MetaMoJi Note vs Noteshelf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MetaMoJi Note
This app serves as a versatile note-taking and digital sketchbook, allowing users to capture ideas through writing, drawing, and voice memos. It also functions as a PDF annotation tool and digital scrapbook, supporting various pen styles and document import options.
- Advanced handwriting recognition
- PDF and Office document annotation
- High-resolution sketchbook with diverse pens
- Voice memo recording and tagging
- Cloud sync and storage
- Password protection for notes
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MetaMoJi Note is a note and sketchbook app, PDF annotation tool, voice memo and digital scrapbook for your life. Capture your ideas anytime with quick voice recordings, advanced handwriting recognition and handwriting to text conversion(*), or annotate Office and PDF documents. (*) Requires purchase of mazec Handwriting Input Method for this functionality. Use the app as a high resolution sketchbook with a vast color wheel palette, pastel colors and advanced calligraphy pens. MetaMoJi Note is a virtual whiteboard for sketching, annotation, scrapbooking or digital mashup of notes and voice. MetaMoJi Note is the only note-taking app available across all major mobile platforms. Winner of multiple awards: Tabby Award for Best Personal Productivity App - Silver Stevie® Award for International Business - Finalist for Appy Award for Productivity - #1 Productivity App in Japan Key Features NEW – Gold Service is a premium add-on that allows you to make advanced use of the MetaMoJi Cloud and the app itself. It includes: - The Shared Drive capability allows co-editing of documents - Auto sync intervals to ensure your notes are always backed up - Additional storage for the MetaMoJi Cloud - Unlimited access to optional inks, premium items, papers and note styles - Customizing the navigation bar • Write, sketch or draw notes with a variety of pens, paper layouts and graphics, including calligraphy pens and inks • Grab your great ideas quickly with voice memos which you can tag to your visual content – convenient audio editing features allow you to index voice cues to any document or part of a document – even drawings, annotated graphics or PDF documents. • Scale your document up to a whiteboard or down to a sticky note while still maintaining 100% visual integrity • Import images, graphics and Microsoft Office files via Google Drive • Import a PDF file, mark it up as needed, and save it as another PDF file • Share creations by email or upload to Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr • Easy file storing and sharing via Google Drive, Evernote and Dropbox • Sync all folders to the MetaMoJi Cloud, a cloud service that allows you to save and manage your documents (up to 2GB for free) • Save drawings as individual JPEG graphics in the items library for later use • Interactively browse the web from within the app and mark up sites • MetaMoJi Note Lite is free to download and use. This version, MetaMoJi Note is a paid app, has the great features above, along with the following advanced capabilities: • Password protect your notes to ensure your information is kept safe • Advanced pen styles including highlighters, fountain pens and brushes • Enhanced Jump functions allow for you to assign visual points to easily navigate around complex compositions while you are presenting • Shapes tool provides editable shapes • Smart cropping tool vastly extends photo editing Here are some ways to use MetaMoJi Note for your personal and business life: • Generate quick notes and to-do lists, add voice memos and tag for easy retrieval later • Capture and markup website pages • Sketch drawings for illustrating lesson plans • Mark up and sign contracts and critical business documents in PDF form • Use as an interactive whiteboard to brainstorm and present during team meetings • PDF and photo annotation • Review/edit documents and share feedback through email • Draw a mind map or flowchart of ideas and assign audio files Learn more: More about MetaMoJi Note: http://noteanytime.com/en/quick_guide.html Support: http://noteanytime.com/en/support.html Twitter: https://twitter.com/noteanytime Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoteAnytime
Noteshelf
This app offers a comprehensive note-taking experience with natural handwriting, AI summarization, and PDF annotation. It's designed for students, professionals, and journalers, providing tools for organization, planning, and creative expression across multiple Apple devices.
