Comparison

Nextcloud Notes vs Paperless Less Paper

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

Head to head
About

Nextcloud Notes

This app allows you to create, edit, and organize notes on your mobile device. It syncs seamlessly with a Nextcloud server, ensuring your notes are accessible across all your devices and the web interface. Supports plain text and markdown formatting for versatile note-taking.

Highlights
  • Syncs with Nextcloud server
  • Create and delete notes
  • Organize notes in categories
  • Plain text editing
  • Markdown formatting
  • Export notes
Features
Read full description

Note: Access to a Nextcloud server with the Notes app installed is required to use this app. Visit https://nextcloud.com for more information. Nextcloud Notes is a notes editor that syncs with the Notes app (https://github.com/nextcloud/notes/releases) on your server. Once you have logged in to your server, all notes will be kept in sync between devices and also the web interface. Optionally supports sync on startup. You can create and delete notes directly on the device. Notes can be organized in categories. Edit as plain text or use markdown for rich formatting. Notes can be copied or exported to other apps or services in several formats. If you have a sync client (optional) installed on your desktop computer all notes will be there too, and can be edited with any text editor.

About

Paperless Less Paper

This app provides a native mobile interface for paperless-ngx, allowing users to manage their documents on the go. It offers full search and filtering capabilities, document editing, and management of various metadata like tags and correspondents.

Highlights
  • Connect to multiple servers
  • Full search and filter
  • Edit documents
  • Manage correspondents, types, views, and tags
  • Import documents
  • Supports password-protected documents
Read full description

Less Paper is a native iOS client for paperless-ngx 3.x and earlier, the self-hosted document archive. It talks directly to your own server, and to nothing else. FIND ANYTHING The complete filter set from the web interface, custom fields included: title and content, correspondent, document type, storage path, tags, dates and ASN. Save any filter as a view, then create, edit and reorder your saved views without leaving the app. EDIT WHERE YOU ARE READING Fix a title, reassign a correspondent, add tags, notes or custom field values from the document itself. Select several documents and change them together, merge them, or delete them in one go. READ IT WITH NO SERVER IN REACH Save a document offline and it is kept on the device in full — the PDF, its notes, metadata and custom fields. The Offline tab reads those stored copies, so it works on a plane, in a basement, or anywhere your server is not. Pull to refresh and only the documents that actually changed are fetched again. GET DOCUMENTS IN Send anything on your device to paperless-ngx from the share sheet. Password-protected PDFs are unlocked on import, and the password is kept in the keychain so the next document from the same source opens without asking. The inbox then says what became of each one: File Tasks lists every import — which finished, which are still running, and which failed and why — and a failure can be dismissed once you have dealt with it. BUILT FOR REAL SETUPS Connect as many servers as you like and switch between them. Sign in with a password, or with the single sign-on provider your server is configured with. Client certificates, custom HTTP headers and reverse proxies such as Authelia are all supported. A restricted account works too: the app follows your user's permissions and simply does not show what you may not do. When something does go wrong, a local error log — with anything credential-shaped redacted out of it — is there to read and share, and nothing leaves the device unless you send it. KEEP THE ARCHIVE TIDY Create, rename and delete tags, correspondents, document types and storage paths, and set ownership and permissions on any document. Restore anything you deleted from the trash, or empty it for good. Works with every paperless-ngx from 2.15.3 to 3.x. Universal: iPhone and iPad — on iPad the document opens in a column beside the list rather than covering it. Less Paper is open source. Issues and feature requests are welcome at https://github.com/plu/less-paper

Screenshots

Nextcloud Notes4 screens
Paperless Less Paper4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Paperless Less Paper at 88% against Nextcloud Notes's 27%. Paperless Less Paper also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.2) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). Nextcloud Notes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (93 vs 18). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Paperless Less Paper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Nextcloud Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Paperless Less Paper holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nextcloud Notes has 93 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 27% of Nextcloud Notes's written reviews are positive against 88% of Paperless Less Paper's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Nextcloud Notes ships an update every 2 months, Paperless Less Paper weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Nextcloud Notes versus Paperless Less Paper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNextcloud NotesPaperless Less Paper
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.2 (93 ratings)4.9 (18 ratings) — better
Positive reviews27.3% of reviews87.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings93 — better18
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB41 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNextcloud GmbHJohannes Plunien

Customer experience

Nextcloud Notes

All ratings93 ratings
Positive26.9%
Neutral5.4%
Negative67.7%
Written reviews231 reviews
Positive27.3%
Neutral9.1%
Negative63.6%

Paperless Less Paper

All ratings18 ratings
Positive94.4%
Neutral5.6%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Nextcloud Notes

Reported bugs

19 issues
  • Notes randomly appear empty and lose content
  • Empty files being saved to server
  • Login resets to default server address
  • 404 errors when getting settings
  • Sync fails with large note collections
Show 14 more
  • Navigation menu disappears after editing
  • Keyboard covers input area
  • Search field disappears after closing notes
  • Cursor jumps to top of note while typing
  • App disconnects during editing
  • Session timeout errors with non-dismissible dialogs
  • Conflict resolution interface unreadable
  • Cannot switch between markdown and preview modes
  • Notes don't upload from mobile to server
  • Inconsistent note naming behavior
  • App overwrites server files without checking versions
  • Login fails with self-hosted servers
  • App password authentication not supported
  • Slow text input with 100ms delay per character

Requested features

17 requests
  • Text formatting options (bold, underline, italics)
  • File and image attachment support
  • Note categorization and organization
  • Pin important notes to top
  • Ability to rename notes easily
Show 12 more
  • Offline mode with local caching
  • Multi-account/profile switching
  • Real-time collaborative editing
  • Undo/redo functionality
  • App-specific password support
  • End-to-end encryption support
  • Checkbox functionality in reading mode
  • Share to Notes from other apps
  • App lock with biometric authentication
  • Direct note opening to preview page
  • Remember app state on restart
  • Mac app availability

Paperless Less Paper

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Nextcloud Notes

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Paperless Less Paper

One-time1
  • PRO User$3.99

Questions

Is Nextcloud Notes free?
Nextcloud Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Paperless Less Paper free?
Paperless Less Paper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Nextcloud Notes or Paperless Less Paper?
Paperless Less Paper is rated higher. Nextcloud Notes averages 2.2 out of 5 from 93 ratings, while Paperless Less Paper averages 4.9 from 18 ratings.
Do Nextcloud Notes or Paperless Less Paper have ads?
Neither Nextcloud Notes nor Paperless Less Paper shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Nextcloud Notes or Paperless Less Paper?
Nextcloud Notes ships an update every 2 months, and Paperless Less Paper weekly. Most recently, Nextcloud Notes was updated on September 26, 2026 and Paperless Less Paper on September 28, 2026.

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