Notes for iPad vs Notely
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notes for iPad
Transform your iPad into a digital notebook with a natural writing experience using Apple Pencil. Organize your life with over 60 templates, add stickers, and sync across devices. Perfect for students, professionals, and creatives.
- Natural handwriting with Apple Pencil
- 60+ professionally designed templates
- Extensive sticker library and import options
- Unlimited notebooks with custom covers
- iCloud sync across devices
- Export notes as PDF
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Your perfect digital notebook. Notes for iPad Pencil Planner is a beautifully designed note-taking app that transforms your iPad into an endless paper canvas. Write naturally with Apple Pencil, plan your life with stunning templates, and organize everything in one place. Whether you're a student capturing lectures, a professional planning projects, or a creative sketching ideas — Notes for iPad is the essential tool to capture, organize, and bring your thoughts to life. YOUR ALL-IN-ONE DIGITAL NOTEBOOK • Write, sketch, and draw with realistic Apple Pencil support • Choose from multiple pen styles, colors, and thicknesses • Add typed text with customizable fonts and formatting • Mix handwriting with images and stickers seamlessly 60+ PROFESSIONALLY DESIGNED TEMPLATES • Daily planners and to-do lists to organize your day • Weekly and monthly calendars for long-term planning • Habit trackers to build better routines • Meal planners and grocery lists for healthy eating • Workout logs and fitness trackers to reach your goals • Budget sheets and expense trackers for financial control • Meeting notes and project planning templates • And many more — new templates added regularly STICKERS & PERSONALIZATION • 1000+ beautiful stickers to decorate your notes • Categories: productivity, wellness, celebrations, seasons • Import your own photos and custom stickers • Resize, rotate, and layer elements freely STAY ORGANIZED YOUR WAY • Create unlimited notebooks for different areas of life • Convenient sidebar for quick page navigation • Custom covers and colors for each notebook • Archive completed notebooks to keep things tidy SYNC & SHARE • iCloud sync keeps your notes updated across devices • Export any page or entire notebook as PDF • Share your notes via email, AirDrop, or any app DESIGNED FOR COMFORT • Beautiful dark mode for nighttime note-taking • Clean, distraction-free interface • Optimized specifically for iPad's large display • Smooth, lag-free performance Your ideas deserve a beautiful home. Notes for iPad combines the freedom of paper with the power of digital — giving you the perfect space to plan, create, and organize your life. Support: hello@britetodo.com Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ A subscription or one-time purchase is required to access premium templates and features. Weekly, Yearly, and Lifetime Access options are available.
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 private, flexible notebook for handwriting, typed notes, PDFs, and visual thinking on iPad and iPhone. Write naturally, clean up a page when you choose, and keep your work available without an account or internet connection. TURN HANDWRITING INTO EDITABLE TEXT Tap the handwriting button to convert canvas writing fully on device. Matched pen and pencil strokes become fitted, editable text immediately in one undoable step. Unmatched ink stays on the page, and unreadable handwriting is never removed. You can also scan physical pages or import photos as typed text. DRAW WITH PRECISION Use pen, pencil, highlighter, eraser, lasso, shape recognition, and a resizable ruler. Zoom from a full-page overview into extreme detail while curves and typed text stay crisp. Pan with one finger when finger drawing is off. Apple Pencil pressure, hover, double tap, and squeeze are supported on compatible hardware, and smart Pencil gestures are customizable. REAL PAGES OR AN INFINITE CANVAS Add, duplicate, reorder, name, section, bookmark, and delete pages while ink, text, images, and sticky notes move together. Intentional blank pages stay in exports. Prefer open space? Switch to a seamless whiteboard instead. Imported PDF pages remain protected and navigation-only. FIND WHAT YOU WROTE Search titles, typed text, sticky notes, handwriting, images, and PDF text with a private on-device index. Results include highlighted context and page or source details. Unlocked note titles and typed text can also appear in system Spotlight; locked and trashed notes stay excluded. TEXT THAT STAYS TIDY Place and move text boxes with a finger or Apple Pencil. Text boxes fit their contents automatically instead of stretching across the page. Use headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, lists, checklists, fonts, sizes, and colors. Resize a block manually whenever you want a fixed layout. ANNOTATE PDFS AND SCANS Import PDFs from Files and mark them up with the same drawing and text tools. Add images, scan physical pages, or recognize text from Photos. Export paged notes as PDF or as individual PNG pages. ORGANIZE A LARGE LIBRARY Use color-coded folders and subfolders, favorites, templates, trash recovery, modified/created/title sorting, grid or list layouts, and multi-select actions. Move, favorite, export, trash, restore, or permanently delete several notes together. New notes open as soon as they are created while the library updates in the background. MOVE BETWEEN IDEAS Keep several notes open, switch between them, close individual notes, or open another existing note without returning to the library. Copy, cut, and paste mixed lasso selections across open notes. Focus Mode hides the interface when you want only the page. PORTABLE, VALIDATED BACKUPS Back up one note, a selection, a folder, or the full library to a portable Notely archive, then restore it additively without overwriting existing notes. Attachments and archive contents are validated before restore. Locked notes are never placed into a portable backup unless you remove their lock first. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Notely works offline and stores notes locally on your device. There is no required account, cloud sync, analytics, or personal-data collection. Lock individual notes with Face ID or a password when you want another layer of privacy. MORE TO EXPLORE - Quick Note and Recent Notes actions in Shortcuts - A configurable Study Buddy widget with quick capture and recent unlocked notes - Drawing replay with speed and timeline controls - Per-orientation toolbar placement with a visible drag handle - A consistent light interface designed around paper and ink - Letter, A4, portrait, landscape, and paper-style defaults Apple Pencil, hover, squeeze, Face ID, camera scanning, Spotlight, and Shortcuts features require compatible hardware and system support.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Notely at none against Notes for iPad's 6. Notely also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 weeks). Notes for iPad's advantage is ratings volume (99 vs 2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Notes for iPad sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per 7 days. Notely asks for nothing beyond the download.
Notely holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notes for iPad has 99 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Notes for iPad ships an update every 2 weeks, Notely every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notes for iPad | Notely |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (99 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 99 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 14 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brite Technologies | JUSTIN WEI SUN |
Customer experience
Notes for iPad
Notely
In-app purchases
Notes for iPad
- Notes for iPad - weekly$5.997 Days
- Weekly Plus$7.997 Days
- Monthly3 Days trial$17.991 Month
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- Notes for iPad for a year3 Days trial$19.991 Year
- Yearly3 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Lifetime Premium$39.99
Notely
No in-app purchases