- Natural handwriting with Apple Pencil support
- AI-powered summarization and explanation
- PDF and document annotation
- Audio recording alongside notes
- Extensive digital planner and journal templates
- Handwriting to text conversion
- Cross-device iCloud sync
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Write. Plan. Study. Work. Create. Noteshelf 3 brings natural handwriting, powerful AI, PDF annotation, audio recording and planning together in one beautiful app for iPad, iPhone and Mac. Free to start. FOR STUDENTS • Take lecture and class notes with lifelike pens, pencils and highlighters • Annotate textbooks, worksheets, slides and PDFs • Record audio while you write, so you never miss a word • Use Noteshelf AI to summarize and explain what you've learned FOR PROFESSIONALS • Capture meeting notes and record important discussions • Mark up contracts, reports and presentations • Present your notes on an external display with a laser pointer • Export and share notes as PDFs or images in one tap FOR PLANNERS & JOURNALERS • 200+ templates for digital planners, journals, diaries and trackers • Plan your days, track goals and keep a personal journal • Decorate pages with stickers, photos and custom covers WRITE NATURALLY • A smooth, natural handwriting experience built for Apple Pencil • Write, type, draw and sketch on the same page • Turn handwriting into text and search your notes in 65 languages • Choose lined, dotted or grid paper in any color WORK WITH PDFs & DOCUMENTS • Import and annotate PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint files and images • Highlight, mark up, write and draw directly on your documents • Scan paper documents with the built-in scanner NOTESHELF AI • Summarize handwritten pages in seconds • Explain difficult terms and concepts • Translate text into other languages • Generate notes on any topic RECORD & REMEMBER • Record lectures, meetings and ideas alongside your handwritten notes STAY ORGANIZED & SECURE • Folders, subfolders, tags, bookmarks and a table of contents • Link notebooks together to connect ideas • Lock notes with a password, Face ID or Touch ID • Sync across iPad, iPhone and Mac with iCloud • Automatic backup to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox or WebDAV YOUR NOTES, YOUR WAY • Custom notebook covers and a toolbar you can rearrange • Presentation mode, dark mode and flexible page layouts FREE TO START Create up to 3 notebooks with core pens and paper for free. Upgrade to Noteshelf Premium for unlimited notebooks, all templates, handwriting recognition, auto-backup and 100 monthly AI credits. Write beautifully. Work smarter. Stay organized. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Noteshelf at Free against MetaMoJi Note's $7.99. Noteshelf also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.4) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 months). MetaMoJi Note's advantage is review sentiment (78% vs 57%) and iOS requirement (7.0 vs 18.0). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Noteshelf is free to download; MetaMoJi Note costs $7.99 up front. MetaMoJi Note sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Noteshelf sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Noteshelf holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Noteshelf has 7.3K ratings behind it against 32, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 78% of MetaMoJi Note's written reviews are positive against 57% of Noteshelf's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
MetaMoJi Note ships an update every 2 months, Noteshelf every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MetaMoJi Note | Noteshelf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $7.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.4 (32 ratings) | 4.5 (7.3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.1% of reviews — better | 57.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 32 | 7.3K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 7.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 100 MB | 591 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MetaMoJi Corporation | Fluid Touch Pte. Ltd. |
Customer experience
MetaMoJi Note
Noteshelf
Bugs and requests
MetaMoJi Note
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Noteshelf
Reported bugs
5 issues- Notebooks failing to open or sync correctly
- Handwriting recognition not working as expected
- Imported PDFs losing formatting or functionality
- Unexpected loss of data or notes
- Compatibility issues with older devices or operating systems
Requested features
6 requests- Add ability to create folders within notebooks
- Improve page organization and navigation
- Implement a more intuitive color picker and pen customization
- Introduce a history/undo feature for linked pages
- Add support for custom stickers and templates
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- Optimize performance and reduce loading times
In-app purchases
MetaMoJi Note
- MetaMoJi Gold Service (1 month)$4.99
- MetaMoJi Gold Service (12 months)$29.99
Noteshelf
- Noteshelf 3 Weekly Premium$7.997 Days
- Noteshelf3 Weekly Premium3 Days trial$7.997 Days
- Noteshelf3 Monthly Premium$9.991 Month
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- Noteshelf 3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium$39.991 Year
- Noteshelf 3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$39.991 Year
- Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Premium for Noteshelf 2 users$9.99
- Noteshelf 3 Premium - Lifetime$14.99









