Comparison

Notewise vs KayaPDF

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

Head to head
About

Notewise

This app combines writing, recording, drawing, and PDF annotation with AI-powered search and chat. It allows you to capture all your notes, lectures, and research in one place and then ask questions about them. Transform your notes into various formats like flashcards or quizzes.

Highlights
  • AI-powered search and chat
  • Handwritten notes and freeform sketching
  • Audio recording and transcription
  • PDF annotation and markup
  • Import various file formats
  • Convert notes to flashcards and quizzes
Features
Read full description

Featured multiple times 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

About

KayaPDF

Features
Read full description

Bring your reading, notes and everyday PDF tasks together with KayaPDF. Review study material, mark up a report or prepare selected pages to share—all from your phone or tablet, with no account required. Create PDFs from paper documents and photos. Scan with your camera, review the captured pages, or select photos and arrange them in the order you want. Save the result to your library, then annotate, sign or share it. You can also export the current PDF page or selected pages as JPG or PNG images. Scanner availability depends on your device. Read at your own pace with continuous scrolling and zoom. Search document text, jump to a page or use an available table of contents. Select and copy passages across pages, then highlight the parts you want to return to. Make each document useful to you. Add highlights and notes, draw by hand and undo or redo changes as you work. Supported styluses adjust stroke width with pressure. Fill supported form fields and place a handwritten signature on the page. Put pages in the right order, combine pages from different PDFs or extract the pages you need into a new file. Share the current page, selected pages or the whole document with your saved annotations. Work on private copies and choose when to save or share your results. Turn scanned pages into useful text with on-device OCR. Review recognized text, search it, copy it or export a text file. Create a searchable PDF copy to find words in your scans while keeping the source unchanged. Keep your documents together in the library. Create a library backup, restore it when needed and recover files from Recently Deleted. The app interface is available in 20 languages. Form, OCR and export support varies by document, language and device; protected or digitally signed PDFs and XFA forms have limitations. PDF content is processed on your device. App usage analytics is optional; advertising and text recognition services may process technical data as explained in the privacy policy. KayaPDF has no purchases or subscriptions. Banner ads appear only in the library; the reader and PDF tools have no banners. Support: https://kayapdf.com/contact/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://kayapdf.com/privacy/

Screenshots

Notewise4 screens
KayaPDF4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: KayaPDF at none against Notewise's 10. KayaPDF also leads on iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Notewise's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price and device support 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. Notewise sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. KayaPDF asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Notewise versus KayaPDF: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotewiseKayaPDF
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (297 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews57.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings297 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days—
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size369 MB17 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperZIIKRCryptosam LLC

Bugs and requests

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
Show 13 more
  • 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
Show 15 more
  • 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)

KayaPDF

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Notewise

Subscriptions8
  • Notewise Cloud Basic Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Notewise Cloud Starter Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Notewise Cloud Plus Monthly$9.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • Notewise Cloud Pro Monthly$15.991 Month
  • Notewise Cloud Basic Yearly$28.991 Year
  • Notewise Cloud Starter Yearly7 Days trial$36.991 Year
  • Notewise Cloud Plus Yearly7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Notewise Cloud Pro Yearly7 Days trial$129.991 Year
One-time2
  • Notewise Marketplace Content$5.99
  • Notewise Unlimited$19.99
None

KayaPDF

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Notewise free?
Notewise is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is KayaPDF free?
KayaPDF is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Notewise or KayaPDF have ads?
KayaPDF shows ads; Notewise does not.

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