ClayNote vs Archives Scanner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ClayNote
This app assists potters and ceramicists in documenting their creative process. It allows users to record stage notes, annotate images, save inspirations from the web, and organize their work with custom tags and collections. It serves as a digital journal to refine artistic skills.
- Stage notes for each step
- Save web inspirations (Sparks)
- Annotate images for surface treatments
- Customizable studio options
- Organize pieces with collections and tags
- Quick-add notes and reminders
- Reflect on process to refine craft
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Track every pot from wet clay to the finished shelf. ClayNote helps potters and ceramicists document, track and reflect on every piece — from the first idea to the final glaze. Photograph a piece, tick off each stage as it dries, gets trimmed, bisqued and glazed, and write down what you did while you still remember it. FOLLOW EVERY PIECE Ideas, Formed, Trimmed, Bisqued, Glazed, Finished. Tick each stage as your piece gets there, and see at a glance what's drying on the shelf and what's waiting for the kiln. NOTES THAT COME BACK TO YOU Write a note at any stage — the clay body, how thin you pulled it, which shelf it sat on. Next time you make something similar, ClayNote shows you what you wrote the last time round. MAP YOUR SURFACE DECISIONS Record glazes, underglazes, slips, oxides and stamps, and mark on the photo itself exactly where each one went. YOUR WORK IS YOURS One tap saves everything — every piece, note and photo — as a spreadsheet and a folder of pictures you can keep on your computer or a cloud drive. No account, nothing locked in. SPARKS Save the shapes, glaze recipes and reels you love from Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube, and keep them right next to your own work. ALSO • Your materials and methods, customisable to your studio • Collections and tags to organise your work your way • Search your collection by name, grouped by month • A home screen widget • Reminders to keep your journal going between sessions
Archives Scanner
Transform your physical notebooks into a digital, searchable library. Capture pages with automatic correction, recognize handwriting in over 25 languages, and organize your content into custom archives. Syncs seamlessly across devices.
- Automatic page detection and correction
- On-device handwriting recognition
- Organize scans into custom archives
- Bookmark pages with notes
- Export to PDF (Pro feature)
- Sync across devices via iCloud
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Archives — Digitize your notebooks Turn your notebooks, sketchbooks, cookbooks, and journals into a searchable digital library. Point your camera at a page and Archives captures it with crisp, document-quality results — then keeps every page organized, searchable, and synced across your devices. Page detection with auto-correction Automatic edge detection finds your page and straightens the perspective, so every scan comes out flat and clean — even when you shoot it at an angle. Search everything, including handwriting On-device text recognition reads your handwritten notes, so you can find any page in seconds. Works across 25+ languages, with matches highlighted right on the page. Organize into archives Group your scans into notebooks and browse your whole collection at a glance. Jump straight to the page you need, whether it's recipe 12 from Cookbook 2022 or a sketch buried in your field notes. Bookmarks with notes Flag your favorite pages and add notes to keep track of what matters — recipes to try, sketches to revisit, ideas to come back to. Export to PDF (Pro) Turn any notebook into a multi-page PDF, then share it, save it to Files, or send it to iCloud Drive. Sync across devices With iCloud integration, your library stays up to date on every iPhone and iPad, automatically. Your notebooks, finally searchable. Download Archives and start digitizing today. -- Privacy Policy: https://and.notion.site/Archives-Scanner-Privacy-Policy-37deb9a83adb80718c65d672a46d9fff EULA: http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Archives Scanner at 5.0 against ClayNote's 2.7. Archives Scanner also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 63%) and update cadence (every 3 days vs monthly). ClayNote's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (26 vs 1). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Archives Scanner sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. ClayNote asks for nothing beyond the download.
Archives Scanner holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ClayNote has 26 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of ClayNote's written reviews are positive against 100% of Archives Scanner's.
ClayNote ships an update monthly, Archives Scanner every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ClayNote | Archives Scanner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.7 (26 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 26 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 18 — better | 26.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 56 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ying-Chao Tung | Andriy Gordiyenko |
Customer experience
ClayNote
Archives Scanner
In-app purchases
ClayNote
No in-app purchases
Archives Scanner
- Archives Pro Weekly$4.997 Days
- Archives Pro Annual$29.991 Year
- Archives Pro Lifetime$49.99






