Element Note vs Notewise
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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
Notewise
This app offers a versatile digital canvas for note-taking, PDF annotation, and sketching. It leverages AI to summarize content, generate quizzes, and transcribe audio. Designed for students, professionals, and creators, it provides tools for organization, collaboration, and enhanced productivity.
- AI-powered note summarization and quizzing
- Handwritten notes and PDF annotation
- Audio recording with synced transcripts
- OCR for searchable handwriting
- Real-time collaboration
- Infinite freeform canvas
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Featured on the App Store. 8M+ downloads. Trusted by millions worldwide. Your meetings, lectures, ideas, and research don’t arrive in one format. Your notes shouldn’t have to either. Notewise brings together what you write, record, draw, read, and save. Capture it once, then find it again, ask about it, learn from it, and build on it. Notewise is an AI note-taking app for iPhone and iPad with handwritten notes, audio recording and transcription, PDF annotation, documents, web sources, and AI search and chat. ■ CAPTURE EVERYTHING IN ONE NOTE • Write, type, or handwrite notes • Sketch ideas and diagrams on a freeform canvas • Record meetings, lectures, conversations, and voice notes • Import 25+ file formats, including PDFs, documents, slides, images, and more • Add website links and bring web research into your notes • Scan paper notes and whiteboards Start with whatever is in front of you. Add things in any order, and keep related notes, recordings, files, and ideas together as you go. ■ SEARCH & ASK ACROSS YOUR NOTES Search handwritten notes, typed text, audio transcripts, PDFs, documents, and images. Ask Notewise AI about the note you’re in or across all your notes. Search the web when you need more context. Answers can cite the notes, recordings, files, and sources behind them, so you can always see where the information came from. Search less. Pick up where you left off and keep thinking. ■ RECORD, TRANSCRIBE & ASK IN REAL TIME Stay focused on the meeting, lecture, or conversation instead of trying to write down every word. • Automatic transcription in 20+ languages • Key points, decisions, and next steps • Ask questions while a meeting or lecture is still happening • Ask across past recordings later • Keep audio, meeting notes, PDFs, and related documents together Meeting notes become more than transcripts. Class notes stay useful long after the lecture ends. ■ WRITE, DRAW & ANNOTATE FREELY Handwrite a page. Draw a diagram. Work through a problem. Mark up a PDF. Move things around until the idea makes sense. Choose from 30+ brushes and tools — including pencil, oil paint, watercolor, highlighter, lasso, tape, shapes, tables, rulers, sticky notes, and more. Start from 20+ templates or create your own, from Cornell notes to meeting notes and custom workflows. ■ TURN NOTES INTO FLASHCARDS, QUIZZES & PODCASTS Good notes don’t all look the same. Turn study notes, meeting notes, or research into AI notes, summaries, flashcards, quizzes, podcasts, and more — using the same material in the format that helps you most. Summarize a recording. Ask questions about a PDF. Search handwritten notes. Find connections across different notes. Sometimes you want AI. Sometimes you just want a blank page. Notewise gives you both. ■ FOR WORK, STUDY & RESEARCH Use Notewise for meeting notes, lecture recording, handwritten and digital notes, voice notes, PDF annotation, research papers, brainstorming, and search across everything you save. On iOS 27, use Siri AI to create, edit, and find information in your notes, or Visual Intelligence to surface related content from what you see. Whether you’re building a company, studying for an exam, researching your next idea, or simply trying to remember what matters, Notewise gives your thinking one place to grow. ■ PRIVACY FIRST Notewise is built by a small, independent team. We don’t sell your data or show ads. Your notes are encrypted, secure, and under your control. ■ TRY NOTEWISE FREE Start with 10 free canvas notes and import your own slides and documents. Explore Notewise with a 7-day free trial, while core features remain free to use. Write. Record. Draw. Remember. Privacy Policy: https://www.notewise.dev/privacy-policy Terms & Conditions: https://www.notewise.dev/terms-conditions
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Notewise at every 2 days against Element Note's fortnightly. Element Note's advantage is review sentiment (69% vs 54%) and ratings volume (2.6K vs 282). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Element Note sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year and Notewise sells 16 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Element Note against 4.6 for Notewise. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Element Note has 2.6K ratings behind it against 282, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Element Note's written reviews are positive against 54% of Notewise's.
