Comparison

Papers by ReadCube vs Divide & De

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

Head to head
About

Papers by ReadCube

Manage, read, and discover research literature on your mobile devices. Annotate PDFs, organize your library with custom lists and tags, and receive personalized recommendations for new papers. Syncs seamlessly with desktop and web applications.

Highlights
  • Read and manage research papers
  • Annotate PDFs with notes and highlights
  • Organize library with custom lists and tags
  • Discover new research with personalized recommendations
  • Search and download articles
  • Sync across devices
Features
Read full description

Papers by ReadCube is the simplest way to read, manage and discover research literature. Papers on your iPhone and iPad are the perfect companions to the Papers desktop software, enabling you to access your papers anywhere – read on the go, organize your library, and annotate PDFs with notes and highlights. Enhanced PDF: • Tap-able inline citations, reference lists, and author names so you can quickly find cited articles and related information • Supplements are automatically attached where available • Fullscreen or double-page PDF viewing plus multi-touch zoom/navigation for an optimal reading experience • Multi-color highlighting and note taking tools Easily find new papers: • Search the Papers databases within the app • Quickly download new articles with a single tap when you’re on campus or with your institutional proxy • Import directly from Safari, email attachments, and other apps • In your preferred browser, use any search engine to find article PDFs • Use the “Open In…” option from the browser or any app to add PDFs to your Papers library • Metadata is automatically resolved - no more guessing with cryptic file names Personalized Recommendations: • Discover relevant new papers based on your library or lists – you’ll never miss another important paper again! Stay organized: • Create custom lists and sort articles into one or multiple lists • Quickly search your entire library (and all annotations) • Add any number of #tags to further customize your library organization • Sync everything – papers, notes, highlights – between the Papers desktop and web apps or your other mobile devices Simplify your research life – try Papers for free on your iPhone, iPad, and computer. We love feedback from our users - please email support@papersapp.com with any suggestions or issues. Thanks for using Papers!

About

Divide & De

Manage ongoing projects with flexible reminders and a dynamic progress tracker. This app helps visualize the impact of procrastination and rewards early completion by adjusting daily tasks.

Highlights
  • Flexible task division
  • Adaptive daily goals
  • Progress visualization
  • Customizable units
  • Due date tracking
  • Procrastination impact display
Features
Read full description

Divide & De-Stress is a simple and flexible task management app for projects that need a little effort on a regular basis. Ideal for students managing long-term assignments, or avid readers trying to hit a monthly goal. The amount to get done is divided by the frequency of your reminders, which range from daily to weekly. The progress bar on the project screen will automatically update whenever you edit the current unit. The beauty of this system is that the work you do per day can vary, but you’ll be able to stay on track by keeping your project updated. If you do less for a while, or skip a few days, the amount you have to do per day (or every three days, or per week) will go up. If you do some extra for a few days, the amount you have to do per day will go down. You get to really see how putting things off or procrastinating builds up, and feel the reward of getting things done early. The app comes with the units ‘pages’, ‘words’ and ‘chapters’, but if you plan to track watching every season of Star Trek, you might want to add 'episodes'. Maybe you have plans to expand your cooking repertoire, and want to try out 60 new recipes in the next three months. As long as you have a due date and some type of unit, you can set whatever goal you like.

Screenshots

Papers by ReadCube4 screens
Divide & De4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Divide & De at 100% against Papers by ReadCube's 41%. Divide & De also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.7). Papers by ReadCube's advantage is price (Free vs $0.99) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 19 months). On ads, in-app purchases, 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

Papers by ReadCube is free to download; Divide & De costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Divide & De holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Papers by ReadCube has 551 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 41% of Papers by ReadCube's written reviews are positive against 100% of Divide & De's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Papers by ReadCube ships an update every 2 months, Divide & De every 19 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Papers by ReadCube versus Divide & De: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPapers by ReadCubeDivide & De
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating3.7 (551 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews41.2% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings551 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 19 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size77 MB44 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperDigital Science & Research Solutions Inc.Budding Apps LLC

Customer experience

Papers by ReadCube

All ratings548 ratings
Positive66.6%
Neutral10.0%
Negative23.4%
Written reviews182 reviews
Positive41.2%
Neutral18.1%
Negative40.7%

Divide & De

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Papers by ReadCube

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Frequent app crashes and freezes
  • Sync issues causing data loss and duplication
  • Unreliable PDF downloads and access
  • Inconsistent behavior of annotation tools
  • Compatibility problems with newer devices and OS versions

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add eraser tool for handwritten annotations
  • Improve PDF viewing and navigation experience
  • Implement better organization and folder management
  • Integrate citation and bibliography tools
  • Provide more customization options

Divide & De

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Papers by ReadCube

No in-app purchases

None

Divide & De

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Papers by ReadCube free?
Papers by ReadCube is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Divide & De free?
Divide & De costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Papers by ReadCube or Divide & De?
Divide & De is rated higher. Papers by ReadCube averages 3.7 out of 5 from 551 ratings, while Divide & De averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Papers by ReadCube or Divide & De have ads?
Neither Papers by ReadCube nor Divide & De shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Papers by ReadCube or Divide & De?
Papers by ReadCube ships an update every 2 months, and Divide & De every 19 months. Most recently, Papers by ReadCube was updated on September 25, 2026 and Divide & De on September 21, 2026.

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