# LiquidText vs Zotero

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Zotero at none against LiquidText's 13. Zotero also leads on review sentiment (78% vs 50%). LiquidText's advantage is ratings volume (6.4K vs 435). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for LiquidText against 4.6 for Zotero. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LiquidText has 6.4K ratings behind it against 435, 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 78% of Zotero's.

LiquidText ships an update every 2 weeks, Zotero every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | LiquidText | Zotero |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.6 (6.4K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/liquidtext/id922765270/reviews) | **[4.6 (435 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zotero/id1513554812/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **6.4K** | 435 |
| Positive reviews | 49.6% of reviews | **77.9% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 2 weeks** | Every 3 weeks |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | **Free** |
| Size | 317 MB | 237 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | **16.6** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [LiquidText, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/922765269) | [Zotero](https://appshunter.io/developer/1513554811) |

## 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


### Zotero

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zotero/id1513554812)

This research tool helps you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share your academic and professional work. Save articles, books, and webpages, add notes and highlights, and generate bibliographies in thousands of styles. Collaborate with others and sync your library across devices.

**Highlights:** Collect research from various sources, Organize with collections and tags, Annotate PDFs and webpages, Generate citations and bibliographies, Collaborate in group libraries, Sync across devices

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Simple and powerful
- 🚀 Convenient and useful
- 🚀 Seamless syncing across devices
- 🚀 Excellent reference management
- 👍 Great annotation and PDF reading experience

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes frequently
- 🐛 Syncing issues with WebDAV
- 🐛 Metadata not automatically extracted from PDFs
- 🐛 Annotation tools could be improved
- 🐛 Limited sorting and filtering options

**Reported bugs**

- Unable to unzip PDF snapshots
- Annotations disappearing or moving unexpectedly
- Dark mode not working as expected
- Inability to add citations directly from the app

**Requested features**

- Eraser tool for annotations
- More color options for pen and highlighter
- Ability to open PDFs in external apps
- Bookmarking and table of contents support
- Improved search functionality


## Frequently asked questions

### Is LiquidText free?

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

### Is Zotero free?

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

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

Zotero is rated higher. LiquidText averages 4.6 out of 5 from 6.4K ratings, while Zotero averages 4.6 from 435 ratings.

### Do LiquidText or Zotero have ads?

Neither LiquidText nor Zotero shows ads.

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

LiquidText ships an update every 2 weeks, and Zotero every 3 weeks. Most recently, LiquidText was updated on October 31, 2026 and Zotero on October 29, 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.*