Linwood Butterfly vs Stylus Labs Write

Linwood Butterfly

• Handwritten lecture notes and PDF markup with a stylus
• People who want a free, AGPL-licensed note app on Android and desktop
• Nextcloud users who want their notes synced over WebDAV

Stylus Labs Write

• People who take handwritten notes on both a tablet and a desktop computer
• Stylus users on Linux or Windows who want an open file format
• Editing handwriting after the fact: inserting space, moving and reflowing lines

Linwood Butterfly

• iOS is a preview only: an unsigned IPA that has to be sideloaded with AltStore or Sideloadly, and it is not on the App Store.
• There is no hosted sync service. Remote storage supports only WebDAV, and it is not available in the web version.
• Collaboration is experimental and has to be switched on with an experiment flag.
• The web app performs better in Chromium-based browsers; the docs say Firefox and Safari lack the WebAssembly features it uses.

Stylus Labs Write

• Typed text is not supported: the FAQ says Write can display text in an SVG document but cannot edit it.
• There is no built-in sync; the FAQ suggests syncing the document folder with a third-party tool, or saving to cloud folders in the iOS Files app.
• Google Play updates are suspended, and that listing was last updated in December 2021; the current Android build is an APK from the vendor's site.
• The free iOS app watermarks every page until the $8.99 full version is bought.

Linwood Butterfly

Infinite canvas with editable elements

Handwriting, shapes and imported media sit on an unbounded canvas, and each element can be moved, resized, recolored and reorganized after it is placed.

Pen and drawing tools

Stroke width, color, smoothing and texture are adjustable, and the toolbox adds labels, shapes, polygons, tables, rulers, grids, stamps, a laser pointer and a presentation tool.

Import and export

Imports PDFs, images, SVG, Markdown, Xournal++ files and OneNote sections. Exports to PDF, SVG, image and Xournal++, plus its own documented .bfly and .tbfly formats.

Templates and packs

Templates bundle backgrounds, tools, layers, areas and pages for new documents, and packs hold reusable stamps, palettes and styles that are available across documents.

Local storage with WebDAV sync

Notes are saved to a folder on the device. The native apps can add a WebDAV connection such as Nextcloud and mark remote files for offline editing.

Experimental collaboration

Behind an experiment flag, several people can edit one document at once through an end-to-end encrypted Swamp relay or a WebSocket server run on one participant's computer.

Stylus Labs Write

Tools that follow lines of handwriting

Insert Space adds blank lines or room between words and reflows the paragraph, including multicolumn layouts. Ruled erase and select work on whole lines of writing in one pass.

Bookmarks and handwritten links

A bookmark dropped beside text appears in a bookmark view for navigation. Handwritten links can point to bookmarks, web sites or other documents.

Undo/redo dial

A dial moves backward and forward through an unlimited undo history with one continuous motion instead of repeated taps.

SVG documents

The native format is SVG, which any modern web browser can display. Documents are plain files that can also be saved as HTML or exported to PDF.

Shared whiteboarding

Several people can work on a document in real time through a whiteboard server. The vendor publishes the server and recommends running it on your own network.

Split view, clippings and pens

Two documents, or two parts of one, can be open side by side. Frequently used content is saved as clippings, and pens, page size, color and ruling can be customized.

Linwood Butterfly

• Butterfly$0

  The full app for Android, Windows, macOS and Linux, a web app that installs for offline use, and a Docker image for hosting the web app yourself.

Stylus Labs Write

• Write for desktop and Android$0

  Windows, macOS, Linux and Android builds downloaded from the vendor's site. The source code is on GitHub under the AGPL-3.0 license.

• Stylus Labs Write (iOS)$0

  The free iPhone and iPad app, which the download page calls the trial version. It puts a watermark on each page.

• Full version (iOS)$8.99

  one-time in-app purchase (US App Store)

  Removes the watermark from the free iPhone and iPad app.

• Stylus Labs Write Pro$8.99

  one-time purchase (US App Store)

  The iPhone and iPad app sold as a paid download instead of an in-app upgrade. Family Sharing covers up to six people.