro | Element Note |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (159 ratings) | 4.6 (2.6K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 35.8% of reviews | 68.5% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 159 | 2.6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 16 MB | 129 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Fishington Studios | Soysauce Lab |
Customer experience
Draw Pad Pro
Element Note
Bugs and requests
Draw Pad Pro
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
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- Seasonal or custom sticker packs
In-app purchases
Draw Pad Pro
- Photo Add-on Tool$0.99
- Text Add-on$0.99
- Construction Pack$0.99
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- 3D Pack$0.99
- Blueprint Pack$0.99
- Game Pack$0.99
- Productivity Pack$0.99
- Sports Pack$0.99
- Business Pack$0.99
- All Drawing Tools$2.99
Element Note
- Element Note Yearly$3.491 Year
- Element Note Yearly$4.991 Year
- Lifetime Launch Special$4.99
- Lifetime$9.99
- Lifetime$14.99









