Comparison

Notedrafts vs Notely

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

Head to head
About

Notedrafts

This app allows you to write, organize, and mark up documents with various tools. It supports PDF annotation, freeform sketching on a large canvas, and vertically extended pages for continuous writing. Customize templates, import various file types, and organize notes with folders and icons.

Highlights
  • Write on PDFs
  • Freeform canvas sketching
  • Vertically extended pages
  • Customizable templates
  • Import PDFs and images
  • Organize with folders and icons
Features
Read full description

Notedrafts is a note taking app that lets you write and organize your thoughts across different types of documents. Whether you're marking up a PDF, writing on a large canvas, or taking notes in a long vertical layout, Notedrafts adapts to your workflow. Note taking: - Write on PDF - Create notebooks with customizable templates - Sketch and note taking on a large freeform canvas - Take notes on vertically extended pages for long lists or continuous writing Customizable templates - Choose from daily planners, monthly calendars, habit trackers, and more - Adjust start times, set the current month, and choose how many habits to track - Change page size and background color Import and export - Import PDFs, images, or scan paper documents - Export your notes and share them easily Organize with ease - Create folders with custom icons and colors - Pin important documents and folders to the sidebar for quick access - perfect for study notes and school notes Advanced writing and drawing tools - Pens - Regular Pen, Monoline, Fountain Pen, Pencil, Watercolor, Highlighter - Tools - Ruler, Stroke Eraser, Pixel Eraser, Lasso - Insert images and text into your notes

About

Notely

This app offers a private and flexible digital notebook for handwriting, typed notes, and PDF annotation. Convert handwriting to editable text, draw with precision tools, and organize your work with folders and backups. Keep ideas accessible without an account or internet connection.

Highlights
  • Handwriting to editable text conversion
  • Precision drawing tools
  • PDF annotation and markup
  • Organized library with folders
  • On-device search
  • Portable backups
Features
Read full description

Notely is a notebook for iPad and iPhone that feels like paper and keeps everything on your device. Write by hand, mark up PDFs, record a lecture while you take notes, then study from what you wrote. There's no account and no cloud. Your notes stay where you wrote them. New in 1.4 Notely has a hand-drawn look now, with drawn icons and handwritten headings. I also rebuilt the pencil from scratch. It picks up the grain of the paper and responds to pressure, and if you tilt Apple Pencil on its side it shades like a real one. Record the lecture with your notes Press record and keep writing. Notely transcribes on your device as you go and remembers when each stroke was written. Later, tap a line of ink and the audio jumps to what was being said at that moment. Tapping a line in the transcript works too. Transcription depends on on-device speech support for your language and device. If it isn't available, Notely still saves the audio. Study from your own notes Make flashcards yourself, or lay tape over part of a page and quiz yourself on what's underneath. Cards come back on a spaced review schedule, and you can turn on reminders for when they're due. On devices with Apple Intelligence, Notely can also draft cards from a note and answer questions about it, with a link back to the page each answer came from. You review every draft before it's saved. Handwriting that turns into text Tap the handwriting button and Notely turns your writing into typed text, on the device. Anything it can't read confidently stays as ink. Search also looks inside your handwriting, typed text and PDFs. Pages or open space Use Letter or A4 pages, or switch a note to an infinite canvas when you need room to think. There's always a blank page waiting at the end, and if you don't use it, it's left out when you export. Templates include Cornell notes, dot grid, lab reports, math and physics pages, and music staff. Import PDFs and write on them, or scan paper pages with the camera. Private by default Notely works offline, with no analytics and no ads. Lock any note with Face ID or a password. Locked notes are kept out of Spotlight search and the widget. A few more things - Export pages as PDF or PNG - Back up notes to a .vectora archive and restore them without overwriting anything - Bring notebooks over from Goodnotes or Notability (PDF exports work best; native import is experimental) - A home screen widget with recent notes and a New note button - Shortcuts actions to create a quick note or open recent notes - Folders, tags and smart collections Notely is made by one person. If something bugs you, the support page reaches me directly.

Screenshots

Notedrafts4 screens
Notely4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Notedrafts at 82% against Notely's 33%. Notedrafts also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (753 vs 8). Notely's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 11). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Notedrafts sells 11 one-off in-app purchases. Notely asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Notedrafts holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notedrafts has 753 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Notedrafts's written reviews are positive against 33% of Notely's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notedrafts ships an update every 3 days, Notely every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Notedrafts versus Notely: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotedraftsNotely
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (753 ratings) — better4.4 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews81.6% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings753 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 4 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAppycron Interactive e.K.JUSTIN WEI SUN

Customer experience

Notedrafts

All ratings753 ratings
Positive96.3%
Neutral2.0%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews190 reviews
Positive81.6%
Neutral9.5%
Negative8.9%

Notely

All ratings8 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

Notedrafts

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • No issues reported

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add support for scribble to erase
  • Implement custom notebook covers
  • Add pure text writing mode
  • Ability to customize toolbar
  • Embed URL links with web preview
Show 2 more
  • Add page tags and linking between pages
  • Introduce light mode app icon

Notely

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

11 purchases

Notedrafts

One-time11
  • Bronze Tip$0.99
  • Silver Tip$1.99
  • Gold Tip$4.99
Show 8 more
  • PRO Version$5.99
  • Platinum Tip$9.99
  • Unlimited Notes$14.99
  • Diamond Tip$19.99
  • Unlimited Notes$24.99
  • Unlimited Notes$39.99
  • Unlimited Notes$49.99
  • Unlimited Notes$69.99
None

Notely

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Notedrafts free?
Notedrafts is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Notely free?
Notely is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Notedrafts or Notely?
Notedrafts is rated higher. Notedrafts averages 4.8 out of 5 from 753 ratings, while Notely averages 4.4 from 8 ratings.
Do Notedrafts or Notely have ads?
Neither Notedrafts nor Notely shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notedrafts or Notely?
Notedrafts ships an update every 3 days, and Notely every 4 days. Most recently, Notedrafts was updated on October 12, 2026 and Notely on October 13, 2026.

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