Comparison

Perenne Note. Digital Notebook vs Serious Notebook

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

Head to head
About

Perenne Note. Digital Notebook

A minimalist digital notebook designed for iPad and iPhone, offering a realistic writing and sketching experience with Apple Pencil. Organize notes, sketches, and lists with customizable notebooks and real-time syncing.

Highlights
  • Realistic pen and pencil tools
  • Customizable notebooks and paper styles
  • iPhone companion app with iCloud sync
  • Quick notes with rich text and checklists
  • Reminders and calendar integration
  • Desk feature for floating elements
  • PDF and PNG export options
Features
Read full description

A real notebook, on your iPad. Write with Apple Pencil on pages that feel like paper, with a pencil that leaves real graphite grain and a pen that follows your hand. Perenne Note is made for people who think better with a pen in hand. No infinite canvas, no AI, no features you'll never use: just notebooks, planners and your ideas. Plus a free iPhone app to keep them with you. WRITES LIKE PAPER Pen, fountain pen, pencil and highlighter, powered by Perenne Engine, the drawing engine we built from scratch: real scanned graphite, paper grain that responds to every stroke, tilt and pressure in every line. Any width, opacity and color, eyedropper included. Turn on real notebook mode to flip pages with your finger and write with your Pencil, without switching modes. NOTEBOOKS THAT FEEL REAL 3D covers in 10 colors, 5 textures or your own photo. Blank, ruled, grid or dotted paper, or design your own with the pattern editor. Up to 100 pages, two-page spreads in landscape, colored bookmarks and over 280 stickers: stamps, postmarks and decorations. DATED PLANNERS Daily or weekly, in six styles you can switch anytime without losing a line of what you wrote. Tap a day to open it, tap the date to see the month. If you like, your Calendar events and your Reminders to-dos appear right on the pages, ready to check off with your finger or a mark of your Pencil. Your first planner is free to try. AUDIO NOTES Record a lecture or a meeting right on the page, even with the screen locked. Where your language supports it, transcription happens on your device: your voice goes nowhere else. ON YOUR IPHONE, FREE Your notebooks and planners in your pocket: flip through your pages as you wrote them, search everything and catch ideas on the go with quick notes. Text, checklists, tables, photos and audio, ready to place on the page back on your iPad. REMINDERS THAT TAKE YOU BACK Circle anything with the lasso and set a reminder: the notification arrives with your handwriting and takes you right back to that page. One-time or repeating, in your Calendar too. THE DESK Around your notebook there's room for sticky notes, photos and text you want to keep in sight while you write. Write on the notes, draw on the photos, move, rotate and resize everything. PRIVATE, NO ACCOUNT No sign-up and no ads. Your notebooks and notes stay yours and sync between iPad and iPhone through your own iCloud. Export pages or whole notebooks as PDF or PNG anytime. MADE TO FIT YOU Toolbar at the top or bottom, controls on the side of your writing hand, gestures to undo, keyboard shortcuts. In 14 languages, ready for iOS 27 and iPadOS 27. YOUR YEAR Pages written, days in a row and, at the end of the year, an animated recap of everything you created. TRY IT FREE Start with a notebook and 6 pages to try everything, and try your first planner for free. Then it's your choice: a single notebook or planner as a one-time purchase, or a subscription for unlimited use, with a free week on the annual plan. Privacy Policy: https://perenne.app/privacy-policy Terms of Use (EULA): https://perenne.app/terms-of-service

About

Serious Notebook

A private digital notebook for handwriting, typing, and annotating documents. Import PDFs, scan paper, and organize your thoughts with customizable tools. Keep your work securely on your device with no accounts or tracking.

Highlights
  • Handwrite and sketch with Apple Pencil
  • Type notes and highlight on iPhone
  • Import and annotate PDFs
  • Scan paper into notebooks
  • Insert text boxes, sticky notes, photos, and scans
  • Export notebooks as PDF
Read full description

Your handwriting, PDFs, and ideas. A quieter place to think. Write naturally with Apple Pencil on iPad. Type notes and highlight pages on iPhone. Import a PDF planner, annotate a worksheet, or scan paper into a notebook you can keep working in. Serious Notebook keeps your work on your device, with no account, ads, tracking, or subscription. WRITE, STUDY, AND PLAN • Handwrite and sketch on iPad with pen, pencil, highlighter, and eraser tools. Apple Pencil works on compatible iPads. • Type notes and highlight with your finger on iPhone. • Choose blank, ruled, grid, or dot-grid paper in soft white or cream. • Give each notebook its own title and cover. MAKE DOCUMENTS YOUR OWN • Import PDFs as notebooks and annotate their pages. • Scan paper on supported camera-equipped devices, review the pages, then start writing. • Add text boxes and sticky notes. With lifetime access, insert photos, PDF pages, and scans into your notes. • Move, resize, and rotate inserted objects. • Export a notebook or selected pages as PDF to save or share. NEW IN 3.0 Scan several pages straight into your open notebook as movable objects with lifetime access. Take multiple photos, review them, and add them together. On iPad, a clearer top toolbar leaves more room to write. TRY YOUR OWN NOTES The free workspace includes one handwritten notebook plus one separate PDF or scan notebook, up to 10 pages each. Try the included example without using either allowance. ONE LIFETIME PURCHASE Unlock unlimited notebooks, pages, PDF imports, camera scans, and photo insertion with a single non-consumable purchase. No recurring payments. Existing lifetime customers and eligible original paid-app customers keep access. Restore Purchases is available in Settings. PRIVATE, ON YOUR DEVICE Notes, imported documents, photos, and scans stay on the device where you create them. No app account or document upload is required. Notebooks do not automatically sync between devices. Export PDFs regularly to keep a copy of your work. Purchase and restoration use Apple's App Store services. For class notes, project ideas, PDF planners, and everyday thinking on iPhone and iPad.

Screenshots

Perenne Note. Digital Notebook4 screens
Serious Notebook4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Serious Notebook at 5.0 against Perenne Note. Digital Notebook's 3.8. Perenne Note. Digital Notebook's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and ratings volume (5 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Perenne Note. Digital Notebook sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Serious Notebook sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Serious Notebook holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Perenne Note. Digital Notebook has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Perenne Note. Digital Notebook ships an update weekly, Serious Notebook every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Perenne Note. Digital Notebook versus Serious Notebook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPerenne Note. Digital NotebookSerious Notebook
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (5 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings5 — better1
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size61 MB6 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperNicholas CompagnoniBILGESU KADAN

Customer experience

Perenne Note. Digital Notebook

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative25.0%

Serious Notebook

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

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Perenne Note. Digital Notebook

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Annual7 Days trial$22.991 Year
One-time3
  • Single Notebook$3.99
  • Yearly Planner$6.99
  • Notebook Bundle$8.99
1 purchases

Serious Notebook

One-time1
  • Lifetime Unlock$24.99

Questions

Is Perenne Note. Digital Notebook free?
Perenne Note. Digital Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Serious Notebook free?
Serious Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Perenne Note. Digital Notebook or Serious Notebook?
Serious Notebook is rated higher. Perenne Note. Digital Notebook averages 3.8 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Serious Notebook averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Perenne Note. Digital Notebook or Serious Notebook have ads?
Neither Perenne Note. Digital Notebook nor Serious Notebook shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Perenne Note. Digital Notebook or Serious Notebook?
Perenne Note. Digital Notebook ships an update weekly, and Serious Notebook every 3 weeks. Most recently, Perenne Note. Digital Notebook was updated on November 5, 2026 and Serious Notebook on October 31, 2026.

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