Comparison

Notepad vs Google Keep

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

Head to head
About

Notepad

Capture thoughts, create to-do lists, and organize ideas with a versatile digital notebook. Supports handwriting, text notes, and secure cloud syncing. Personalize your experience with custom themes and icons.

Highlights
  • Create to-do lists with checkboxes
  • Unlimited text notes
  • Handwritten notes with Apple Pencil
  • Organize notes into folders
  • Pin and sort notes
  • iCloud backup and sync
  • Advanced search functionality
Features
Read full description

Jot down notes and organize your ideas with Notepad—the classic notepad writing app designed for keeping track of everything that matters. [ TO-DO LISTS ] • Create beautiful task lists with interactive checkboxes to track your daily tasks and goals. • Drag and drop to reorder items—organize your to-dos exactly how you want them. • Enjoy the satisfying experience of checking off completed tasks as you get things done. • Perfect for shopping lists, daily chores, project tasks, and everything in between. [ NOTES ] • Create unlimited text notes with rich formatting—quickly and easily. • Tap anywhere to start typing—it's simple, fast, and always saved automatically. • Works perfectly in both light and dark mode. [ RICH TEXT FORMATTING ] • Style your notes with bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough. • Choose from 7 text colors and 7 highlight colors to make important details stand out. • Pick from 18 handpicked font families—each with proper bold and italic variants. • A convenient formatting toolbar sits right above the keyboard for fast access. • Switch fonts anytime—your existing formatting is preserved. [ HANDWRITTEN NOTES WITH APPLE PENCIL ] • Capture your thoughts naturally with fluid, responsive handwriting that feels like pen on paper. • Create beautiful handwritten notes, diagrams, and drawings with realistic ink flow and pressure sensitivity. • Choose from fountain pens, pencils, and highlighters with customizable colors for a personalized writing experience. • Enjoy our adaptive paper grid that works perfectly in any orientation or device. [ FOLDERS - ORGANIZE YOUR NOTES ] • Organize notes into folders and subfolders with a clean, nested structure. • Assign a unique color to each folder, making it simple to categorize and find notes at a glance. • Drag-and-drop to reorder, and move multiple notes easily. [ PIN & SORT NOTES ] • Pin important notes to the top and sort by date, custom order, or alphabetical order. [ BACKUP WITH ICLOUD ] • Keep notes safe with automatic backups and iCloud sync across your devices. [ PERSONALIZE YOUR NOTEPAD ] • Give your notepad a personal touch with unique app icons, custom colors, stylish fonts, and a sleek dark mode for night owls. [ FIND NOTES FAST ] • Use advanced search tools and text highlighting to track down exactly what you're looking for. [ KEEP YOUR NOTES SAFE ] • Lock your notes with FaceID or TouchID for extra privacy. [ SHARE & PRINT ] • Send your notes to other apps like Mail or WhatsApp, or print them directly from Notepad. [ PREMIUM FEATURES FOR POWER USERS ] • Go ad-free, unlock exclusive themes, and get advanced sorting options with Premium. Notepad combines the nostalgic feel of a simple notebook with the functionality of today's tech. Use Notepad for everything from brainstorming ideas and setting personal reminders to creating shopping lists, to-do lists, grocery lists, chores lists, appointment notes, class notes, daily goals, password hints, birthday reminders, packing lists, travel itineraries, and more. Write, organize, and stay on top of everything that matters—download Notepad now and stay productive your way! Terms of Use & Privacy Policy: https://www.oldnotepad.com/terms.

About

Google Keep

Capture, edit, and share notes and lists across all your devices. Organize with labels and colors, and set time or location-based reminders. Collaborate with others in real-time for shared tasks.

