# Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing vs NoteBuddy

The clearest difference is rating: Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing at 4.3 against NoteBuddy's 3.3. Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing also leads on review sentiment (55% vs 22%) and ratings volume (51 vs 16). NoteBuddy's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and NoteBuddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 51 and 16 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing's written reviews are positive against 22% of NoteBuddy's.

Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing ships an update every 4 months, NoteBuddy every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing | NoteBuddy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.3 (51 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carbo-pencil-notes-and-drawing/id956811074/reviews)** | [3.3 (16 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notebuddy-your-notes-buddy/id1453991185/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **51** | 16 |
| Positive reviews | **54.8% of reviews** | 22.2% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | **Every 3 months** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 36 MB | 14 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | **12.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Creaceed SRL](https://appshunter.io/developer/291683889) | [Oleg Mueller](https://appshunter.io/developer/367875607) |

## What reviewers say

### Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/carbo-pencil-notes-and-drawing/id956811074)

Capture and organize handwritten notes and sketches digitally. This app preserves the expressiveness of your original drawings with innovative visualization technology. Tag, annotate, and store your creations in the cloud for easy retrieval and sharing.

**Highlights:** Hybrid visualization technology, Image-based input options, Natural sketching with Apple Pencil support, Editable notes and drawings, Tagging and annotation for search, Cloud storage integration, Customizable export styles

**Features:** Family Sharing

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pro Plan (Monthly) | $3.99 | per month |
| Pro Plan (Yearly) | $9.99 | per year |
| Pro Pack 2 | $23.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Great for sketching ideas
- 👍 Pleasantly surprised by subscription plan
- 👍 Laser-focused on B&W scanning
- 👍 Excellent for capturing notes
- 👍 Manipulate scans easily

**What reviewers complain about**

- 👎 Lacking features for daily use
- 👎 Difficult for diagrams and notes
- 👎 Rudimentary editing tools
- 👎 Lacks color
- 👎 Crippled by lack of export options

**Reported bugs**

- Keeps crashing on iPad
- Update bricks app (crashes on launch)
- Carbo keeps crashing
- Sync problem with Evernote
- Exporting pages (archiving) doesn't work

**Requested features**

- Adding colors
- More pencil sizes
- Ability to handle multi-page docs
- Viable export options (PDF, etc.)
- Ability to bundle pages into PDF


### NoteBuddy

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/notebuddy-your-notes-buddy/id1453991185)

This note-taking application offers a comprehensive suite of tools for organizing thoughts and ideas. It supports rich text formatting, image insertion, and freehand drawing. Features like folder organization and iCloud synchronization ensure your notes are accessible and secure.

**Highlights:** Rich text editing, Add images and drawings, Folder and subfolder support, iCloud synchronization, Backup feature, Apple Pencil support

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| NoteBuddy Pro | $2.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing free?

Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is NoteBuddy free?

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

### Which has better reviews, Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing or NoteBuddy?

Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing is rated higher. Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing averages 4.3 out of 5 from 51 ratings, while NoteBuddy averages 3.3 from 16 ratings.

### Do Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing or NoteBuddy have ads?

Neither Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing nor NoteBuddy shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing or NoteBuddy?

Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing ships an update every 4 months, and NoteBuddy every 3 months. Most recently, Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing was updated on October 20, 2026 and NoteBuddy on October 24, 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.*