Comparison

Make List vs Basic Journal

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

Head to head
About

Make List

Organize daily tasks, shopping lists, or any to-do with this fast checklist app. Create nested folders for deep organization and easily back up or share lists via text. A green line indicator confirms when all items are checked.

Highlights
  • Nested folder organization
  • Uncheck All function
  • Delete Selected items
  • Offline backup via copy/paste
  • Move items between folders
  • Green line completion indicator
Features
Read full description

Make List App is a great tool ranging from organizing every day 'take to work' list, using the 'Uncheck All' to clear the list for another use, to food shopping or todo list, and finally using the 'Delete Selected' to delete checked items. Since every item in every list in Make List App can be a folder, Make List let's you organize your lists without limiting the number of folders and subfolders you can use. The 'Options' menu can be customize to hide/show some of the options in the Settings screen. Other power features include: • Simple offline backup via copy paste. - Using the 'Copy Selected to Pasteboard' from the Options menu, you can copy all selected items of a list to the device's pasteboard. You can paste it anywhere from an email to any other text App on the device. The Paste List from pasteboard completes the cycle by letting you import from the device's pasteboard. This means you can either backup or share by any text app (such as Messages or Mail). • Move items between folders - Similar to 'Copy/Paste from pasteboard' but done internally without the device's pasteboard. Simple function to move items between folders. • Green line indicator when all items are checked. - Very handy on longer lists. You can make sure all items are selected without inspecting them all visually. When the last selectable items is selected, a green line will light up, indicating that all items are selected.

About

Basic Journal

A fast and simple journal app designed for busy individuals to quickly jot down notes on daily activities. It offers an elegant, chronological display of entries with easy editing and export options.

Highlights
  • Quick note-taking
  • Chronological note display
  • Summary and detail views
  • Edit and delete notes easily
  • Recently edited notes highlighted
  • iCloud syncing
  • Text export option
Features
Read full description

Waste less time fiddling with your phone, and spend more time learning, working, or training! If you are an active or busy person, you need to take notes quickly, easily, on whatever device you have with you. This app is a fast and simple journal/diary for your daily activities. This app is ideal for fitness enthusiasts, gym users, dancers who need to make notes on choreography, or anyone who needs fast and simple note-taking. Why this app? Other note-taking apps are complicated and difficult to navigate, and your notes are quickly buried. They are just not practical for quickly noting down or recalling corrections and notes during a class, lecture or workshop. This app keeps all your notes on display in a large, friendly format, in chronological order. • Elegant and simple layout of notes by date. • Summary view for a quick overview. • Detail view to browse all notes at once. • Edit or delete notes quickly from any screen. • Recently edited notes are highlighted. Data storage: • Your notes are synced across all your iOS devices. It doesn't matter if you delete the app or lose your device; your notes are stored with Apple's iCloud (subject to iCloud availability, and it being enabled on your device). • Text export option: you can get all your notes out of the software any time you want, to keep your own backups, share, or use elsewhere. NOTES Accidents happen, so it is recommended that you make regular backups with the export function. You are responsible for maintaining your own backups in case of data loss. It may take a while to sync your existing notes when you first install the app on an extra device: be patient! Make sure iCloud is enabled on your device to use the syncing feature.

Screenshots

Make List4 screens
Basic Journal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Make List at none against Basic Journal's 1. Make List also leads on ads (none vs shown). Basic Journal's advantage is rating (3.3 vs 3.0) and ratings volume (4 vs 1). On price, update cadence 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. Basic Journal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Make List asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Basic Journal holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Make List ships an update every 5 weeks, Basic Journal every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on June 25, 2026 and June 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Make List versus Basic Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMake ListBasic Journal
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (1 ratings)3.3 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings14 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.611.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRod BauerJames Hudson

Customer experience

Make List

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral100.0%
Negative0.0%

Basic Journal

All ratings4 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

In-app purchases

None

Make List

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Basic Journal

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$0.99

Questions

Is Make List free?
Make List is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Basic Journal free?
Basic Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Make List or Basic Journal?
Basic Journal is rated higher. Make List averages 3.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Basic Journal averages 3.3 from 4 ratings.
Do Make List or Basic Journal have ads?
Basic Journal shows ads; Make List does not.
Which is updated more often, Make List or Basic Journal?
Make List ships an update every 5 weeks, and Basic Journal every 2 weeks. Most recently, Make List was updated on June 25, 2026 and Basic Journal on June 5, 2026.

Other comparisons