Element Note ships an update fortnightly, Notewise every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Element Note | Notewise |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (2.6K ratings) | 4.6 (282 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.5% of reviews — better | 54.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2.6K — better | 282 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 129 MB | 435 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Soysauce Lab | ZIIKR |
Customer experience
Element Note
Notewise
User reviews
Element Note
From 2.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Smooth handwriting experience
- 💡 Customizable pens and colors
- 👍 Clean and intuitive interface
- 🎨 Gradient and gradient brush tools
- 📚 Great for journaling and note-taking
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 🔍 Search function not working
- 🖼️ Issues with image handling and export
- 🔀 Difficulty switching between pen and eraser
- 🔑 Lack of password/locking feature for notes
Notewise
From 282 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- 🔄 Excellent cross-platform synchronization (Android, iOS, Mac, PC)
- ✨ Comprehensive feature set with tables, shapes, and drawing tools
- 🎨 High-quality dark mode implementation
- 📱 Works seamlessly across multiple devices
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent app crashes after updates
- 🐛 Handwriting and annotations disappearing randomly
- 🐛 Lasso selection tool includes unwanted background
- 🐛 App freezes and lags when highlighting large areas
- 🐛 Text input fields not functioning properly
Bugs and 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
Notewise
Reported bugs
18 issues- App crashes on every update
- Handwritten content randomly disappears
- Annotations vanishing intermittently
- Lasso selection tool malfunctions
- Text input fields not responding
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- App freezes when highlighting large areas with markers
- Handwriting input not registering
- Palm rejection issues causing unwanted marks
- Shape recognition failures
- Scribble-to-erase function unreliable
- PDF export causing app crashes
- Notes auto-deleting or getting corrupted
- Sync getting stuck mid-process
- Slow and delayed cross-device synchronization
- UI elements obscuring page content after 20+ minutes of use
- Copy-paste functionality limited and unreliable
- App performance degradation over time
- Glitchy behavior with shape drawing mode
Requested features
20 requests- Add layers feature for advanced editing
- Implement automatic zoom box that follows writing
- Add pencil, waterbrush, and crayon drawing tools
- Sticker marketplace or sticker customization
- Horizontal page flipping/swiping navigation
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- Ability to pause real-time syncing
- MacBook native app with full feature parity
- More shape customization (arcs for graphing)
- Improved text formatting and customization options
- Single page view mode (vertical and horizontal)
- Notebook organization beyond just pages
- Magnifying glass tool like GoodNotes
- More pen and pencil style options
- Line spacing customization for text
- PDF import from web/internet
- Printing functionality
- Audio recording and sharing capabilities
- Hyperlink support on desktop version
- Scroll locking to prevent accidental page movement
- Better shape recognition (arrows, parentheses)
In-app purchases
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
Notewise
- Notewise Cloud Basic Monthly$4.991 Month
- Notewise Cloud Starter Monthly$6.991 Month
- Notewise Cloud Pro Monthly$15.991 Month
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- Notewise Cloud Basic Yearly$28.991 Year
- Notewise Cloud Starter Yearly7 Days trial$36.991 Year
- Notewise Cloud Pro Yearly$129.991 Year
- Notewise Marketplace Content$1.99
- Notewise Marketplace Content$2.99
- Notewise Marketplace Content$3.99
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- Notewise Marketplace Content$4.99
- Notewise Marketplace Content$5.99
- Notewise Marketplace Content$6.99
- Notewise Marketplace Content$7.99
- Notewise Marketplace Content$8.99
- Notewise Marketplace Content$9.99
- Notewise Unlimited$19.99







