# eLABJournal vs Paperpile

The clearest difference is rating: eLABJournal at 5.0 against Paperpile's 4.5. Paperpile's advantage is ratings volume (131 vs 8). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

eLABJournal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paperpile has 131 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | eLABJournal | Paperpile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[5.0 (8 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/elabjournal/id932410151/reviews)** | [4.5 (131 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | 8 | **131** |
| Positive reviews | — | 71.6% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 27 MB | 242 MB |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | **12.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Bio-ITech BV](https://appshunter.io/developer/488109285) | [Paperpile LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1187562735) |

## What reviewers say

### eLABJournal

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/elabjournal/id932410151)

Digitize your research with this electronic lab notebook. Browse your lab notebook, scan sample barcodes, view protocols, and manage equipment bookings. Secure your account with two-step verification and receive important notifications.

**Highlights:** Browse lab notebook, Scan sample barcodes, View protocols, Manage equipment bookings, Take notes and pictures, Two-step account verification, Receive stock and experiment notifications

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


### 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 eLABJournal free?

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

### Is Paperpile free?

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

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

eLABJournal is rated higher. eLABJournal averages 5.0 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Paperpile averages 4.5 from 131 ratings.

### Do eLABJournal or Paperpile have ads?

Neither eLABJournal nor Paperpile shows ads.

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

eLABJournal ships an update every 2 months, and Paperpile every 2 months. Most recently, eLABJournal was updated on October 6, 2026 and Paperpile on October 23, 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.*