Comparison

Notepad vs NoteSam

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

NoteSam

Features
Read full description

NoteSam — Handwritten Notes for iPad Built by a mathematician who needed a handwriting notebook that actually kept up with the Apple Pencil. Couldn't find one. Wrote it. Private by design. Your notes live on your device. Sync goes only where you point it — iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV, S3, SFTP. No third-party tracking SDKs, no ad networks, no behavioral profiling. WRITING • Native PencilKit engine tuned for low-latency Apple Pencil • Vector strokes — infinite zoom, no pixelation • Pressure + tilt sensitivity • Palm rejection that just works READING & ANNOTATION • PDF import — annotate textbooks, contracts, lecture notes • EPUB reader with text-anchored highlights that survive font-size changes • Voice memos attached to the page ORGANIZATION • Unlimited folders and notebooks • Template marketplace — grid, dot, music, planner, more • OCR search across handwritten notes PRIVACY End-to-end encryption (AES-256-GCM + Argon2id). Your cloud provider sees ciphertext only. Product analytics is limited to anonymous conversion events (sign-up, purchase). Your handwriting, your PDFs, your voice memos — those never leave your device unless you sync them yourself. OFFLINE-FIRST Everything works without a network connection. Sync is additive. Free tier: unlimited notebooks, PDF + EPUB import, all core drawing tools. Pro unlocks the template marketplace and multi-provider sync. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Custom Terms: https://notesam.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://notesam.app/privacy

Screenshots

Notepad4 screens
NoteSam3 screens

Verdict

The call

Notepad and NoteSam are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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 and NoteSam sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notepad ships an update every 8 days, NoteSam every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Notepad versus NoteSam: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotepadNoteSam
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (28K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews84.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings28K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysEvery 5 days — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size75 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer1381802 Ontario Inc.Cryptosam LLC

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

NoteSam

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
2 purchases

NoteSam

Subscriptions2
  • NoteSam Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • NoteSam Pro Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Notepad free?
Notepad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is NoteSam free?
NoteSam is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Notepad or NoteSam have ads?
Both Notepad and NoteSam show ads.
Which is updated more often, Notepad or NoteSam?
Notepad ships an update every 8 days, and NoteSam every 5 days. Most recently, Notepad was updated on October 2, 2026 and NoteSam on September 10, 2026.

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