Comparison

Diary With Password vs Penbook

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

Head to head
About

Diary With Password

This app provides a private digital space to record daily thoughts, emotions, and life events. It offers robust security features like password and biometric locks, alongside tools for organizing, searching, and exporting your entries. Enjoy a customizable and ad-free journaling experience.

Highlights
  • Password and biometric security
  • Daily entry logging
  • Full text search
  • Data backup and export (PDF/Text)
  • Customizable fonts and sizes
  • Night mode
  • Daily reminders
Features
Read full description

Track life's progress Log a little bit about each day Look back at the emotions and the opinions and even mundane aspects of your life Write out all your emotions in a space and no one will see This is an electronic diary Simple and friendly ■ Password -set a password to protect your diary secrets ■ Time Stamp -note the time by touching the inconspicuous clock button ■ Reminder -friendly reminder to write about your day ■ Delete -swipe your finger to delete the diary you want to delete ■ Night Mode -to make looking at a screen in a dark room easier on your eyes ■ iCloud -back up your data/Restore the data on your iOS device ■ Export -export your diary as a text/Export the diary to PDF file (The exported file can be sent to you by email. Please make sure that a mail account has been set on the device. You can also choose to export your data to your iOS file system on your device) ■ Sizes -choose a new font size from the font size list ■ Sign -add a good diary to your favorites ■ Search -full text search-able - search entries by containing text ■ Fonts -to change the font type, in the font list, select a font ■ Touch ID / Face ID -need the related hardware support (iPhone 5s+) ■ Pattern Lock -security and ease

About

Penbook

Create custom digital notebooks with a vast library of stationery or import your own PDFs for annotation. Write naturally with a stylus and organize your notes with dynamic features like live planners and searchable handwriting.

Highlights
  • Live Paper dynamic stationery
  • Over 400 stationery types
  • Import and annotate PDFs
  • Natural handwriting with stylus
  • Searchable handwritten notes
  • Shape recognition
  • Customizable notebook covers
Features
Read full description

Write naturally with your Apple Pencil on Live Paper with Penbook. Build your perfect notebook from more than four hundred types of stationery. Then, use the best digital inking technology to pour your ideas, notes, plans, and dreams into it. Penbook's Live Paper is way smarter than ordinary stationery. Schedule your life on a monthly planner that shows a real calendar, organize your day with a day planner that shows you what time it is, and record your nutrition on a food diary that knows what day it is. Or, bring your own stationery! Import your PDFs into Penbook for quick annotation and editing. Give your notebooks colorful covers with fun art, and share them so your notes are always where you need them. FEATURES • Live Paper, the dynamic stationery that uses the smarts of your iPad and iPhone • Over 400 of academic, scientific, and planning stationeries • Import PDFs and use them as notebooks • Write naturally with your Apple Pencil, stylus, or finger • Unlimited unique cover combinations for your notes • Search your handwritten notes for words or phrases • Snap your strokes to perfect shapes with shape recognition INCLUDED STATIONERIES Penbook has a huge selection of customizable stationery. Each page of your notebook can be different, turning your iPad or iPhone into a magic notebook: • Blank stationery, with an optional date and configurable margin • Ruled paper with variable density • Graph paper with four options for square sizes • Dot stationery, either squared or isometric (offset) • Cross stationery with configurable margins and density • To Do pages with four layout options • Monthly habit paper for tracking streaks, habits, and goals • Day planner paper with a live updating timeline and calendar, and three layouts • Weekly planner paper that highlights the current time and date • Monthly planner paper that keeps track of the current day and shows you what's coming next • Yearly stationery for getting a complete overview of your next 365 days • Cornell paper for taking perfect study notes • French ruled (Séyès) paper • Penmanship practice paper • Table stationery for hand-written spreadsheets • Polar graph paper for plotting radial data • Semi-log and loglog paper for data with exponential growth or decay • Isometric stationery with equilateral (60-60-60) or isosceles (75-75-30) triangles • Perspective paper, configurable with one, two, or three vanishing points • Developer stationery with device stencils and configurable note-taking areas • Storyboard paper with 3 frame aspect ratios • Engineering paper with variable density • Chemistry paper for easily sketching molecules • Staff and tablature (music) paper with optional linked staves GET THE MOST OUT OF PENBOOK Use all of Penbook's stationery and writing features in a single notebook for free for as long as you like. Upgrade to Penbook Premium to create and export unlimited notebooks, receive access to new stationery and covers as they're designed, and get regular app updates. Penbook Premium is available by purchasing a yearly subscription or a one-time (lifetime) in-app purchase. When you choose to upgrade with the yearly subscription, you can start using Penbook Premium for free with a 7-day free trial. During the trial, cancel any time until 24 hours before the trial expires, and you will not be charged. If you do not cancel, you will be automatically billed for the yearly subscription when your free trial ends. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after purchase. Our customer-first privacy policy: https://penbook.app/privacy-policy Penbook's terms of use: https://penbook.app/terms-of-use

