Comparison

Canary Mail vs Kept Notes

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

Head to head
About

Canary Mail

This app unifies multiple email accounts into a single inbox, offering AI assistance for drafting, replying, and summarizing messages. It includes features like read receipts, email tracking, and advanced organizational tools to streamline your communication.

Highlights
  • Unified inbox for multiple accounts
  • AI Copilot for drafting and summarizing
  • Read receipts and email tracking
  • Smart email sorting and bulk cleaning
  • Email scheduling and 1-click unsubscribe
  • PGP encryption and threat protection
Features
Read full description

One inbox for Gmail, Outlook & iCloud. AI Copilot drafts, replies, and summarizes. Read receipts + email tracking built in. ▶ WRITE EMAILS WITH AI ◀ [ INTELLIGENT AI EMAIL WRITING ] • Let Canary’s AI Copilot write and proofread your emails for clarity and professionalism. [ AI COPILOT ] • Get AI-generated email suggestions, automated replies, AI summaries, and priority inbox insights. [ EMAIL TEMPLATES ] • Save and reuse your favorite email drafts with one tap. ▶ STREAMLINED INBOX CONTROL ◀ [ ALL YOUR ACCOUNTS, ONE INBOX ] • Easily connect your Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, Exchange, Office365, Yahoo, and more into one simple inbox. [ SMART EMAIL SORTING ] • Automatically highlight important emails and filter out spam and junk mail. [ BULK EMAIL CLEANER ] • Clean your inbox by archiving or deleting unwanted emails in seconds. [ INTUITIVE DASHBOARD ] • Control your inbox with pinned emails, favorites, snooze, and an intuitive dashboard. ▶ CUSTOMIZATION & PRODUCTIVITY ◀ [ EMAIL SCHEDULING ] • Schedule emails to send later or set delays to cancel them. [ READ RECEIPTS ] • Get instant notifications when your emails are read with Canary’s email tracker. [ PERSONALIZATION OPTIONS ] • Customize with unique signatures, swipe actions, dark mode, and thread organization. [ DEVICE SYNC ] • Sync your inbox across all devices for a seamless experience. • Read synced emails and draft replies offline - everything updates automatically when you’re back online. • Your mailbox securely rebuilds when you sign in on a new device. ▶ ORGANIZATIONAL TOOLS ◀ [ MAILBOX NAVIGATION DRAWER ] • Automatically organize your emails by categories—All, Primary, Promotions, Updates, and Forums. [ RULES & FILTERS ] • Gain greater control over your inbox with email filters and rules. [ 1-CLICK UNSUBSCRIBE ] • Block spam email senders and silence newsletters in just one tap. [ CALENDAR INTEGRATION ] • Manage your time better with an integrated calendar. ▶ SECURE COMMUNICATION ◀ [ ENCRYPTION & DATA SECURITY ] • Protect your emails with SecureSend and PGP encryption. [ THREAT PROTECTION ] • Guard against impersonation, phishing, and misdirection. [ ALERT SETTINGS ] • Choose push notifications for real-time updates or secure on-device fetch. ▶ PREMIUM ADVANTAGES ◀ [ GROWTH PLAN ] • The Growth Plan enhances productivity with AI-powered email writing, read receipts, inbox cleaning, and advanced customization. [ PRO+ PLAN ] • The Pro+ Plan includes all Growth features plus PGP encryption, phishing protection, impersonation detection, and priority support for professionals and larger teams. Upgrade your email experience with Canary Mail, the AI-powered app that enhances security, boosts productivity, and keeps your inbox organized. • Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ • Privacy Policy: https://canarymail.io/privacy.html

About

Kept Notes

Capture thoughts, create checklists, and manage files with a private, self-hosted notes app. Enjoy smart capture powered by local AI and organize with labels and reminders. Your data stays yours.

