# Joplin vs FreeScout

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Joplin at 67% against FreeScout's 21%. Joplin also leads on rating (4.1 vs 3.0) and update cadence (monthly vs every 15 months). FreeScout's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Joplin holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Joplin has 473 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of Joplin's written reviews are positive against 21% of FreeScout's.

Joplin ships an update monthly, FreeScout every 15 months. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and June 1, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Joplin | FreeScout |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.1 (473 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joplin/id1315599797/reviews)** | [3.0 (2 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/freescout/id1530383172/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **473** | 2 |
| Positive reviews | **66.6% of reviews** | 21.4% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Monthly** | Every 15 months |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Size | 73 MB | 3 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | **11.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Laurent Cozic](https://appshunter.io/developer/1315599796) | [Jason Rhee](https://appshunter.io/developer/1721575250) |

## What reviewers say

### Joplin

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joplin/id1315599797)

A privacy-focused note-taking and to-do application that allows you to capture multimedia notes, organize them with notebooks and tags, and sync across devices. It offers end-to-end encryption and an offline-first approach for secure and accessible information management.

**Highlights:** Capture multimedia notes (speech, photos, videos, PDFs), Organize notes with notebooks and tags, Create to-dos and set reminders, End-to-end encryption for privacy, Cross-device synchronization (Joplin Cloud, Dropbox, OneDrive), Offline-first access, OCR search for text within images and PDFs

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great app
- 🔒 End-to-end encryption
- 👍 Excellent cross-platform support
- 👍 Intuitive Markdown support
- 👍 Flexible sync options (Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV)

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Sync issues, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Buggy UI, especially on iOS
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Slow performance at times
- 🐛 Confusing interface, not very intuitive

**Reported bugs**

- Sync issues with WebDAV and Dropbox
- Crashes when creating new notes
- Keyboard issues, text getting obscured
- Rendering problems in dark mode
- Compatibility issues with older iOS versions

**Requested features**

- Add web clipper functionality on iOS
- Implement nested notebooks on iOS
- Allow password/biometric protection for notes
- Improve text editing experience on mobile
- Add more font and formatting options


### FreeScout

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/freescout/id1530383172)

This official client provides access to your FreeScout helpdesk on iOS devices. It enables push notifications for important updates when configured with the "Mobile Notifications" module. Contact your administrator for any helpdesk-related issues.

**Highlights:** Official FreeScout client, Push notifications, iOS compatibility, Helpdesk access

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Joplin free?

Joplin is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is FreeScout free?

FreeScout is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, Joplin or FreeScout?

Joplin is rated higher. Joplin averages 4.1 out of 5 from 473 ratings, while FreeScout averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.

### Do Joplin or FreeScout have ads?

Neither Joplin nor FreeScout shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Joplin or FreeScout?

Joplin ships an update monthly, and FreeScout every 15 months. Most recently, Joplin was updated on September 20, 2026 and FreeScout on June 1, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*