Comparison

Sideboard vs PaperTrail

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

Head to head
About

Sideboard

This app displays your upcoming and in-progress meetings, showing the time until your next event or the remaining time in your current meeting. It offers widgets for your home screen and can run in standby mode for continuous visibility of your schedule.

Highlights
  • View upcoming and in-progress meetings
  • Time until next meeting display
  • Current meeting duration tracking
  • Home screen widgets
  • Standby mode for continuous display
Features
Read full description

Sideboard is designed to summarise your upcoming meetings and enhance your productivity See Your Day: Sideboard will quickly show your upcoming or in progress meetings, and show how long until the next meeting (or how long the current meeting has left to run) This lets you see at a glance how your day is looking Put it on your dock: The iOS and iPad app is designed to be run "on the side" - hence the name! Our widgets are even better than the app!: Sideboard has a range of widgets that can be added to your home screen, showing your upcoming meetings, or the current meeting Running in standby mode is perfect for showing you your next meeting!

About

PaperTrail

This app provides a full TaskPaper editing experience on iOS and iPadOS, allowing you to manage projects, tasks, and notes using simple, flexible plain text files. Sync your work with iCloud and edit across devices, with powerful search and filtering capabilities.

Highlights
  • Full TaskPaper format support
  • OPML import
  • Distraction-free editing
  • Full query language search
  • Tag system with progress tracking
  • iOS Reminders integration
  • Shortcuts and Siri integration
Currently charting
Read full description

PaperTrail brings full TaskPaper editing to iOS and iPadOS. TaskPaper is plain text productivity—simple, fast, flexible. Projects, tasks, notes, and tags. Filter, search, and archive. All in plain text files you can sync via iCloud and edit in TaskPaper on your Mac. FEATURES • Full TaskPaper format support (.taskpaper, .todo, .txt, .md) • Open Bike (.bike) and OPML (.opml) outlines, with clear warnings when an import can't carry everything across • OPML and Bike-style export, so tags and done state round-trip back into Bike • Fold and focus into any subtree for distraction-free editing • Full query language with text, tag, boolean, and semantic search • Tag system with dates, progress tracking, and cost aggregation • Tag autocomplete ranked by how often you use each tag • Smart filters with edge-swipe gestures and an iPad side-by-side sidebar • Colour lines by priority, depth, or due date proximity • Natural date parsing and two-way iOS Reminders integration—import a Reminders list as a project • Quick capture: append tasks, notes, clipboard text, or web links to your most recent document • Planning shortcuts: Open in Today, Random Next Task, and Morning Brief • Shortcuts, Siri, Action Button, and Spotlight integration via App Intents • Find & update documents from Shortcuts: run queries, mark done, set tags, append tasks • Command palette for projects, searches, tags, and every editor command • iPadOS menu bar with Item, Tag, Outline, View, and Palette menus • Export documents as interactive HTML slide presentations or as OPML outlines • Built-in and custom document templates • 50+ keyboard shortcuts for power workflow • Native Swift app—tiny install size, built for speed • Dynamic Type, VoiceOver, and dark mode support

Screenshots

Sideboard3 screens
PaperTrail4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Sideboard at Free against PaperTrail's $19.99. Sideboard also leads on device support (5 vs 2). PaperTrail's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (15 vs 1). On 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

Sideboard is free to download; PaperTrail costs $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PaperTrail holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PaperTrail has 15 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sideboard ships an update every 3 months, PaperTrail every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Sideboard versus PaperTrail: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSideboardPaperTrail
PriceFree — better$19.99
Rating4.0 (1 ratings)4.2 (15 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—75.0% of reviews
Number of ratings115 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#95 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJOHN ANDREW POLLARDgingerbeardman

Customer experience

Sideboard

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

PaperTrail

All ratings15 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral6.7%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

In-app purchases

None

Sideboard

No in-app purchases

None

PaperTrail

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Sideboard free?
Sideboard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PaperTrail free?
PaperTrail costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Sideboard or PaperTrail?
PaperTrail is rated higher. Sideboard averages 4.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while PaperTrail averages 4.2 from 15 ratings.
Do Sideboard or PaperTrail have ads?
Neither Sideboard nor PaperTrail shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sideboard or PaperTrail?
Sideboard ships an update every 3 months, and PaperTrail every 10 days. Most recently, Sideboard was updated on September 16, 2026 and PaperTrail on September 29, 2026.

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