Comparison

Pentip vs SmartNotes

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

Head to head
About

Pentip

This app combines typed notes, handwriting recognition, and PDF annotation. It allows you to seamlessly switch between typing and drawing on the same page, with your annotations intelligently linked to your text. Import PDFs, mark them up, and fill out forms with support for multiple languages.

Highlights
  • Handwriting recognition and search
  • Type and handwrite on the same page
  • Drawings move with text
  • Smart Dark mode for reading
  • PDF import and markup
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

Pentip is a notebook for people who take a lot of notes, and who write some of them by hand and type the rest. FIND WHAT YOU WROTE BY HAND Search your notes and Pentip reads your handwriting. It also searches typed text, floating text frames, the text inside any PDF you imported, and the values you filled into PDF form fields. Search your whole library, or find every match inside the document you have open and jump straight to it. Handwriting is recognised in all ten languages Pentip speaks, Arabic and Turkish included. Searching costs nothing extra. TYPE AND HANDWRITE ON THE SAME PAGE Type straight onto the page. Your text flows from one page to the next, the way it does in a word processor, instead of sitting in a small box you have to drag around. Then pick up your Apple Pencil and draw on that same page. There is no drawing mode to switch into: the Pencil draws, the keyboard types where the cursor is, and your finger scrolls. YOUR DRAWINGS MOVE WITH YOUR TEXT Every pen stroke remembers the line of text it was drawn beside. So if you come back weeks later and add a paragraph, the arrow you drew still points at the same sentence, even once that sentence has moved onto the next page. READ IN THE DARK WITHOUT CHANGING YOUR WORK Turn on Smart Dark and a light document is drawn dark while you read and write it. It is a viewing mode, so what you export is exactly what you made. TOOLS THAT FEEL RIGHT Pen, brush, highlighter and a precise eraser, all with Apple Pencil pressure and tilt. Hold at the end of a stroke and it snaps into a clean shape. Straighten lines with the ruler or turn it into a protractor to measure an angle. Squeeze an Apple Pencil Pro and a small palette of colours and sizes opens at the tip of the pen. WORK ON YOUR HANDOUTS Import a lecture PDF and mark it up like paper, or scan pages straight in with the camera. Tap a form field and type into it, in any script, right to left included. Select the text in the PDF itself to copy, look up or translate it. And if your lecturer sends a corrected version, swap it in and every note you made stays where it was. BUILT FOR BIG DOCUMENTS Notebooks of any length, page templates, five layers, and sections that hold several canvases in a single file. Star the ones you live in and they gather on a Favorites page. TEN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING RIGHT TO LEFT Arabic, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. Text direction is set for each paragraph, so an Arabic note sits correctly next to an English source. Export to PDF or as an image, and sync across your devices with iCloud. Pentip runs on iPhone and Mac too. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://pentip.app/privacy/

About

SmartNotes

Features
Read full description

SmartNotes is a beautifully designed note-taking app that helps you organize your thoughts with simplicity and elegance. KEY FEATURES: • Create and organize notes with custom categories • Choose from beautiful color themes for each note • Pin important notes to keep them at the top • Search through all your notes instantly • View detailed statistics about your notes • Dark and light mode support • Complete privacy - no internet required DESIGNED FOR iOS: SmartNotes features a clean, minimal interface that feels native to iOS. Every interaction is smooth and intuitive, making note-taking a pleasure rather than a chore. PRIVACY FOCUSED: Your notes stay completely private on your device. No account required, no data collection, no internet connection needed. Just pure, simple note-taking. ORGANIZE YOUR WAY: Create custom categories with personalized colors to organize notes exactly how you want. Pin your most important notes and use powerful search to find anything instantly. Perfect for students, professionals, writers, and anyone who values clean, distraction-free note-taking.

Screenshots

Pentip4 screens
SmartNotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SmartNotes at none against Pentip's 2. SmartNotes also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.2). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Pentip sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. SmartNotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Pentip versus SmartNotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPentipSmartNotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.213.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKhalil KhalilHUGHES BRIAN

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Pentip

Subscriptions2
  • Pentip Pro Monthly7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Pentip Pro Yearly7 Days trial$8.991 Year
None

SmartNotes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pentip free?
Pentip is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SmartNotes free?
SmartNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Pentip or SmartNotes have ads?
Neither Pentip nor SmartNotes shows ads.

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