Screenshots

Diary With Password4 screens
Penbook4 screens

Verdict

The call

Diary With Password and Penbook both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 92% of Diary With Password's written reviews are positive against 58% of Penbook's. Diary With Password also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.1). Penbook's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks) and chart position (#128 vs unranked). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Diary With Password sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Penbook sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Diary With Password holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 27K and 46K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 92% of Diary With Password's written reviews are positive against 58% of Penbook's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Diary With Password ships an update every 2 weeks, Penbook every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Diary With Password versus Penbook: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiary With PasswordPenbook
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (27K ratings) — better4.5 (46K ratings)
Positive reviews92.1% of reviews — better57.8% of reviews
Number of ratings27K46K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank—#128 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Vision Pro
Requires iOS12.0 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB143 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer帆 杨Pencil Research

Customer experience

Diary With Password

All ratings27,088 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral3.1%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews2,381 reviews
Positive92.1%
Neutral4.6%
Negative3.3%

Penbook

All ratings45,717 ratings
Positive88.4%
Neutral4.7%
Negative6.9%
Written reviews630 reviews
Positive57.8%
Neutral13.0%
Negative29.2%

User reviews

Diary With Password

From 27K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💻 Simple and easy to use
  • 🔒 Password protection
  • 📝 Customizable fonts and layout
  • ⏱️ Time stamp feature
  • 🔓 No ads or paywalls

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Difficulty finding/accessing past entries
  • 🖼️ No image/media support
  • 🔄 Lack of syncing across devices
  • 🔒 Password recovery issues
  • 🔧 Limited customization options

Penbook

From 46K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
  • 🎨 Variety of customization options for notebooks
  • 📝 Smooth writing experience with Apple Pencil
  • 🗓️ Useful calendar integration
  • 💡 Innovative features like washi tape and stickers

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and data loss issues
  • 🔒 Lack of password protection or locking feature
  • 🔧 Glitchy zooming and ruler functionality
  • 🧭 Poor notebook and page management
  • 💰 Restrictive free version, expensive subscription

Bugs and requests

Diary With Password

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Date entries sometimes display incorrectly
  • Occasional app crashes or freezes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to import/attach photos
  • Implement calendar view for entries
  • Allow multiple entries per day
  • Provide cloud backup and sync options
  • Add more customization options (colors, themes, etc.)

Penbook

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Sticker resizing issues causing app freezes
  • Ruler placement and alignment problems
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between pages
  • Calendar sync not working as expected
  • PDF import and annotation functionality not reliable

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow custom notebook covers or images
  • Add text box and typing capabilities
  • Improve organization with folders or tags
  • Provide more customization options for templates
  • Implement a more intuitive undo/redo system

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Diary With Password

One-time1
  • Pro version- One-time purchase$12.99
11 purchases

Penbook

Subscriptions7
  • Penbook Premium5 variants$4.991 Month
  • Penbook Premium$7.991 Month
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial3 variants$14.991 Year
Show 4 more
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial2 variants$19.991 Year
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial2 variants$29.991 Year
  • Penbook Premium$29.991 Year
  • Penbook Premium7 Days trial3 variants$39.991 Year
One-time4
  • Premium Lifetime (Loyalty)$29.99
  • Penbook Premium Lifetime2 variants$49.99
  • Penbook Premium Lifetime$59.99
Show 1 more
  • Penbook Premium Lifetime$69.99

Questions

Is Diary With Password free?
Diary With Password is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Penbook free?
Penbook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Diary With Password or Penbook?
Diary With Password is rated higher. Diary With Password averages 4.7 out of 5 from 27K ratings, while Penbook averages 4.5 from 46K ratings.
Do Diary With Password or Penbook have ads?
Neither Diary With Password nor Penbook shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Diary With Password or Penbook?
Diary With Password ships an update every 2 weeks, and Penbook every 5 days. Most recently, Diary With Password was updated on October 29, 2026 and Penbook on October 29, 2026.

Other comparisons