Comparison

Simplify Notes vs Notely

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

Head to head
About

Simplify Notes

Capture and organize handwritten notes, notebooks, and PDFs in one place. Create unlimited notebooks, draw naturally with Apple Pencil, and import PDFs to study, plan, or research. Reduce clutter and enhance focus with a calm, organized system.

Highlights
  • Unlimited notebooks
  • Natural handwriting and drawing
  • Apple Pencil support
  • PDF import and annotation
  • Folder organization
  • Add images and tags
  • Quick search and PDF export
Features
Read full description

CAPTURE EVERY IDEA. ORGANIZE EVERY SUBJECT. Simplify Notes brings handwritten notes, notebooks and PDFs together in one calm, organized place. Write naturally with Apple Pencil, create notebooks for every subject, organize your work into folders and keep important ideas easy to find. Whether you’re studying for an exam, attending a lecture or planning a personal project, everything stays clear and connected. BUILT FOR THE WAY YOU STUDY • Create unlimited notebooks • Write and draw naturally • Use Apple Pencil on iPad • Import and work with PDFs • Organize notebooks into folders • Add images to your notes • Mark important content with tags and favorites • Search and find notes quickly • Export your work as PDF • Choose from multiple paper formats • Keep courses, projects and ideas together LESS CLUTTER. MORE FOCUS. Simplify Notes helps you reduce the mental load of scattered files, loose pages and disconnected ideas. Give every course, subject or project its own place, so you can focus on learning instead of searching. PERFECT FOR • College and university students • Lecture and class notes • Exam preparation • Research and assignments • Engineering and MBA studies • Personal projects • Everyday ideas and planning No account required. No subscription. Just open the app and start writing. Your ideas deserve a place you’ll actually remember.

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

Simplify Notes2 screens
Notely4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Simplify Notes at 5.0 against Notely's 4.4. Notely's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Simplify Notes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notely has 8 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simplify Notes ships an update weekly, Notely every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Simplify Notes versus Notely: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimplify NotesNotely
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.4 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews—33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings18 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 4 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supportedFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMario GuzmanJUSTIN WEI SUN

Customer experience

Simplify Notes

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Notely

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

In-app purchases

None

Simplify Notes

No in-app purchases

None

Notely

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Simplify Notes free?
Simplify Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Notely free?
Notely is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Simplify Notes or Notely?
Simplify Notes is rated higher. Simplify Notes averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Notely averages 4.4 from 8 ratings.
Do Simplify Notes or Notely have ads?
Simplify Notes shows ads; Notely does not.
Which is updated more often, Simplify Notes or Notely?
Simplify Notes ships an update weekly, and Notely every 4 days. Most recently, Simplify Notes was updated on October 16, 2026 and Notely on October 19, 2026.

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