Comparison

TimeKeeper vs Penbook

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

Head to head
About

TimeKeeper

This app automatically records your time spent at designated locations using GPS. It calculates attendance duration and provides detailed summaries of your daily, weekly, and monthly time logs. Export your data in various formats for easy analysis.

Highlights
  • Automatic time tracking
  • Location-based check-in/out
  • Daily, weekly, monthly summaries
  • Data export (TXT, CSV, PDF)
  • Calendar export
  • Break time definition
  • Attendance reminders
Read full description

TimeKeeper helps you to track your times at specific locations. Just easily create a location and let TimeKeeper do its work fully automated. GPS is used to check when a location is entered (Check In) and leaved (Check Out). The time between Check In and Check Out results in your attendance time. Over time, other relevant data such as week, month, or total attendance is calculated. Features: • Automatic time tracking for max. 20 locations (one included, more via In-App purchase) • Detailed history with every check in and check out • Daily, weekly and monthly summaries • History export as TXT, CSV or PDF to other applications (via In-App purchase) • Calendar export for check ins • Define daily break times • Attendance reminder • Today widget • Map view with all defined locations • Temporary pause tracking • Full control over your data Notes: Mobile data and Wi-Fi should always remain switched on for reliable attendance tracking. No active data connection is required. Continued use of GPS in the background may decrease battery life.

About

Penbook

Create custom digital notebooks with a vast library of stationery or import your own PDFs for annotation. Write naturally with a stylus and organize your notes with dynamic features like live planners and searchable handwriting.

Highlights
  • Live Paper dynamic stationery
  • Over 400 stationery types
  • Import and annotate PDFs
  • Natural handwriting with stylus
  • Searchable handwritten notes
  • Shape recognition
  • Customizable notebook covers
Features
Read full description

Write naturally with your Apple Pencil on Live Paper with Penbook. Build your perfect notebook from more than four hundred types of stationery. Then, use the best digital inking technology to pour your ideas, notes, plans, and dreams into it. Penbook's Live Paper is way smarter than ordinary stationery. Schedule your life on a monthly planner that shows a real calendar, organize your day with a day planner that shows you what time it is, and record your nutrition on a food diary that knows what day it is. Or, bring your own stationery! Import your PDFs into Penbook for quick annotation and editing. Give your notebooks colorful covers with fun art, and share them so your notes are always where you need them. FEATURES • Live Paper, the dynamic stationery that uses the smarts of your iPad and iPhone • Over 400 of academic, scientific, and planning stationeries • Import PDFs and use them as notebooks • Write naturally with your Apple Pencil, stylus, or finger • Unlimited unique cover combinations for your notes • Search your handwritten notes for words or phrases • Snap your strokes to perfect shapes with shape recognition INCLUDED STATIONERIES Penbook has a huge selection of customizable stationery. Each page of your notebook can be different, turning your iPad or iPhone into a magic notebook: • Blank stationery, with an optional date and configurable margin • Ruled paper with variable density • Graph paper with four options for square sizes • Dot stationery, either squared or isometric (offset) • Cross stationery with configurable margins and density • To Do pages with four layout options • Monthly habit paper for tracking streaks, habits, and goals • Day planner paper with a live updating timeline and calendar, and three layouts • Weekly planner paper that highlights the current time and date • Monthly planner paper that keeps track of the current day and shows you what's coming next • Yearly stationery for getting a complete overview of your next 365 days • Cornell paper for taking perfect study notes • French ruled (Séyès) paper • Penmanship practice paper • Table stationery for hand-written spreadsheets • Polar graph paper for plotting radial data • Semi-log and loglog paper for data with exponential growth or decay • Isometric stationery with equilateral (60-60-60) or isosceles (75-75-30) triangles • Perspective paper, configurable with one, two, or three vanishing points • Developer stationery with device stencils and configurable note-taking areas • Storyboard paper with 3 frame aspect ratios • Engineering paper with variable density • Chemistry paper for easily sketching molecules • Staff and tablature (music) paper with optional linked staves GET THE MOST OUT OF PENBOOK Use all of Penbook's stationery and writing features in a single notebook for free for as long as you like. Upgrade to Penbook Premium to create and export unlimited notebooks, receive access to new stationery and covers as they're designed, and get regular app updates. Penbook Premium is available by purchasing a yearly subscription or a one-time (lifetime) in-app purchase. When you choose to upgrade with the yearly subscription, you can start using Penbook Premium for free with a 7-day free trial. During the trial, cancel any time until 24 hours before the trial expires, and you will not be charged. If you do not cancel, you will be automatically billed for the yearly subscription when your free trial ends. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after purchase. Our customer-first privacy policy: https://penbook.app/privacy-policy Penbook's terms of use: https://penbook.app/terms-of-use

Screenshots

TimeKeeper4 screens
Penbook4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Penbook at 4.5 against TimeKeeper's 4.1. Penbook also leads on ratings volume (46K vs 39) and review sentiment (58% vs 43%). TimeKeeper's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.1). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. TimeKeeper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Penbook sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Penbook holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Penbook has 46K ratings behind it against 39, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 43% of TimeKeeper's written reviews are positive against 58% of Penbook's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TimeKeeper ships an update every 11 days, Penbook every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
TimeKeeper versus Penbook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTimeKeeperPenbook
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (39 ratings)4.5 (46K ratings) — better
Positive reviews43.5% of reviews57.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3946K — better
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#133 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Vision Pro
Requires iOS13.0 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB142 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTobias TotzekPencil Research

Customer experience

TimeKeeper

All ratings39 ratings
Positive76.9%
Neutral2.6%
Negative20.5%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive43.5%
Neutral13.0%
Negative43.5%

Penbook

All ratings45,671 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral4.7%
Negative6.9%
Written reviews630 reviews
Positive57.8%
Neutral13.0%
Negative29.2%

Bugs and requests

TimeKeeper

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Penbook

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Sticker resizing issues causing app freezes
  • Ruler placement and alignment problems
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between pages
  • Calendar sync not working as expected
  • PDF import and annotation functionality not reliable

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow custom notebook covers or images
  • Add text box and typing capabilities
  • Improve organization with folders or tags
  • Provide more customization options for templates
  • Implement a more intuitive undo/redo system

In-app purchases

1 purchases

TimeKeeper

One-time1
  • TimeKeeper Pro$3.99
11 purchases

Penbook

Subscriptions7
  • Penbook Premium5 variants$4.991 Month
  • Penbook Premium$7.991 Month
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial3 variants$14.991 Year
Show 4 more
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial2 variants$19.991 Year
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial2 variants$29.991 Year
  • Penbook Premium$29.991 Year
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial3 variants$39.991 Year
One-time4
  • Premium Lifetime (Loyalty)$29.99
  • Penbook Premium Lifetime2 variants$49.99
  • Penbook Premium Lifetime$59.99
Show 1 more
  • Penbook Premium Lifetime$69.99

Questions

Is TimeKeeper free?
TimeKeeper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Penbook free?
Penbook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, TimeKeeper or Penbook?
Penbook is rated higher. TimeKeeper averages 4.1 out of 5 from 39 ratings, while Penbook averages 4.5 from 46K ratings.
Do TimeKeeper or Penbook have ads?
Neither TimeKeeper nor Penbook shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TimeKeeper or Penbook?
TimeKeeper ships an update every 11 days, and Penbook every 5 days. Most recently, TimeKeeper was updated on October 23, 2026 and Penbook on October 27, 2026.

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