Notely vs Notely
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notely
Capture and organize your thoughts instantly with this fast, private notepad. Create, edit, and manage notes with ample space for titles and descriptions. Organize entries into custom categories with visual flair and enjoy a distraction-free, offline experience.
- Lightning fast note capture and editing
- Customizable categories with pastel colors
- Offline functionality with no account needed
- Secure local data storage
- Distraction-free, native dark mode UI
- List and grid view options
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Notely is a simple, fast notepad for everything you want to remember. Open the app and start writing: no account, no ads, and your notes stay on your device. WRITE WITH STYLE • Headings, bold, italic, underline and strikethrough • Bulleted and numbered lists • Left, center or right alignment • Undo and redo • Automatic saving as you type ORGANIZE WITH COLORFUL FOLDERS • Sort your notes into categories with the color of your choice • See at a glance how many notes each folder contains • Pin your most important notes and categories to the top • Switch between list and grid view FIND EVERYTHING INSTANTLY • Search all your notes by typing a few words • Browse your notes by category in one tap PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No account and no sign-up • No ads • Your notes are stored on your device and work offline NOTELY PRO: ONE-TIME PURCHASE • Private vault: lock your most personal notes behind a 6-digit code • Custom app icons for your home screen • Pay once, keep it forever. No subscription. MADE FOR EVERY DAY • Light and dark mode • Available in 11 languages • Optimized for iPhone and iPad Shopping lists, ideas, journal, meeting notes, reminders: Notely keeps everything clear, fast and in one place.
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.
- Handwriting to editable text conversion
- Precision drawing tools
- PDF annotation and markup
- Organized library with folders
- On-device search
- Portable backups
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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
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Notely at none against Notely's 1. Notely also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 months). Notely's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.4) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and monetization model 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. Notely sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Notely asks for nothing beyond the download.
Notely holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 8 respectively.
Notely ships an update every 2 months, Notely every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notely | Notely |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (12 ratings) — better | 4.4 (8 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 52 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kamel Djaber | JUSTIN WEI SUN |
Customer experience
Notely
Notely
In-app purchases
Notely
- Premium Notely$4.99
Notely
No in-app purchases









