Comparison

Quick Capture vs PaperTrail

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

Head to head
About

Quick Capture

Effortlessly capture ideas, moments, and thoughts directly into your Obsidian vaults. This app streamlines note-taking by allowing you to create multiple destinations within a vault or connect to different vaults, ensuring your inspirations are saved without interruption.

Highlights
  • Capture notes in Obsidian
  • Multiple vault connections
  • Append to existing notes
  • Voice recording with transcription
  • Document scanning
  • File and photo sending
  • Sketching and drawing capture
Features
Read full description

Quick Capture - Vault notes for Obsidian app This Quick Capture app is designed for power users of Obsidian, helping you focus purely on capturing ideas, moments, and thoughts as they come—without primarily worrying about which vault or page to open. It removes distractions, letting you effortlessly capture drafts and inspirations in Obsidian app, keeping you in the creative flow. → You can create multiple destinations to one vault → You can also connect to multiple vaults where each destination is dedicated to one vault → You can create a new note in a vault. → You can append text to an existing note in a vault. → You can send voice recordings with transcription to your vault. → You can scan documents to your vault. → You can send files or photos to your vault. → You can sketch and send those drawings to your vault.

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
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

Quick Capture4 screens
PaperTrail4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Quick Capture at Free against PaperTrail's $19.99. Quick Capture also leads on rating (4.5 vs 4.2) and ratings volume (103 vs 15). PaperTrail's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and chart position (#175 vs unranked). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads 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

Quick Capture is free to download; PaperTrail costs $19.99 up front. Quick Capture sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. PaperTrail asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Quick Capture holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Quick Capture has 103 ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 74% of Quick Capture's written reviews are positive against 75% of PaperTrail's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Quick Capture versus PaperTrail: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterQuick CapturePaperTrail
PriceFree — better$19.99
Rating4.5 (103 ratings) — better4.2 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews73.7% of reviews75.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings103 — better15
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysEvery 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#175 — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size43 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPradeep Burugugingerbeardman

Customer experience

Quick Capture

All ratings103 ratings
Positive84.5%
Neutral7.8%
Negative7.8%
Written reviews57 reviews
Positive73.7%
Neutral12.3%
Negative14.0%

PaperTrail

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

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Quick Capture

One-time1
  • Lifetime plan$5.99
None

PaperTrail

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Quick Capture free?
Quick Capture is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PaperTrail free?
PaperTrail costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Quick Capture or PaperTrail?
Quick Capture is rated higher. Quick Capture averages 4.5 out of 5 from 103 ratings, while PaperTrail averages 4.2 from 15 ratings.
Do Quick Capture or PaperTrail have ads?
Neither Quick Capture nor PaperTrail shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Quick Capture or PaperTrail?
Quick Capture ships an update every 10 days, and PaperTrail every 10 days. Most recently, Quick Capture was updated on October 7, 2026 and PaperTrail on October 15, 2026.

Other comparisons