Comparison

Noteleaf vs Bookhand

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

Head to head
About

Noteleaf

Features
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Noteleaf is a handwriting notebook that feels like real looseleaf paper. Write freely with Apple Pencil, rearrange pages, choose from templates, and make it your own. โ–  Key Features Looseleaf Feel Pages can be reordered freely, just like real looseleaf paper. Move, insert, or remove pages to organize your notes the way you want. Handwriting with Apple Pencil Write naturally with Apple Pencil. Supports Scribble. Turn on Apple Pencil-Only Mode in Settings to prevent accidental palm touches. Ruler Tool Draw perfectly straight lines at any angle using the on-screen ruler โ€” no physical ruler needed. 10 Page Templates Choose from blank, lined, wide-ruled, grid, dot grid, Cornell, and more. Mix templates freely within a single notebook. 16 Leather Cover Colors Personalize each notebook with a color that suits you โ€” 16 rich leather-style covers to choose from. PDF Export Export any notebook as a PDF to share or archive your notes. Notebook Sharing Share notebooks with others in the app's native format. โ–  One-Time Purchase Noteleaf is free to download. One in-app purchase unlocks: ใƒป Unlimited notebooks (free tier: 1 notebook) ใƒป PDF export ใƒป Notebook sharing All handwriting features are available for free. No subscription. No account required.

About

Bookhand

Features
Read full description

Bookhand is a free app for writing little books: journals, notes, ideas, short stories, poetry, philosophical treatises or anything else you feel like writing. The idea is that your words live on something like actual paper. Your text is typeset onto real pages with proper margins and page numbers, the pages curl as you turn them, and every notebook gets its own paper size, typefaces, colors and a cover you design yourself. READING A notebook opens in Page Mode, laid out the way it would be set on printed paper, from pocket A6 up to A4. There's also a full-screen e-reader mode with the same page-turning, an outline for jumping to a chapter or section, in-book search, and a page grid for finding your place visually. WRITING Edit Mode is a full-screen, distraction-free editor for your award-winning novel, thrilling memoir or truly revolutionary shopping list, whichever the case may be. Paragraphs can be headings, body text or block quotes; add images and control how they sit on the page. A rearrange mode lets you move, copy and cut whole paragraphs at once. MAKE IT YOURS Choose from seventeen carefully picked typefaces, set your paper size and margins, pick paper and ink colors, style the page numbers, then design the cover: board color, patterns, foil stamping, frames, flourishes and your own lettering. YOUR WORDS ARE YOURS Notebooks are stored on your device. There are no accounts, no servers and no database, and your text goes nowhere unless you want it to. Export to PDF, EPUB, Markdown or plain text, or as a .bookhand file for handing a notebook to someone else (or storing a backup for yourself). Import works too: bring in Markdown, plain text or EPUB. Notebooks can also be locked or hidden behind a PIN. FREE, REALLY Bookhand is made by one person as a personal project, so it's free, with no ads, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions and no upsell pop-ups. I just wanted an app where it's fun to sit down and write little books. I imagine you do too, so here we are.

Screenshots

Noteleaf4 screens
Bookhand4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Bookhand at none against Noteleaf's 1. Noteleaf's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.5). On price, update cadence, 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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Noteleaf sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Bookhand asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Noteleaf ships an update every 6 days, Bookhand weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Noteleaf versus Bookhand: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNoteleafBookhand
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 days โ€” betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better26.5
Further details โ€” not scored
Size15 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developermasafumi matsumotoBruno Takahashi Carvalhas de Oliveira

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Noteleaf

One-time1
  • Premium Unlock$9.99
None

Bookhand

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Noteleaf free?
Noteleaf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Bookhand free?
Bookhand is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Noteleaf or Bookhand have ads?
Neither Noteleaf nor Bookhand shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Noteleaf or Bookhand?
Noteleaf ships an update every 6 days, and Bookhand weekly. Most recently, Noteleaf was updated on September 21, 2026 and Bookhand on September 18, 2026.

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