Highlights
  • Self-hosted data control
  • Apple Intelligence-powered Smart Capture
  • Create text, image, and drawing notes
  • Organize with labels and colors
  • Set reminders
  • Import/Export notes
  • File attachments
Features
Read full description

Kept Notes is a fast, friendly notes app for people who want simple capture without giving up control of their data. Apple Intelligence-powered Smart Capture: Using natural language you can entirely manage your notes - create, update, share, label, archive, and trash notes while keeping AI processing local and private on supported devices. Jot down a thought, make a checklist, save a link, attach a file, add an image, sketch a quick doodle, or set a reminder — all in a clean, colorful notes experience designed to stay out of your way. Kept is built around the idea that your notes should belong to you. Connect to your own Kept instance and keep your notes, uploads, reminders, labels, and settings on infrastructure you control. What you can do with Kept: • Create text notes, checklists, image notes, drawings, and file attachments • Pin important notes so they stay at the top • Organize with labels, colors, and background images • Save links and generate rich link previews • Attach PDFs, documents, ZIP files, and other useful files • Set reminders for things you do not want to forget • Search quickly and filter by note type, label, or date • Share notes with other users on your instance • Import notes from Google Takeout • Export your notes when you need a copy • Use backups to protect your data Kept is designed to feel lightweight and familiar: open it, capture the thing, move on. No clutter. No heavy project-management system pretending to be a notes app. Just quick notes, visual organization, and ownership. Important: Kept Notes requires access to a Kept server/instance. You can self-host Kept using Docker or a native install. Setup instructions are available at www.keepitkept.xyz.

Screenshots

Canary Mail4 screens
Kept Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Canary Mail at Free against Kept Notes's $3.99. Canary Mail also leads on rating (4.5 vs 2.0) and ratings volume (8.8K vs 3). Kept Notes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 15) and update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). On review sentiment, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Canary Mail is free to download; Kept Notes costs $3.99 up front. Canary Mail sells 15 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Kept Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Canary Mail holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Canary Mail has 8.8K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 51% and 50% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Canary Mail ships an update fortnightly, Kept Notes weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Canary Mail versus Kept Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCanary MailKept Notes
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.5 (8.8K ratings) — better2.0 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews50.6% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings8.8K — better3
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size177 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCartasec Pte. Ltd.Eric Gillis

Customer experience

Canary Mail

All ratings8,786 ratings
Positive86.9%
Neutral4.7%
Negative8.4%
Written reviews1,088 reviews
Positive50.6%
Neutral14.6%
Negative34.7%

Kept Notes

All ratings3 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Canary Mail

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Emails not fully loading or displaying correctly
  • Sync issues across devices
  • Unreliable notification behavior
  • Unexpected account sign-outs

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to select multiple emails for bulk actions
  • Option to disable email categorization/sorting
  • Improved integration with calendar and contacts
  • Undo/restore deleted emails
  • Customizable email signatures

Kept Notes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

15 purchases

Canary Mail

Subscriptions9
  • Canary Pro$2.991 Month
  • Canary Pro (Apple Bundle)$4.991 Month
  • Canary Pro$19.991 Year
Show 6 more
  • Canary Pro Growth(Year Single)$19.991 Year
  • Canary Pro$29.991 Year
  • Canary Pro (Apple Bundle)$34.991 Year
  • Canary Growth (Yearly Bundle Trial)7 Days trial$35.991 Year
  • Canary Pro Growth(Year Bundle)$35.991 Year
  • Canary Pro (Apple Bundle)$49.001 Year
One-time6
  • Canary Mail$9.99
  • Canary Mail Pro (Upgrade)$9.99
  • Canary Mail Pro (New)$19.99
Show 3 more
  • Canary Pro Lifetime$59.99
  • Canary Pro Lifetime Bundle$99.99
  • Canary Growth(Lifetime Bundle)$99.99
None

Kept Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Canary Mail free?
Canary Mail is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Kept Notes free?
Kept Notes costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Canary Mail or Kept Notes?
Canary Mail is rated higher. Canary Mail averages 4.5 out of 5 from 8.8K ratings, while Kept Notes averages 2.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Canary Mail or Kept Notes have ads?
Neither Canary Mail nor Kept Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Canary Mail or Kept Notes?
Canary Mail ships an update fortnightly, and Kept Notes weekly. Most recently, Canary Mail was updated on October 24, 2026 and Kept Notes on October 13, 2026.

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