Comparison

Noteshelf vs InkSpace

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

Head to head
About

Noteshelf

Create handwritten notes, annotate PDFs, and record audio with this app. It offers extensive customization for notebooks, a variety of writing tools, and AI-powered features for summarization and translation. Organize your thoughts and documents seamlessly.

Highlights
  • Handwritten note creation
  • PDF annotation and markup
  • Audio recording with notes
  • AI-powered summarization and translation
  • Customizable notebooks and templates
  • Handwriting to text conversion
  • Document scanning and import
Features
Read full description

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

About

InkSpace

This digital notebook app offers complete creative freedom for note-taking, brainstorming, sketching, and journaling. Customize notebooks with various templates, page styles, and colors. Organize and access notes seamlessly across devices, with offline functionality.

Highlights
  • Unlimited custom notebooks
  • Write, draw, and sketch with stylus support
  • Insert custom shapes, text, and media
  • Searchable tags and bookmarks
  • Sync across all devices
  • Offline functionality
Features
Read full description

The all-in-one notebook for handwriting, typing, PDFs, math, diagrams, and more. Built for students who want to learn faster and professionals who want to work smarter. Take handwritten notes, mark up PDFs, solve equations, and record lectures, all in one organized space that keeps your work together and in sync across your devices. Write and draw naturally Capture notes in your own handwriting with smooth, responsive ink. Prefer to type? Switch to the keyboard anytime, with a full font picker and control over size, color, bold, italic, underline, and alignment. Add horizontal and vertical rulers to keep everything precise. Choose the perfect page Start on college ruled, wide ruled, graph, dotted, or blank paper in A4, A5, B5, or custom sizes, portrait or landscape. Personalize everything with custom notebook and page colors, backgrounds, and tints. Templates for every purpose Jump into ready-made template packs for real life: • Planner templates for daily planning and scheduling • Journal templates for reflection and journaling • Fitness templates for workouts and tracking • Teaching templates for lesson planning and classes • Finance and trading templates for money and markets • Handwriting and calendar templates for practice and organization Or build and save your own so your favorite layouts are always one tap away. Study and remember more Turn any subject into a quiz set, a deck of flip cards you can shuffle, grade, and drill yourself with until it sticks. Perfect for exam prep, vocabulary, and quick daily review. Find anything instantly InkSpace reads your handwriting and makes it searchable. Search across every notebook to surface handwritten notes, typed text, sticky notes, code, lists, and tags in seconds. Spotlight finds notes right from the Home Screen, and Siri Shortcuts let you create, open, and search notes hands-free. Work smarter with rich, interactive objects Drop live tools onto your page and move them anywhere: • Math equations with automatic formatting from everyday notation • Calculator with named variables, unit and currency conversion, and financial functions like PMT, FV, and PV • Charts with a built-in data editor and multiple chart types • Function graphs for visualizing equations • Code blocks with syntax highlighting for Swift, Python, JavaScript, Java, C++, and many more • Audio recordings to capture lectures and meetings alongside your notes • Images, maps, and 3D models embedded directly on your pages • Tables and grids with fully editable cells and real formulas • Checklists and lists with bullets, numbers, and checkboxes • Sticky notes and shapes to structure and highlight your thinking Build diagrams and connect ideas Create flowcharts, mind maps, and org-style diagrams by linking shapes, text, and sticky notes with connectors and arrows. Explore without limits using infinite zoom and fractal canvas modes that give you endless room to think. Write papers that are ready to hand in Draft a full essay with proper margins, then let InkSpace build your entire bibliography from your sources in APA, MLA, or Chicago style. Export to PDF or Word, formatted and ready to submit. Organize everything your way Group your notebooks, papers, and quiz sets together into backpacks. Bookmark notebooks and pages, tag pages for fast filtering, connect notes with cross-notebook page links that preview inline, and add hyperlinks to jump anywhere. Import PDFs to reference, attach files, and export pages to share. Sync securely with iCloud Your notebooks stay up to date on every device with iCloud, so your notes are always with you. Perfect for • Students: lecture notes, study guides, math and science homework, searchable revision, recorded classes, quiz sets, and notebooks for every subject • Professionals: meeting notes, project planning, diagrams, referenced PDFs, quick calculations, and reusable templates

Screenshots

Noteshelf4 screens
InkSpace4 screens

Verdict

The call

Noteshelf and InkSpace both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of InkSpace's written reviews are positive against 57% of Noteshelf's. Noteshelf's advantage is ratings volume (7K vs 10) and monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs paid). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Noteshelf sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and InkSpace sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Noteshelf against 4.6 for InkSpace. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Noteshelf has 7K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 57% of Noteshelf's written reviews are positive against 100% of InkSpace's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Noteshelf ships an update weekly, InkSpace every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Noteshelf versus InkSpace: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNoteshelfInkSpace
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (7K ratings)4.6 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews57.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7K — better10
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size464 MB67 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFluid Touch Pte. Ltd.Tyler Sherman

Customer experience

Noteshelf

All ratings6,951 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral3.2%
Negative7.9%
Written reviews1,030 reviews
Positive57.1%
Neutral10.6%
Negative32.3%

InkSpace

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and 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
Show 1 more
  • Optimize performance and reduce loading times

InkSpace

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

17 purchases

Noteshelf

Subscriptions15
  • Noteshelf 3 Weekly Premium$4.997 Days
  • Noteshelf 3 Weekly Premium3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Noteshelf 3 Weekly Premium$7.997 Days
Show 12 more
  • Noteshelf3 Weekly Premium3 Days trial$7.997 Days
  • Noteshelf3 Monthly Premium$9.991 Month
  • Noteshelf3 Monthly Premium$19.991 Month
  • 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
  • Noteshelf Premium Yearly$49.991 Year
  • Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium3 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Noteshelf 3 Yearly Premium1 Month trial$69.991 Year
  • Noteshelf3 Yearly Premium$79.991 Year
  • Premium3 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time2
  • Premium for Noteshelf 2 users$9.99
  • Noteshelf 3 Premium - Lifetime$14.99
6 purchases

InkSpace

One-time6
  • Fitness Pack$0.99
  • Finance Pack$0.99
  • Handwriting Pack$0.99
Show 3 more
  • Planner Pack$0.99
  • Teaching Pack$0.99
  • Journal Pack$0.99

Questions

Is Noteshelf free?
Noteshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is InkSpace free?
InkSpace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Noteshelf or InkSpace?
Noteshelf and InkSpace are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 7K and 10 ratings respectively.
Do Noteshelf or InkSpace have ads?
Neither Noteshelf nor InkSpace shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Noteshelf or InkSpace?
Noteshelf ships an update weekly, and InkSpace every 10 days. Most recently, Noteshelf was updated on October 13, 2026 and InkSpace on October 8, 2026.

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