Comparison

Serious Notebook vs Notes

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

Head to head
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.

About

Notes

Features
Read full description

Your notes. Your aesthetic. Aesthetic Notes is not an ordinary notes app. Here every note gets its own paper, its own type and its own colour – and, if you like, a strip of tape, a wax seal or punch holes along the edge. What comes out doesn't look like a form. It looks like something off your desk. THE SAME NOTES EVERYWHERE – AND THE SAME DESIGN iCloud keeps your notes on iPhone, iPad and Mac at once. Not just the text: paper, type, colour, trimmings and image crop travel with them. A note you design in the evening looks exactly the same on your other device in the morning. Nothing gets reformatted, nothing goes missing. Everything stays private in your own iCloud. FOUR KINDS OF NOTES • Text note with weight, alignment and bullets • To-do list to tick off, with a reminder for each item • Table for plans, weeks and overviews • Picture note with a clean crop DESIGN IT UNTIL IT FEELS RIGHT Ten paper colours from cream to sage. Blank, lined or grid. Seventeen typefaces from plain to handwriting. Plus around thirty trimmings: tape, wax seals, pins, paper clips, punch holes, torn edges, decorative frames and bows. Found a combination you love? Save it in the Style Studio as your own style and apply it to any other note with a single tap. ON YOUR HOME SCREEN Any note can go on your Home Screen as a widget – in three sizes and in its own design. Your shopping list ends up where you're already looking. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY Individual notes can be locked with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. A locked note stays milky – lovely to look at, impossible to read. DRAWING Pen, marker, pencil and eraser. On iPad with Apple Pencil too. ON MAC AS WELL Aesthetic Notes is also available for macOS. There your notes sit right on the desktop, free to place anywhere, and they can turn transparent. FREE AND PRO Aesthetic Notes is free. Pro unlocks custom colours with an eyedropper, your own images as note backgrounds, the Design Collection and more typefaces. Try it free for seven days. Privacy Policy: https://notes-privacy-museandmethod.sofia-schuster02.chatgpt.site/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Serious Notebook4 screens
Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Serious Notebook at 5.0 against Notes's 4.0. On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Serious Notebook sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. 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 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 15, 2026 and November 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Serious Notebook versus Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSerious NotebookNotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings2 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB88 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBILGESU KADANSofia Schuster

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Serious Notebook

One-time1
  • Lifetime Unlock$24.99
3 purchases

Notes

Subscriptions2
  • Notes Pro Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Notes Pro Yearly7 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time1
  • Notes Pro Lifetime$79.99

Questions

Is Serious Notebook free?
Serious Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Notes free?
Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Serious Notebook or Notes?
Serious Notebook is rated higher. Serious Notebook averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Notes averages 4.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Serious Notebook or Notes have ads?
Neither Serious Notebook nor Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Serious Notebook or Notes?
Serious Notebook ships an update every 3 weeks, and Notes every 3 weeks. Most recently, Serious Notebook was updated on November 15, 2026 and Notes on November 13, 2026.

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