Comparison

Noteshelf vs NotingDown

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
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

NotingDown

Features
Read full description

NotingDown is a simple, focused place for your notes, ideas, plans, and daily thoughts. Create and edit notes with a clean writing experience. Organize them by category, mark important notes as favorites, search across titles and content, and sort your collection the way you prefer. Use quick actions when you want to start writing immediately. Dictate a voice note when typing is inconvenient. Review lightweight analytics to understand your note-taking habits, and export your notes when you want a portable copy. Highlights: • Fast note creation and editing • Search, categories, favorites, and sorting • Voice-note support • Quick ideas and daily journal shortcuts • Note analytics and smart suggestions • CSV and JSON export options • Local, private storage on your device • Light and dark appearance support NotingDown keeps the experience straightforward so you can spend less time managing an app and more time capturing what matters.

Screenshots

Noteshelf4 screens
NotingDown2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: NotingDown at none against Noteshelf's 10. NotingDown also leads on iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.0). Noteshelf's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks) and device support (4 vs 2). On price 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 10 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. NotingDown asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Noteshelf ships an update every 2 days, NotingDown every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Noteshelf versus NotingDown: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNoteshelfNotingDown
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (7.3K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews57.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings7.3K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size591 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFluid Touch Pte. Ltd.Sachin Kumar

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

NotingDown

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Noteshelf

Subscriptions8
  • Noteshelf 3 Weekly Premium$7.997 Days
  • Noteshelf3 Weekly Premium3 Days trial$7.997 Days
  • Noteshelf3 Monthly Premium$9.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • 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
One-time2
  • Premium for Noteshelf 2 users$9.99
  • Noteshelf 3 Premium - Lifetime$14.99
None

NotingDown

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Noteshelf free?
Noteshelf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is NotingDown free?
NotingDown is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Noteshelf or NotingDown have ads?
Neither Noteshelf nor NotingDown shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Noteshelf or NotingDown?
Noteshelf ships an update every 2 days, and NotingDown every 2 weeks. Most recently, Noteshelf was updated on November 13, 2026 and NotingDown on November 6, 2026.

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