# EndNote vs Highlights

The clearest difference is rating: Highlights at 4.5 against EndNote's 2.6. Highlights also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 4 months) and review sentiment (53% vs 28%). EndNote's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, ads, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. EndNote asks for nothing beyond the download.

Highlights holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Highlights has 1.6K ratings behind it against 165, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of EndNote's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's.

EndNote ships an update every 4 months, Highlights fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | EndNote | Highlights |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [2.6 (165 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/endnote/id593994211/reviews) | **[4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 165 | **1.6K** |
| Positive reviews | 27.8% of reviews | **53.2% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | **Fortnightly** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 91 MB | 37 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Clarivate Analytics (US) LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1291059975) | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) |

## What reviewers say

### EndNote

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/endnote/id593994211)

Manage your research from anywhere with this popular tool. Organize, search, and share academic papers and bibliographies seamlessly across devices. Sync your library and annotate PDFs on the go.

**Highlights:** Sync research library across devices, Search academic databases, Annotate PDFs, Import reference file formats, Share references with collaborators, Attach files from cloud storage

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Syncs well with desktop version
- 📚 Convenient for reading and annotating papers
- 💻 Good companion to desktop app
- 🔍 Useful for managing references on the go
- 🖋️ Annotation tools work well with Apple Pencil

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes frequently
- 🔍 Clunky search and organization
- 📁 Sync issues and lost annotations
- 🔒 Incompatible with other cloud storage
- 🔧 Missing key features from desktop version

**Reported bugs**

- Crashes when editing references
- Indexing issues and lost library data
- Compatibility problems with iOS updates
- PDF viewer issues (e.g. no rotation, lost page position)
- Login and authentication problems

**Requested features**

- Cite while you write functionality
- Better PDF annotation tools (e.g. eraser, text notes)
- Support for group sets and nested folders
- Automatic citation data population from PDFs
- Improved syncing and offline access


### Highlights

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833)

This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.

**Highlights:** Read and browse PDF documents, Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text, Add comments and sticky notes, Extract annotations into organized notes, Convert table data and recognize text, Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex), Lookup citation metadata and DOI links

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Highlights Pro: Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Highlights Pro | $29.99 | per year |
| Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade | $29.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs
- 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking
- 📚 Useful for academic and professional work
- 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
- 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Limited search functionality
- 🔒 Lack of customization options
- 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers

**Reported bugs**

- Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing
- Text selection issues, especially with footnotes
- Compatibility problems with certain PDF files
- Syncing issues across devices
- Export functionality not working as expected

**Requested features**

- Add handwriting and freeform annotation support
- Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature
- Allow editing of notes directly in the app
- Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription
- Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation


## Frequently asked questions

### Is EndNote free?

EndNote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Highlights free?

Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, EndNote or Highlights?

Highlights is rated higher. EndNote averages 2.6 out of 5 from 165 ratings, while Highlights averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.

### Do EndNote or Highlights have ads?

Neither EndNote nor Highlights shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, EndNote or Highlights?

EndNote ships an update every 4 months, and Highlights fortnightly. Most recently, EndNote was updated on October 6, 2026 and Highlights on October 12, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*