Comparison

Element Note vs BindNotes

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Unique handwriting brushes
  • Smooth drawing engine
  • PDF annotation
  • Text, shape, and image attachments
  • On-device OCR search
  • Smart dark mode
  • iCloud sync and collaboration
Features
Read full description

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

About

BindNotes

Features
Read full description

Your notes. Linked. Notes shouldn't be limited by the size of a page. But linear pages and infinite canvas aren't the answer — you just get lost. BindNotes takes a different approach: go infinitely deep, not infinitely long. Lasso any handwriting with Apple Pencil, link it to another page, and tap to jump. Pages give you focus. Links give you depth. Your notes become a connected network of ideas — not a stack of dead-end pages. BindNotes is a notebook app built for Apple Pencil. Write, sketch, and draw like any notebook — then connect your pages. Headers & Outline Assign header levels (H1–H5) to any page. Headers build a navigable outline for your notebook — tap to see the full structure, drill into sections, jump to any page. Color-coded by level so you can see hierarchy at a glance. Links let you follow a thought. Headers let you see the shape of your notebook. Together, they turn a stack of pages into a system. Page Overview See every page connection in your notebook as a visual graph. Arrows show which pages link where. Spot structure, find orphaned pages, navigate by tapping. PDF Annotation (Pro) Import any PDF into a notebook. Annotate with pen, highlighter, and lasso. The highlighter lifts actual pixels from the PDF — highlighted content becomes a visual element you can work with. Add headers to organize the PDF. Create links between pages. Turn a static document into something navigable. PDF Export (Pro) Export your notebook as a PDF. Links become clickable cross-references. An outline page is auto-generated. Your handwritten notebook exports like a professional document. Sync with iCloud Drive Notebooks sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud Drive. No account. No server. You control where your data lives. Free — No Limits on Note-Taking Everything you need to write, draw, and link is free: • Unlimited notebooks and pages • All drawing tools — pen, highlighter, eraser, lasso • Page-to-page linking • Headers and outline navigation • Page overview (link graph) • iCloud Drive sync • 5 page templates (blank, ruled, graph, dots) BindNotes Pro — One-Time Purchase Unlock tools for serious workflows. No subscription. Buy once, own forever. • PDF import and annotation • PDF export with clickable links and bookmarks • Tags for notebook organization • Dark page templates • Full link and header color palettes Your notes stay on your device. We collect no data. No analytics. No tracking. No server. Your notebooks are stored locally or in your iCloud Drive — nowhere else. See our privacy policy at bindnotes.com/privacy.

Screenshots

Element Note4 screens
BindNotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Element Note at 17.0 against BindNotes's 26.0. On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Element Note sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year and BindNotes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Element Note ships an update fortnightly, BindNotes every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Element Note versus BindNotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterElement NoteBindNotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (2.6K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews69.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings2.6K — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size129 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSoysauce LabEvgenii Eremeev

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
Show 1 more
  • Seasonal or custom sticker packs

BindNotes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Element Note

Subscriptions2
  • Element Note Yearly$3.491 Year
  • Element Note Yearly$4.991 Year
One-time3
  • Lifetime Launch Special$4.99
  • Lifetime$9.99
  • Lifetime$14.99
1 purchases

BindNotes

One-time1
  • BindNotes Pro$2.99

Questions

Is Element Note free?
Element Note is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BindNotes free?
BindNotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Element Note or BindNotes have ads?
Neither Element Note nor BindNotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Element Note or BindNotes?
Element Note ships an update fortnightly, and BindNotes every 3 weeks. Most recently, Element Note was updated on October 27, 2026 and BindNotes on October 25, 2026.

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