Noteora vs Papyrus
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Noteora
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Noteora is a free note-taking app for everything you write. Type it, handwrite it or write right on top of a PDF, and every page looks exactly like the real thing. No account, no cloud: your notes never leave your device. Open a PDF or Word file, mark it up with Apple Pencil, add a table, sketch a diagram and export a pixel-perfect PDF in seconds. HANDWRITING THAT FEELS LIKE PAPER โข Pressure- and tilt-aware pen, pencil and highlighter with smooth, natural strokes โข Pen-only mode with palm rejection: rest your hand on the screen and write โข Apple Pencil double-tap switches between the eraser and your last pen โข A felt-tip highlighter that keeps one even thickness โข Seven paper templates: blank, lined, narrow ruled, wide ruled, grid, dotted and Cornell notes โข Portrait or landscape, with as many pages as you need โข Add photos to handwritten pages and annotate them โข Shape recognition: hold the pen to snap a perfect line, rectangle, square or circle โข Object pen to select, move, rotate and resize anything on the page โข Snapped shapes come with handles to resize them, and rectangles keep the angle you drew ANNOTATE ANY PDF Open a PDF from Files, Mail or Safari straight into Noteora. Handwrite over its pages or type on them, start a new note or add the pages to one you already have, at the beginning or at the end. Ideal for lecture slides, worksheets, research papers, contracts and forms you need to fill in and sign. Photos open the same way, as a one-page note you can write on. WORD-LEVEL TEXT NOTES โข Real pages that reflow as you type, just like a word processor โข Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough and four heading levels โข Bullet lists, numbered lists, checklists, quotes, code blocks and links โข Tables you can create, fill and export โข Nine fonts, text and highlight colors, and all four alignments โข Insert, drag, resize and rotate images; attach PDFs and files as cards โข Import .docx documents with the same fonts, sizes, line spacing and page count PAGES YOU CONTROL Every note has a pages panel: duplicate, rename, reorder, copy and paste, or multi-select pages to share or delete. Copy pages from one note into another, several at a time. Switch between continuous scroll and a two-page book view, and pinch to zoom in on detail. Each note reopens on the exact page you left off. ORGANIZE EVERYTHING โข Nested folders with a folder tree; drag a note onto a folder to move it โข Pinned folders, favorites, tags and tag filters โข Due dates and reminders on any note, so no deadline slips by โข Fast full-text search across titles and content โข Sort by date modified, date created, title or deadline โข Duplicate any note in one tap โข Trash keeps deleted notes for 30 days, so nothing is lost by accident PRIVATE BY DESIGN Lock any note or folder with its own PIN and an optional hint. Locked notes are encrypted on your device with a key derived from your PIN. Noteora works fully offline, needs no sign-up and never uploads your notes anywhere. EXPORT & SHARE Export typed or handwritten notes as pixel-perfect PDFs or plain text, and text notes as Word documents. Export the whole note or only the pages you pick, then share instantly through the native share sheet. โข Vector PDF export: razor sharp at any zoom, far smaller files. Convert anything into pdf. MADE FOR iPHONE AND iPAD Light, dark and system themes, a full color palette, adjustable zoom and a guided tour that has you writing within a minute. Available in 12 languages. PERFECT FOR โข Students: lecture notes, Cornell notes, homework, exam revision and annotated slides โข Professionals: meeting minutes, reports, Word drafts and signed PDFs โข Planners and journalers: daily pages, to-do lists, bullet journals and sketches Studying for finals, planning your week or keeping a private diary? Noteora gives typed and handwritten pages the same care. Download it free and take your first note in seconds. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Papyrus
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Is your current note app slow? Meet a truly lightweight note app. - It's free โ with no stingy limit on the number of notes. - Trimmed of every bit of bloat, yet complete with the features you actually need. - Open as many notes as you like with no slowdown, and PDFs load blazingly fast. - Import and edit notes from another popular note app. - Import by the folder โ the hierarchy is preserved. [GoodNotes Import] Import .goodnotes files. Strokes, images, shapes, and masks are reproduced almost perfectly. [Handwriting] A custom vector drawing engine delivers extremely lightweight, high-precision ink. Five tools are built in: Pen, Highlighter, Eraser, Lasso, and Mask. Anything selected with the Lasso can be copied, moved, deleted, or duplicated. Mask is a study aid โ cover what you want to memorize with the pen, then tap to peek underneath. Straight-line snapping and shape recognition (rectangles, circles, lines, and more) are also supported. [PDF Import & Annotation] Import a PDF and write directly on its pages. Switch between four page layouts: continuous scroll, single page, horizontal, and two-page spread. [File Organization] Organize your notes with a Finder-like file browser, creating folders freely. Switch between list and grid views, and move files and folders by drag and drop. A Trash lets you restore notes you deleted by mistake. [Tabs & Split View (iPad)] Open multiple notes at once in tabs. On iPad, split the screen to view and edit two notes side by side (Split View). [Page Sidebar] Swipe in from the left edge to reveal page thumbnails. Press and hold a thumbnail to reorder pages, and select multiple pages to delete, copy, and paste. [Images] Paste images from Photos, Files, or the clipboard. [Export] Export notes and PDFs as a "PDF for submission/printing," a "fast annotation PDF" (PDF annotations only), or a "Papyrus Archive" (.papyrus). [Apple Pencil] - iPad: draw with Apple Pencil only; pan and zoom with your finger. - iPhone: draw with your finger while the compact ink palette is open; otherwise pan and zoom. - With Apple Pencil Pro, use the squeeze gesture to bring up the hover palette. About Papyrus Sync (Subscription) iCloud sync and sharing are available through the "Papyrus Sync" subscription (monthly or yearly, auto-renewing). All core features โ note-taking, PDF annotation, and more โ are completely free. - Payment will be charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. - The subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. - Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. - You can manage your subscription or turn off auto-renewal in your Apple Account settings after purchase. - Prices are shown in the app and may vary by region. Terms of Use (EULA): https://coremedica.jp/pages/legal/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://coremedica.jp/pages/legal/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Noteora at none against Papyrus's 2. Noteora also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). Papyrus's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Papyrus sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Noteora asks for nothing beyond the download.
Noteora ships an update every 2 weeks, Papyrus every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Noteora | Papyrus |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 4 days โ better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No โ better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod โ better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 โ better | 26.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PerfectAiStudio | waraku kobayashi |
In-app purchases
Noteora
No in-app purchases
Papyrus
- Papyrus Sync Monthly$0.991 Month
- Papyrus Sync Yearly$9.991 Year









