Comparison

PDF Notes S vs BigPaper

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PDF Notes S

This app offers a dual-page PDF viewer with smooth scrolling and fast page turns. It also provides document management, quick previews of various file types, and annotation tools. An upgrade removes ads and unlocks full functionality.

Highlights
  • Dual-page PDF viewer
  • Horizontal/vertical scroll and page turns
  • Document browser for file organization
  • Quick Look for various file types
  • ZIP file preview without unzipping
  • 8 handwriting tools
  • Cache manager for fast page turns
Read full description

PDF Notes S gives you a 2 pages viewer with horizontal/vertical scroll, and cache for fast page turns, and thumbnails scrollbar. PDF Notes S gives you ZIP Preview, Quick Look of documents, images, music, videos, and etc. PDF Notes S gives you Document Browser so that you can organize all your files very easily. PDF Viewer - 1 page or 2 pages, horizontal or vertical fast page turns - Scroll or page turns by tap on sides - 8 handwriting tools that you can adjust color and line width - Horizontal or vertical thumbnails scrollbar - PDF outlines, bookmarks, and annotations list - PDF search - Cache manager supports 3 modes, permanent cache, automatic cache, and no cache Quick Look, ZIP Preview - PDF, RTF, TEXT - iWork documents, Office documents - Images, Music, PiP Videos - Without Unzip, preview ZIP contents (password may be requested if locked) Advertisements before upgrade - Banner ads can be shown at the bottom - Interstitial ads can be shown per 30 minutes Information about the auto-renewable nature of the subscription - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. A link to privacy policy and terms of use - http://blog.musebook.com/2017/03/privacy-policy.html The length of the subscription - Monthly or Yearly NOTE: All content contained herein is subject to change without notice.

About

BigPaper

This app offers an infinite canvas for note-taking, PDF annotation, and mind mapping. Import various document formats and add text, handwriting, tables, and more. Efficiently organize and edit content without page limitations.

Highlights
  • Infinite canvas for freeform note-taking
  • Import and annotate PDFs and other documents
  • Mind mapping with element connections
  • Handwriting and drawing tools with Smart Shapes
  • Table creation and linking
  • Multi-format document import and export
  • Screenshot mode for quick content capture
Features
Read full description

BigPaper is a borderless note taking application. You can import and expand PDFs and other formats in BigPaper and freely take notes in an infinite canvas without being limited by the edges of the document. You can use BigPaper on both iPhone and iPad for efficient editing with iCloud data sync. Whether it's annotating PDFs, making handbooks, or creating mind maps, BigPaper is ready to go. BigPaper's features include multi-format document import, text input, handwriting, mind mapping, tables, scanned documents, free edge screenshots, containers, folder management, search for handwriting and text, etc. We welcome every rating, and we will read every piece of feedback and take notes to incorporate it in future updates. Your 5-star review will encourage us to continue to upgrade BigPaper and introduce new features. —— Introduction of functions —— 「Infinite canvas, freeform add elements」 Canvas can be zoomed and moved for editing. Add documents in multiple formats such as PDF, as well as multiple types of elements such as tables, text, drawings, handwriting, pictures, stickers, paper, scanned documents, and more. These elements can be scaled and rotated. 「Mind Mapping - Easily connect ideas」 Innovative mind mapping mode. Connect elements on the page (text, pictures, tables, etc.) to quickly generate mind maps from inspiration. Also support the step-by-step enlargement of the idea by expanding the mind map. 「Type anywhere」 Customize the font, size and color of the text. To-do list, bullets can be added to the text. 「Brush Tool - Handwritten and Drawings」 Customize brush presets including color, transparency, tip size. Full-screen drawing, freely annotated documents that are not limited by the edges of the document. Smart Shapes: Hold a stylus or fingertip after drawing a graphic on the screen, intelligently recognize and generate the perfect shape. 「Create Table」 Easy create forms. Add row, add column, move row, move column. Tables can be linked to mind maps. 「Import and Export」 Imported document formats: PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, etc. Expand all pages of the document to easily read and highlight all the content. Select text in the document to copy. Export PDF, export image, and BigPaper format. WYSIWYG, everything can be displayed in the exported document. 「Reading Mode」 Customize the "scrolling direction" to realize the classic reading mode. 「Screenshot Mode - Quickly capture key points」 In screenshot mode, you can continuously select areas to take screenshots, these screenshots will be added to the canvas immediately, and can continue to be edited and added to the mind map. 「Stickers, Paper Templates」 The themes of stickers include weather, three-dimensional geometry, music, etc., saving creation time and improving note-taking efficiency. Use stickers and paper stencils in combination to create beautiful manuscripts. 「Multiple Selection Tool - Efficient Editing」 You can freely select an area on the canvas using the multi-selection tool. The selected content as a whole can be resized, rotated, moved, deleted, and exported.Draw borders to take screenshots freely. 「Manage files with folders」 You can create folders to manage files. Easy personalization includes folder editing, file moving, sticking to the top, and more. 「iCloud Sync」 Continue to create notes on different devices and capture inspiration anytime, anywhere. 「Scan」 Scan documents, OCR text recognition(Available in English, Chinese, French, Italian, German, Portuguese and Spanish.) 「Search and Jump Locations」 Search for handwriting, text, text in documents. Also: OCR text recognition results of scanned documents and recognition of text in pictures. Contact us and send feedback: bp_10happy@hotmail.com

Screenshots

PDF Notes S4 screens
BigPaper3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: BigPaper at none against PDF Notes S's shown. BigPaper also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (17 vs 5). PDF Notes S's advantage is review sentiment (53% vs 27%) and rating (4.2 vs 4.0). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PDF Notes S sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and BigPaper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PDF Notes S holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 53% of PDF Notes S's written reviews are positive against 27% of BigPaper's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Notes S ships an update every 6 weeks, BigPaper every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
PDF Notes S versus BigPaper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF Notes SBigPaper
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (5 ratings) — better4.0 (17 ratings)
Positive reviews52.9% of reviews — better26.7% of reviews
Number of ratings517 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB253 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAMuseTec Co., Ltd.10happy Technology Development(Dalian) Co.,Ltd.

Customer experience

PDF Notes S

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive52.9%
Neutral35.3%
Negative11.8%

BigPaper

All ratings17 ratings
Positive64.7%
Neutral29.4%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews15 reviews
Positive26.7%
Neutral46.7%
Negative26.7%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PDF Notes S

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Plan$0.991 Month
  • Yearly Plan$9.991 Year
1 purchases

BigPaper

One-time1
  • BigPaper - Full Version Unlock$8.99

Questions

Is PDF Notes S free?
PDF Notes S is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is BigPaper free?
BigPaper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PDF Notes S or BigPaper?
PDF Notes S is rated higher. PDF Notes S averages 4.2 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while BigPaper averages 4.0 from 17 ratings.
Do PDF Notes S or BigPaper have ads?
PDF Notes S shows ads; BigPaper does not.
Which is updated more often, PDF Notes S or BigPaper?
PDF Notes S ships an update every 6 weeks, and BigPaper every 5 days. Most recently, PDF Notes S was updated on September 20, 2026 and BigPaper on September 29, 2026.

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