# LiquidText vs Paperpile

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Paperpile at none against LiquidText's 13. Paperpile also leads on review sentiment (72% vs 50%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.6). LiquidText's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (6.4K vs 129). On price, rating, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. LiquidText sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $5.49 per month. Paperpile asks for nothing beyond the download.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for LiquidText against 4.5 for Paperpile. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LiquidText has 6.4K ratings behind it against 129, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of LiquidText's written reviews are positive against 72% of Paperpile's.

LiquidText ships an update every 2 weeks, Paperpile every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | LiquidText | Paperpile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.6 (6.4K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/liquidtext/id922765270/reviews)** | [4.5 (129 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **6.4K** | 129 |
| Positive reviews | 49.6% of reviews | **71.6% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 2 weeks** | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | **Free** |
| Size | 317 MB | 242 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | **12.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [LiquidText, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/922765269) | [Paperpile LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1187562735) |

## What reviewers say

### LiquidText

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/liquidtext/id922765270)

This app provides a dynamic workspace for reviewing and organizing information from documents and webpages. It allows users to extract key facts, connect ideas across different sources, and annotate content for research, writing, or study.

**Highlights:** Import documents and webpages, Extract and organize excerpts, Connect ideas with ink links, Compare document sections, Annotate PDFs, Word, and PowerPoint, Search across all documents

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (13)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| LiquidText Live, Monthly, Stu | $5.49 | per month |
| LiquidText Live, Monthly, StPr | $5.49 | per month |
| LiquidText Unlimited, Mo, Stu | $10.90 | per month |
| LiquidText Live, Monthly | $10.90 | per month |
| LiquidText Live, Monthly, Upg | $10.90 | per month |
| LiquidText Unlimited, Yr, Stu | $19.00 | per month |
| LiquidText Live, Yearly, Stu | $54.90 | per year |
| LiquidText Live, Yearly | $99.99 | per year |
| LiquidText Live, Yearly, Upg | $99.99 | per year |
| LiquidText Unlimited, Yr | $189.99 | per year |
| LT Pro - For Students | $19.99 | one-time |
| LiquidText Pro | $29.99 | one-time |
| LiquidText Pro II | $89.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Powerful annotation and organization features
- 📚 Excellent for academic and research work
- 💡 Innovative concept and workflow
- 🤖 Responsive and helpful customer support
- 🖼️ Smooth integration with Apple Pencil

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Expensive, especially for the subscription model
- 🐛 Buggy and unstable at times
- 🤯 Steep learning curve and unintuitive interface
- 🔗 Lack of seamless cross-device sync and integration
- 🔍 Navigation and file management issues

**Reported bugs**

- Frequent crashes and data loss issues
- Inconsistent behavior with Apple Pencil
- Text selection and highlighting problems
- Sync issues between iPad and Mac versions
- Unexpected changes to existing annotations

**Requested features**

- Dark mode option
- Improved palm rejection and writing experience
- Better export and sharing options
- Thumbnail/outline view for easier navigation
- Ability to rotate and resize text/image annotations


### Paperpile

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736)

Organize and manage your research papers effortlessly. Collect, read, and annotate PDFs from millions of academic journals. Beat paper chaos with a tidy digital library.

**Highlights:** Search millions of academic papers, Collect PDFs with one tap, Organize with folders and labels, Read and annotate PDFs, Highlight and add notes, Browser integration for saving

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Excellent reference library management
- 🔄 Seamless cross-device synchronization
- ✍️ Intuitive PDF annotation and highlighting
- 🎨 Clean and minimalist user interface
- 📱 Strong iPad and mobile integration

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and instability
- ⏱️ Lack of updates for extended periods
- 📱 Mobile app significantly behind web version features
- 🔋 High battery drain on iPad
- 🌙 No dark mode support

**Reported bugs**

- App crashes frequently on iPad and iOS devices
- Highlighting disappears when revisiting papers
- Overlapping annotations delete together when removing one
- Sync failures requiring logout/login cycles
- Annotations not syncing between iPad and web versions

**Requested features**

- Dark mode implementation
- Edit citation metadata on mobile app
- Change PDF file functionality
- Save to downloads feature
- Dictionary/lookup function for reading


## Frequently asked questions

### Is LiquidText free?

LiquidText is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Paperpile free?

Paperpile is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, LiquidText or Paperpile?

LiquidText is rated higher. LiquidText averages 4.6 out of 5 from 6.4K ratings, while Paperpile averages 4.5 from 129 ratings.

### Do LiquidText or Paperpile have ads?

Neither LiquidText nor Paperpile shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, LiquidText or Paperpile?

LiquidText ships an update every 2 weeks, and Paperpile every 2 months. Most recently, LiquidText was updated on October 17, 2026 and Paperpile on October 15, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*