Comparison

Notepad vs Q Notes

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

Q Notes

A lightweight note-taking application focused on core features for quick and simple note creation. Organize notes into groups and sync them seamlessly across devices using iCloud. Prioritizes user experience and data security.

Highlights
  • Quick note creation
  • Note grouping
  • iCloud data synchronization
  • Secure offline functionality
  • Optimized user interface
Features
Read full description

This is a very light note-taking app that only retains the most core features and hopes to make it the best. You can add notes very quickly, and quickly mark your notes. You can easily add groups and choose the appropriate group for your notes. We repeatedly optimize user interaction and UI design, hoping to provide you with a pleasant user experience. Our app is also very SECURE. It does not use any network data except iCloud, and does not collect any user information, you can close the wireless data, and it works well. Support iCloud data synchronization, synchronize your data. I hope you can give us feedback in time to help us do better. I wish you a happy use.

Screenshots

Notepad4 screens
Q Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Q Notes at none against Notepad's 7. Q Notes also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). Notepad's advantage is ratings volume (28K vs 27) and update cadence (every 8 days vs monthly). On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Q Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Notepad against 4.9 for Q Notes. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notepad has 28K ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 84% of Notepad's written reviews are positive against 80% of Q Notes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notepad ships an update every 8 days, Q Notes monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Notepad versus Q Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotepadQ Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (28K ratings)4.9 (27 ratings) — better
Positive reviews84.1% of reviews — better80.0% of reviews
Number of ratings28K — better27
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size100 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer1381802 Ontario Inc.朝 朱

Customer experience

Notepad

All ratings27,905 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.8%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews961 reviews
Positive84.1%
Neutral4.5%
Negative11.4%

Q Notes

All ratings27 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative10.0%

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

Q Notes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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

Q Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Notepad free?
Notepad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Q Notes free?
Q Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Notepad or Q Notes?
Q Notes is rated higher. Notepad averages 4.8 out of 5 from 28K ratings, while Q Notes averages 4.9 from 27 ratings.
Do Notepad or Q Notes have ads?
Notepad shows ads; Q Notes does not.
Which is updated more often, Notepad or Q Notes?
Notepad ships an update every 8 days, and Q Notes monthly. Most recently, Notepad was updated on September 25, 2026 and Q Notes on September 10, 2026.

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