DAILY NOTE vs PenCake
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DAILY NOTE
Capture your daily thoughts and memories with this digital journal. Easily write entries, add photos, and customize your experience with various themes. Organize and find your notes effortlessly through calendar views and search.
- Easy and fast writing
- Attach photos
- Customizable themes
- Calendar view for notes
- Searchable content
- Backup and restore
- Password and biometric lock
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Write today's diary [ DAILY NOTE Features ] ● Easy and fast writing ● Attach photos when writing ● Support for various themes (font, background) ● Read your all notes in calendar ● Monthly / Tag / Overview ● Type words to search contents ● Backup / Restore function ● Password & Biometric lock
PenCake
A minimalist writing app designed for focused journaling, storytelling, and personal expression. Enjoy a distraction-free interface with elegant typography and seamless cross-device syncing. Secure your work with auto-save and biometric protection.
- Distraction-free interface
- Elegant typography
- Cross-device syncing
- Auto-save and version history
- Markdown support
- Organized by Stories
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A beautifully minimal space for your thoughts. Pencake helps you focus on your words—whether you’re writing a journal, a story, or something just for yourself. Since 2018, more than 2.3 million writers have chosen Pencake as their space to write in peace. Its clean, distraction-free interface helps you focus entirely on your words. No clutter, no noise—just you and your story. With elegant typography and smooth spacing, writing on Pencake feels as natural and beautiful as writing in a real book. Minimalist, yet powerful - Clean and aesthetically refined interface - Designed to enhance focus and creativity - Beautiful fonts and themes that suit your mood Writing made effortless - Start writing instantly with an intuitive experience - Enjoy smooth performance even with long-form writing - Stay organized with “Stories” that group related entries Write anywhere, anytime - Sync your work seamlessly across all your devices - Continue writing wherever inspiration strikes Safe and secure writing - Auto-save, version history, and trash recovery - Face ID / Touch ID protection Built for real writers - Supports Markdown for flexible formatting - Word and character count, image insertion, and preview mode - Ideal for all kinds of writing—journaling, blogging, novel writing, and fanfiction Whether you're an aspiring writer or just someone who loves writing in peace, Pencake offers a simple yet inspiring place to put your thoughts into words. * Some features such as auto-sync, desktop access, themes, and advanced fonts are available through Premium. --- - Official website: https://pencake.app/ - Desktop app: https://pencake.app/download/desktop/ - FAQs: https://pencake.app/faq/ - Format text: https://pencake.app/guide/markdown/ - Email: pencake.app@gmail.com - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pencakeapp - X (Twitter): https://x.com/pencakeapp Please help translate into your language. https://crowdin.com/project/pencake Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://pencake.app/privacy/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: PenCake at none against DAILY NOTE's shown. PenCake also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.0). DAILY NOTE's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.3). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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. DAILY NOTE sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and PenCake sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
DAILY NOTE holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 310 and 121 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of DAILY NOTE's written reviews are positive against 86% of PenCake's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
DAILY NOTE ships an update every 3 weeks, PenCake monthly. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.
| Parameter | DAILY NOTE | PenCake |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (310 ratings) — better | 4.3 (121 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.4% of reviews | 85.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 310 — better | 121 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 40 MB | 102 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | youngjin seo | Diffathy, Inc. |
Customer experience
DAILY NOTE
PenCake
Bugs and requests
DAILY NOTE
Reported bugs
3 issues- Occasional app crashes
- Inconsistent behavior when saving notes
- Delayed or missing notification alerts
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for bullet points, bold, and italic text
- Implement iCloud/Google Drive sync for cross-device access
- Allow creation of multiple notes per day
- Introduce a dark mode option
- Provide more font and color customization options
PenCake
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
DAILY NOTE
- Premium$9.99
PenCake
- Premium Yearly Subscription$6.991 Year
- Premium Yearly Subscription$9.991 Year
- Tip the Developer$0.99
- Upgrade to Premium$1.99
- Upgrade to Premium$3.99
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- Upgrade to Premium$5.99
- Tip the Developer$9.99
- Lifetime Premium Access$15.99
- Upgrade to Premium Lifetime$19.99
- Lifetime Premium Access$23.99








