Notebook vs WidgetCal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Notebook
Capture and organize all your thoughts, from typed notes and handwriting to voice memos and document scans. AI features help transcribe audio, create mind maps, and refine your writing. Seamlessly sync across all your Apple devices.
- AI-powered transcription and summarization
- Handwriting and sketch support with Apple Pencil
- Voice recording with AI transcription and timestamps
- Checklists and to-do list management
- Document scanning and file attachments
- Nested collections for organization
- Cross-device synchronization
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Zoho Notebook is a free, ad-free note-taking app for students, teams and researchers: capture, find and reuse what you write down — typed notes, Apple Pencil handwriting, voice recordings with AI transcription, checklists, files and document scans in one note. Syncs across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and other devices. WHAT PEOPLE USE NOTEBOOK FOR 1. MEETING AND LECTURE NOTES Record with audio or video cards; Notebook AI turns it into searchable text with timestamps, so you jump straight to the decision instead of replaying it. Structured minutes with title, participants, decisions and action points sit in the note beside your highlights. Record screen and self at once; longer videos get chapters. 2. STUDY AND RESEARCH Record lectures and search the transcript weeks later. Scan textbooks and business cards, handwrite and sketch with Apple Pencil, use OCR to find text inside photos and handwritten notes, so nothing you captured becomes unfindable. A long note becomes an AI mind map before an exam. 3. TASKS, TO-DOS AND JOURNALING A dedicated To-Do tab sits alongside your notes: break work into subtasks, assign tasks to the right people, set due dates and priorities, and get reminders at the right time. Checklist cards keep shorter lists beside the note they belong to. Journaling prompts come from your own activity, easier to keep than a blank page. 4. FILES, SCANS, AND SAVED READING Add PDFs, Word docs and spreadsheets with file cards. Articles, videos, recipes and how-tos become Smart Cards, formatted automatically, readable offline and ad-free. Group it all into nested collections. QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK Is it free? Yes, with 500MB of free storage and no ads. Notebook Pro adds more storage, longer notes, larger attachments, Email-In to save emails as notes, premium covers, and custom recurring reminders. Can I move my notes from Evernote, Google Keep, or OneNote? Yes, with dedicated migration tools; it arrives organized. Is my data private? Notes are encrypted in transit and at rest. We never sell your data and never show ads. Lock notes or notebooks with a password, Touch ID or Face ID; previews stay hidden until unlocked. Does it work offline? Yes. Create, edit and read offline, then pick up on another device once it syncs to the cloud. What can Notebook AI do? Transcribe audio and video, build mind maps, summarize and simplify, fix grammar, set tone (casual, professional, friendly, direct, or confident), translate into any language, draft notes, checklists, tables, code or a template from a prompt, and suggest tags. Notebook AI is a separate add-on. Does it use on-device AI and Siri? Yes. An on-device Knowledge Graph links ideas across notebooks and answers questions from your own notes. Siri creates and updates notes by voice with the app closed, and On-Screen Awareness summarizes what's on screen without switching apps. Can I share with non-users? Yes. @mention people to collaborate in real time, or publish a public note or video by link. MORE INSIDE - Search by title, content, tag, collaborator, or notebook; filter by any card type, contact, or link; search within one note; sort by date or relevance, with auto-suggestions and recent searches, offline and across languages - iPhone: text-search audio notes, share via iMessage, dictate with Siri, recent notes from the Notification Bar, SharePlay in calls - iPad: drag and drop, split view, slide over, multiple windows, Stage Manager - Apple Watch: record audio, scribble notes, check off lists, add photo notes, record in one tap from a watch face complication - VoiceOver and a dark interface - Roll back to any of a note's last 10 versions Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled and are charged to your Apple Account. Prices vary by location. Manage in your account settings. Privacy - https://www.zoho.com/privacy.html Terms - https://www.zoho.com/terms.html
WidgetCal
Perform calculations directly from your home screen with advanced functions. Customize your experience with multiple themes. Unlock premium features through a subscription.
- Home screen widget calculator
- Trigonometric and calculus functions
- Over 10 beautiful themes
- No ads
- Monthly/annual subscription for Pro features
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WidgetCal - Widget calculator allows you to calculate on your home screen - Supports trigonometric functions, logarithms, square root, square, reciprocal, π, and calculus tools for derivative at x and definite integral over [a, b] - Home Screen Widget Calculator (iOS 17 Interactive Widgets) - Over 10+ beautiful themes - No Ads ----- WidgetCal Pro is available with a monthly or annual subscription. You can subscribe and pay through your Apple account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renew may be turned off after purchase. Terms of Use: https://www.zhihuke.com/widgetcal/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://www.zhihuke.com/widgetcal/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Notebook at every 6 days against WidgetCal's every 32 months. Notebook also leads on ratings volume (24K vs 1). WidgetCal's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Notebook sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month and WidgetCal sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
WidgetCal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notebook has 24K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Notebook ships an update every 6 days, WidgetCal every 32 months. The most recent releases landed on November 13, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Notebook | WidgetCal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (24K ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 72.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 24K — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Every 32 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 221 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Zoho Corporation | 杏娣 吴 |
Customer experience
Notebook
WidgetCal
Bugs and requests
Notebook
Reported bugs
4 issues- Notes disappearing or getting corrupted
- Freezing and crashing issues
- Inconsistent behavior when editing notes
- Syncing problems across devices
Requested features
5 requests- Improved sorting and reordering options for notes
- Enhanced search capabilities
- Ability to export notes in various formats
- More customization options for notebook covers
- Integration with other productivity apps
WidgetCal
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Notebook
- Notebook Pro$2.491 Month
- Notebook Pro Plus$3.991 Month
- Notebook AI$4.991 Month
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- Notebook Personal$14.991 Year
- Notebook Pro2 variants$24.991 Year
- Notebook Pro Plus$39.991 Year
- Notebook AI$49.991 Year
WidgetCal
- WidgetCal Pro$0.991 Month
- WidgetCal Pro7 Days trial$3.991 Year









