LiquidText vs MarginNote 3
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
LiquidText
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.
- 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
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*** Named “Most Innovative iPad App of the Year” by Apple App Store *** LiquidText offers a fast, natural way to review, gather, and organize information across all your documents and webpages—then apply the results to writing reports, meeting prep, or simply studying. Pull out key facts and connect them together, squeeze a document to compare sections, draw a line to connect ideas in different documents, comment on multiple pages at once, build upon your thoughts, and much more. ► WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: * "If you want to experience the power of going beyond paper, you can download LiquidText" – Cult of Mac * One of Macworld’s Top 24 Apps for iPad Pro * One of Time Magazine's Ten Best apps for iPad Pro * * "There's a better way to organize your research, and the app is it." – iMore, Serenity Caldwell * “All you need for deep research projects.” – Macworld, Jackie Dove * "The world changed with...LiquidText" – Law360, Paul Kiesel * "LiquidText may just be *the* app for reviewing and annotating PDFs using Apple's tablet and stylus." – CIO Magazine, James Martin * “One of the most powerful, original iPad apps I've tried in years” – Federico Viticci, MacStories.net ► LIQUIDTEXT’S COMPLETE FEATURE SET INCLUDES: (Features with * require a paid upgrade.) Import • Create a workspace and import all the documents and web pages you need • Compatible with PDF, Word, and PowerPoint document types • Import from Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Box, email, and more • Import content from webpage or send to LiquidText directly from Safari • Instant OCR to select text in scanned documents; do a full document-OCR to search as well!* • Import documents & metadata directly from reference managers (supports Zotero and Mendeley)* Interact • Pull excerpts from all the documents in your project into the Workspace area • Add your own notes (typed or written) to the Workspace area • Freely draw on your notes, or on the workspace itself* • Organize excerpts and notes into groups • Connect anything - draw live “ink links” that span pages, documents, notes, and more* • Create mind-maps by drawing “ink links” connecting your excerpts/notes to one another * • Get context - tap notes and excerpts to find original source Compare • Pinch a document to compare different distant pages side by side • Collapse text to see annotated parts side-by-side • Collapse text to view search results(s) side-by-side • Import unlimited number of documents into a project, view up to 3 at once* Annotate • Freely draw* or highlight on your document, notes, or the workspace itself • Add margin notes/comments to text, images, notes, and excerpts • Comment on two or more selections simultaneously • Replace document with a newer version (and annotations are brought to new doc)* Search • Search for keywords across all your LiquidText documents • Find keywords in title or text of your documents* • Bulk highlight, tag, or link to your search results* Realtime Collaboration • Invite colleagues into your shared projects and work together in near realtime* • Leave comments and notifications for your collaborators* • Privacy controls: set whether each workspace & document in your project is shared or private* Easy Export • Export your project as a PDF (includes your Workspace and documents) • Export your project as a Word file (converts your notes/excerpts into a linear document) • Send a full LiquidText file for those with the app. • Send files by email or to Dropbox, iCloud Drive, Zotero, and more* Sync & Backup* • Real-time, cross-platform sync • Continuous cloud backup • Multi-device display: • Use your desktop or tablet as additional display for your other device • Use your tablet for freehand inking while viewing and keyboarding on your desktop See our terms of use at https://www.liquidtext.net/terms-of-use Learn more at LiquidText.net | Better Than Paper
MarginNote 3
This app redefines studying by integrating e-reading with powerful annotation, mind mapping, and flashcard tools. Organize knowledge, connect ideas with hashtags, and enhance memory retention through spaced repetition. It offers a seamless workflow across multiple documents and devices.
- Integrated PDF/EPUB reader
- Advanced annotation tools
- Mind mapping and outline organization
- Flashcard creation and Anki export
- Multi-document support
- Handwriting and Apple Pencil support
- OCR for scanned PDFs
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MarginNote 3, all brand new e-reader to better study and digest your books Integrating powerful tools for book annotation, mindmapping, flashcards and more, to build up your reading notes as never before. ============================================ Welcome to MarginNote. This is a highly powerful reading and study software and is applicable to Mac, iPad, and iPhone. By integrating the PDF/EPUB reader and multiple powerful study tools, MarginNote will enable learners to reorganize and connect knowledge from different aspects, then memorize and grasp it accordingly. Whatever your profession, such as student, educator, researcher, lawyer, or life-long learner, you may annotate and take notes through MarginNote, organize notes via Mindmap and Outline, connect knowledge horizontally via Hashtag and raise memory effect via the Flashcards. You will discover what MarginNote does is not to simply integrate these tools. Instead, it combines them deeply and skillfully, which makes it easier for users to toggle between different tools. What's New in MarginNote 3 * New and Clean UI Completely redesigned. * Improved performance and Running more smoothly * Support both Document Reading mode & Study Reading mode. * Excerpts & Note-taking * Enhanced Handwriting & apple-pencil support. * Support TextBox on PDF. * Support direct text-typing & sketching when editing note cards. * Support Auto OCR when excerpting on scanned PDFs. * Emphasis & Cloze * Support direct emphasis in powerful Emphasis mode both on PDF or Outline. * Support auto convert emphasis to Cloze in CardDeck. * Support creating Image-Occlusion flashcards. * Multi-Documents * Support