Highlights
  • Capture notes, lists, photos, and audio
  • Organize with labels and colors
  • Set time and location-based reminders
  • Collaborate on notes and lists
  • Transcribe voice memos
  • Extract text from images
Currently charting
Read full description

• Capture, edit, share, and collaborate on your notes on any device, anywhere. • Add notes, lists, photos, and audio to Keep. • Organize your notes with labels and colors. • Set and forget. Get reminded about a note at the right time or place. • Record a voice memo and have it automatically transcribed. • Grab the text from an image to help you quickly find that note again through search. WHEN AND WHERE YOU NEED IT Need to remember to pick up some groceries? Set a location-based reminder to pull up your grocery list right when you get to the store. Need to finish a to-do? Set a time-based reminder to make sure you never miss a thing. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS Next time you go to the store, share your shopping list on Keep and watch as items get checked off in real time. No need for text messages back and forth. Get things done together, faster. FIND WHAT YOU NEED, FAST Quickly filter and search for notes by color and other attributes like lists with the label “To-dos”, audio notes with reminders or just see shared notes. Find what you're looking for even faster, and let Keep do the remembering for you. ALWAYS WITHIN REACH Keep works on your phone, tablet and computer. Everything you add to Keep syncs across your devices so your important stuff is always with you. Try Google Keep on the web at http://keep.google.com and find it in the Chrome Web Store at http://g.co/keepinchrome.

Screenshots

Notepad4 screens
Google Keep4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Notepad at 84% against Google Keep's 42%. Notepad also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6). Google Keep's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7) and ads (none vs shown). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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. Notepad sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Google Keep asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Notepad holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 28K and 29K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 84% of Notepad's written reviews are positive against 42% of Google Keep's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notepad ships an update every 8 days, Google Keep every 6 days. Both last shipped on October 13, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Notepad versus Google Keep: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotepadGoogle Keep
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (28K ratings) — better4.6 (29K ratings)
Positive reviews84.3% of reviews — better42.3% of reviews
Number of ratings28K29K — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysEvery 6 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank—#71 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.018.0
Further details — not scored
Size75 MB212 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer1381802 Ontario Inc.Google

Customer experience

Notepad

All ratings28,397 ratings
Positive96.6%
Neutral1.8%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews972 reviews
Positive84.3%
Neutral4.4%
Negative11.3%

Google Keep

All ratings29,001 ratings
Positive89.3%
Neutral3.6%
Negative7.1%
Written reviews1,244 reviews
Positive42.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative41.0%

User reviews

Notepad

From 28K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 📝 Useful for notes, lists, and reminders
  • 🎨 Customizable font and color options
  • 💾 Reliable for storing important information
  • 🔍 Helpful search functionality

Room to improve

  • 💰 Premium subscription required to remove ads
  • 🐛 Occasional data loss or note disappearance
  • 📤 Lack of sharing or exporting options
  • 🔒 No password protection for individual notes

Google Keep

From 29K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Lean and efficient
  • 👍 Minimalistic and easy to use
  • 🤝 Good for collaboration
  • 💡 Useful for note-taking and lists

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and crashes frequently
  • 🔄 Sync issues and data loss
  • 🕰️ Slow performance and lag
  • 📱 Limited functionality on mobile
  • 🔒 Lack of security features

Bugs and requests

Notepad

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Notes randomly disappearing
  • Ads covering up the note-taking area

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add drawing/highlighting tools
  • Integrate with calendar and contacts
  • Ability to sort and organize notes
  • Option to password protect specific notes

Google Keep

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes randomly duplicating or disappearing
  • Checkboxes not working as expected
  • Keyboard issues and text input problems
  • Refresh failures and connectivity problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for widgets
  • Improve text formatting options
  • Introduce folder/category organization
  • Enable password protection for notes
  • Enhance search and sorting capabilities

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Notepad

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Premium Membership$1.991 Month
  • Monthly Premium Subscription$2.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium Subscription$14.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yearly Premium Subscription$17.991 Year
One-time3
  • Lifetime Premium Membership$19.99
  • Lifetime Premium Membership$29.99
  • Lifetime Premium Membership$39.99
None

Google Keep

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Notepad free?
Notepad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Google Keep free?
Google Keep is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Notepad or Google Keep?
Notepad is rated higher. Notepad averages 4.8 out of 5 from 28K ratings, while Google Keep averages 4.6 from 29K ratings.
Do Notepad or Google Keep have ads?
Notepad shows ads; Google Keep does not.
Which is updated more often, Notepad or Google Keep?
Notepad ships an update every 8 days, and Google Keep every 6 days. Most recently, Notepad was updated on October 13, 2026 and Google Keep on October 13, 2026.

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