Handwriting Memorandum vs Element Note
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Handwriting Memorandum
Easily capture your thoughts and ideas with a simple digital notebook. Draw sketches or jot down notes using your finger for quick and convenient input.
- Finger-based note-taking
- Simple sketching functionality
- Digital notebook
- Quick input
- Easy to use interface
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You can take notes or draw simple sketches with your fingers using this app.
Element Note
This app offers a distraction-free digital notebook experience with advanced handwriting, PDF annotation, and sketching capabilities. It features unique brushes, a powerful rendering engine, and smart organization tools. Sync your notes across devices and collaborate with others seamlessly.
- Unique handwriting brushes
- Smooth drawing engine
- PDF annotation
- Text, shape, and image attachments
- On-device OCR search
- Smart dark mode
- iCloud sync and collaboration
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Element Note is the next-gen note taking, PDF annotation, and light sketching app. We stripped down the unnecessaries and carefully polished the elemental functions for a digital notebook. With a modern look and powerful features, Element Note strives to provide an elegant writing space free of distractions. Features: Unique brushes - Pencil (HB Pencil, Mechanical Pencil) - Pen (Pen, Line Pen, Fountain Pen) - Brush (Art Brush, Round Brush) - Marker (Marker, Round Marker) Best-in-class note rendering engine - Smooth and fluid drawing powered by Metal technology - Support gradient ink for more expressive notes Powerful attachments - Text - Shape - Sticker - Image Universal Search - Search through your PDF & Handwritting using on device OCR Smart Darkmode - Smartly adapts all of your notes to the system darkmode without changing the paper or stroke colors. iCloud Sync & Collaboration - Sync via your personal iCloud (No data is passed to our server) - Collaborate through iCloud collaboration for up to 100 users. Desktop class organization - Intuitive multi-select drag and drop gesture to organize your notes or pages Element Note is free to try for up to 3 notes. Unlock the full app with an in app purchase to create unlimited notes. Terms and Conditions https://elementnote.app/terms Privacy Policy https://elementnote.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Handwriting Memorandum at none against Element Note's 5. Handwriting Memorandum also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). Element Note's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 12 months). On price, review sentiment 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. Element Note sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year. Handwriting Memorandum asks for nothing beyond the download.
Handwriting Memorandum holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Element Note has 2.6K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Handwriting Memorandum's written reviews are positive against 69% of Element Note's.
Handwriting Memorandum ships an update every 12 months, Element Note fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Handwriting Memorandum | Element Note |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | 4.6 (2.6K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 71.4% of reviews — better | 68.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 2.6K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 12 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 129 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Yuichi HARA | Soysauce Lab |
Customer experience
Handwriting Memorandum
Element Note
Bugs and requests
Handwriting Memorandum
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Element Note
Reported bugs
4 issues- Notes and files randomly disappearing
- Inconsistent behavior when using the floating keyboard
- Handwriting recognition not working as expected
- Exported PDFs losing formatting and background colors
Requested features
6 requests- Ruler tool
- Ability to resize/rotate selections
- Improved text editing and formatting
- Presentation mode for connecting to displays
- Ability to import/export multiple files at once
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- Seasonal or custom sticker packs
In-app purchases
Handwriting Memorandum
No in-app purchases
Element Note
- Element Note Yearly$3.491 Year
- Element Note Yearly$4.991 Year
- Lifetime Launch Special$4.99
- Lifetime$9.99
- Lifetime$14.99
Questions
Is Handwriting Memorandum free?
Is Element Note free?
Which has better reviews, Handwriting Memorandum or Element Note?
Do Handwriting Memorandum or Element Note have ads?
Which is updated more often, Handwriting Memorandum or Element Note?
Other comparisons