both document tabs & split views to switch between documents. * MindMap * Auto grouping new excerpts by Document Table of Contents. * Support new brach display mode: Framework. * Swipe/Drag gestures to slide in/out Outline & Documents in Study mode. * Enhanced grouped cut/paste, drag to merge,.. etc. * Outline * Improved search and displaying keywords in results. * Improved styles. * CardDeck: * View Flashcards in MindMap mode and Document mode. * Enhanced Anki Export: Card styles, Image occlusions, Cloze * Enhanced Research web browser. * iCloud Sync * Fixed several design issue in previous versions. * More stable & improved performance. * Categories * Separate categories for Document, Study and Review. * Trash * Recover data from Trash and make data more safe. * Trial * 14-days free trial. MarginNote 2 features: Reading: - Support PDF and EPUB format; Annotating and NoteTaking: - Support text highlight and rectangular highlight; - Add notes directly at the page margin; the note editing area will not overlap with the book content at all; - Text, voice, picture, sketching and many other forms of comments in note; - Add hashtags to notes to facilitate the connection of notes; Outline and Mindmap: - Outline and Mindmap in one view; - Create Outline tree by swipe gestures; - Multi-selection editing such as group, merge, clone, etc; - Quick searching and filtering according to colors, hashtags, books. Flashcard: - Highlights and notes can be automatically turned into flashcards for review; - Spaced repetition adopting the Anki-based algorithm; - Switch to the linking book page at any time; iPad Pro & Apple pencil: - Split View of multiple tasks; - High-precision drawing by Apple pencil; - Fine tuned for Apple pencil; - Keyboard shortcuts; Import, Export and Sync: - Import webpages and notes from Evernote; - Export flashcards to Anki; - Export Outline to OmniOutliner; - Export Mindmap to iThoughts or MindManager; - Export to Evernote; - Export all the margin notes, MindManager, Outline and Pages to a printable PDF; - Sync books & notes with iCloud; Terms of Use: https://www.marginnote.com/press/marginnote-3-term-of-use Privacy Policy: https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/92678020
Screenshots
Verdict
LiquidText and MarginNote 3 both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 75% of MarginNote 3's written reviews are positive against 50% of LiquidText's. MarginNote 3 also leads on iOS requirement (11.2 vs 17.6). LiquidText's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. LiquidText sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $5.49 per month and MarginNote 3 sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for LiquidText against 4.7 for MarginNote 3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6.4K and 5K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of LiquidText's written reviews are positive against 75% of MarginNote 3's.
LiquidText ships an update every 2 weeks, MarginNote 3 every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | LiquidText | MarginNote 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (6.4K ratings) | 4.7 (5K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 49.6% of reviews | 74.6% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6.4K — better | 5K |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 11.2 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 317 MB | 392 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | LiquidText, Inc. | Beijing Yunsi Software Technology Co., Ltd |
Customer experience
LiquidText
MarginNote 3
User reviews
LiquidText
From 6.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 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
Room to improve
- 💰 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
MarginNote 3
From 5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Powerful and efficient for studying and research
- 👍 Excellent mind mapping and note-taking features
- 💡 Unique and innovative functionality like video annotation
- 🚀 Handles large volumes of documents and notes well
- 👍 Useful for organizing and synthesizing information from multiple sources
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
- 👎 Steep learning curve and lack of comprehensive documentation
- 👎 Unreliable cloud syncing between devices
- 👎 Cluttered and unintuitive user interface in some areas
- 🐛 Bugs and glitches with certain features like handwriting and OCR
Bugs and requests
LiquidText
Reported bugs
5 issues- 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
5 requests- 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
MarginNote 3
Reported bugs
5 issues- Syncing issues causing data loss across devices
- Crashes and freezes when working with large documents
- Inconsistent behavior with highlighting, erasing, and text formatting
- OCR not functioning reliably for non-Latin scripts
- Difficulty managing and organizing large document libraries
Requested features
5 requests- Improved export options and ability to share projects
- Better integration with other productivity apps like Anki
- More customization options for mind maps and annotations
- Smoother handwriting experience and better palm rejection
- Support for more file formats like PowerPoint
In-app purchases
LiquidText
- LiquidText Live, Monthly, Stu7 Days trial$5.491 Month
- LiquidText Live, Monthly, StPr7 Days trial$5.491 Month
- LiquidText Unlimited, Mo, Stu7 Days trial$10.901 Month
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- LiquidText Live, Monthly7 Days trial$10.901 Month
- LiquidText Live, Monthly, Upg7 Days trial$10.901 Month
- LiquidText Unlimited, Yr, Stu7 Days trial$19.001 Month
- LiquidText Live, Yearly, Stu7 Days trial$54.901 Year
- LiquidText Live, Yearly7 Days trial$99.991 Year
- LiquidText Live, Yearly, Upg7 Days trial$99.991 Year
- LiquidText Unlimited, Yr7 Days trial$189.991 Year
- LT Pro - For Students$19.99
- LiquidText Pro$29.99
- LiquidText Pro II$89.99
MarginNote 3
- OCR Pro (Monthly)3 Days trial$0.991 Month
- OCR Pro (Annually)3 Days trial$9.491 Year
- 14 days Free TrialFree
- Unlock Full$12.99
- Upgrade to Full$12.99
Questions
Is LiquidText free?
Is MarginNote 3 free?
Which has better reviews, LiquidText or MarginNote 3?
Do LiquidText or MarginNote 3 have ads?
Which is updated more often, LiquidText or MarginNote 3?
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