# BaseSpace vs Paperpile

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Paperpile at 72% against BaseSpace's 25%. Paperpile also leads on rating (4.5 vs 2.7) and ratings volume (129 vs 12). BaseSpace's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 12.0). 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.

Paperpile holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Paperpile has 129 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 25% of BaseSpace's written reviews are positive against 72% of Paperpile's.

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | BaseSpace | Paperpile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [2.7 (12 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/basespace/id942794217/reviews) | **[4.5 (129 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/paperpile/id1187562736/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 12 | **129** |
| Positive reviews | 25.0% of 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 | 11 MB | 242 MB |
| Requires iOS | **8.0** | 12.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Illumina, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/414049987) | [Paperpile LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/1187562735) |

## What reviewers say

### BaseSpace

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/basespace/id942794217)

Monitor your sequencing Runs and Analyses from anywhere. Receive push notifications for completion and track the status of your projects with key metrics and charts.

**Highlights:** Real-time progress monitoring, Push notifications for completion, Status tracking for Runs and Analyses, View metrics and SAV charts, Detailed analysis status

**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 BaseSpace free?

BaseSpace 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, BaseSpace or Paperpile?

Paperpile is rated higher. BaseSpace averages 2.7 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while Paperpile averages 4.5 from 129 ratings.

### Do BaseSpace or Paperpile have ads?

Neither BaseSpace nor Paperpile shows ads.

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

BaseSpace ships an update every 2 months, and Paperpile every 2 months. Most recently, BaseSpace was updated on September 16, 2026 and Paperpile on September 21, 2026.

---

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