Papers by ReadCube vs SciNote
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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ReadCube is the simplest way to read, manage and discover research literature. ReadCube on your iPhone and iPad are the perfect companions to the ReadCube web and 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 ReadCube 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 ReadCube 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 ReadCube desktop and web apps or your other mobile devices Simplify your research life – try ReadCube for free on your iPhone, iPad, and computer. We love feedback from our users - please email support@readcube.com with any suggestions or issues. Thanks for using ReadCube!
SciNote
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SciNote electronic lab notebook, a leading ELN solution trusted by FDA, NIH, USDA and over 90+k scientists across the globe, now offers a mobile app as well! With the SciNote mobile app, you can say goodbye to printing out your protocols on paper. Organize your data in SciNote, and take it to the lab bench on your smartphone or tablet to level up your note-taking. Access your planned tasks in the SciNote mobile app on your smartphone or tablet. You can find your recent tasks on the home page, or browse through all the tasks accessible to you on the Tasks page. Use different filters to narrow down the list of tasks by project, experiment, and task status. You can also use the search function to find the task you want to work on. Monitor the progress directly in the app by completing the protocol steps on the fly. Step attachments can be downloaded and opened on your device. You can also add comments to protocol steps or read those added by others. Open the task details, notes, and protocol description when needed. Find a list of assigned items to prepare all of the needed materials for your laboratory experiment. Spend less time writing your notes and recording results. Simply create text results and attach images or other files to the task results directly in the app. With this, you avoid copying your hand-written notes into your computer at the end of your work day. All the updates you do in the mobile app will be reflected in your web account right away. When you’re done with your work, easily update the task status right in the app. You can use the same app for accessing all SciNote teams you are part of. Switch between different SciNote teams on the Account page. You must have an active SciNote account to use the SciNote mobile app. The actions made in the mobile app are reflected on your web account only if the device is connected to the internet. Without an internet connection, the actions are not performed and recorded. This is a beta version of the SciNote mobile app; the app is available to all Premium and Free users. The app is not yet available for Platinum and locally hosted customers. Please contact your Customer Success Manager for more information. Your feedback is very valuable and highly appreciated. You can submit your feedback through this email address support@scinote.net or to your Customer Success Manager. Terms of Service: https://www.scinote.net/legal/terms-of-service/ Privacy policy: https://www.scinote.net/legal/users-privacy-policy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Papers by ReadCube at every 2 months against SciNote's every 4 months. SciNote's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Papers by ReadCube ships an update every 2 months, SciNote every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Papers by ReadCube | SciNote |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (555 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 41.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 555 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Digital Science & Research Solutions Inc. | Scinote LLC |
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
SciNote
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Papers by ReadCube
No in-app purchases
SciNote
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Papers by ReadCube free?
Is SciNote free?
Do Papers by ReadCube or SciNote have ads?
Which is updated more often, Papers by ReadCube or SciNote?
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