Comparison

Joplin vs mDone

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

Head to head
About

Joplin

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
Read full description

Privacy-first app Capture your thoughts freely and without distractions, tracking, or ads. With Joplin’s end-to-end encryption and open-source code, you can concentrate on your ideas and tasks without worrying about your privacy. Capture multimedia notes Capture multimedia notes effortlessly. In Joplin you can : • create manuscript notes, • transcribe speech to note, • add multimedia: photos, videos, PDFs, and images, • insert documents as attachments, • create math expressions, add tables, write code and insert diagrams, • create to-dos and add reminders. Organise your ideas Organise your notes into notebooks. Connect your notes with tags by subject or priority. Use colours and rich text editor to format your notes with ease. Make task lists, create to-dos and add reminders. Effortlessly find your notes, even within PDFs and images, thanks to the powerful search feature enhanced by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Use Joplin to store your bills, lecture notes, photos or receipts. Reliable synchronisation Access your notes from computer, phone or tablet by synchronising with various services including Joplin Cloud, Dropbox and OneDrive. Seamlessly move from one device to another. Offline-first You can access your notes anytime and anywhere, even without Internet. If you’re using Joplin on multiple devices, they will synchronise and update once you regained the connection. Enhance your productivity across devices Extend your note-taking experience by using Joplin on additional devices such as a desktop computer or tablet. Make the most of each device by using its specific features. On the desktop app, use a web clipper extension, wide-range of community plugins and a Markdown editor. Experience flawless handwriting and drawing on your tablet. Join active community Connect with Joplin’s vibrant community on Joplin Forum. It’s a place where users can share ideas, ask questions, exchange information and give feedback. Joplin’s dynamic community also develops powerful plugins, so you can customise your app to suit your needs.

About

mDone

A native iOS task manager designed for self-hosted Vikunja servers. It offers smart lists, project organization, home screen widgets, and a focus timer with Live Activities. Enjoy offline support and a privacy-first approach with no tracking.

Highlights
  • Smart Lists (Today, Upcoming, Overdue)
  • Projects and Favorites
  • Home Screen & Lock Screen Widgets
  • Focus Timer with Live Activities
  • Repeating Tasks
  • Calendar View
  • Offline Support
Features
Read full description

Take control of your tasks with mDone, a native task manager for iPhone, iPad and Mac, built for your self-hosted Vikunja server. If you run your own Vikunja instance and want a polished, native way to manage your tasks, mDone is made for you: a thoughtful, focused interface for your self-hosted productivity setup. KEY FEATURES Quick Add That Understands You Type "Buy milk tomorrow at 5pm +Home !2 *shopping" and mDone files it in the right project, with the due date, priority and label already set. Everything it picks up shows as a chip before you add the task, so nothing happens by surprise. Switch it on in Settings. Smart Lists Stay on top of what matters. Today, Upcoming and Overdue views organise your tasks, so you always know what to focus on next. Current Tasks Keep long-running work top of mind. Mark a task as Current and it stays pinned above Today, with a progress bar you can update and a gentle nudge when it has sat untouched for too long. Kanban Boards Open any project as a board. Drag cards between columns and reorder them, exactly as they appear in Vikunja's web app. Subtasks, Checklists and Labels Break big tasks into subtasks, link related tasks, tick off checklists written in a task's description, and add or create labels without leaving the app. Projects and Favorites Organise tasks into projects and sub-projects, sort them by date, priority or your own manual order, and keep the ones you use most one tap away. Siri, Hands-Free Say "Add a task in mDone" and Siri adds it without opening the app. Works over CarPlay, on AirPods and on Apple Watch. Home Screen and Lock Screen Widgets See your tasks at a glance: today's agenda, what is coming up, and anything overdue. Focus Timer with Live Activities Work through a task with purpose. Live Activities keep the timer on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island. Repeating Tasks Daily, weekly, monthly or custom intervals. Completing a repeating task schedules its next occurrence. Calendar View See your tasks across days and weeks alongside your calendar events. Spot the gaps and plan ahead. Offline Support mDone caches your tasks so you can keep working without a connection. Changes sync back to your server when you are online again. Privacy First Zero analytics, zero tracking, zero third-party SDKs. mDone talks only to your Vikunja server, and your data stays entirely under your control. Available in English and Simplified Chinese. REQUIREMENTS - A self-hosted Vikunja server (vikunja.io) - An account on that server mDone is open source. Visit the GitHub repository to report issues, request features, or contribute.

Screenshots

Joplin4 screens
mDone4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: mDone at 5.0 against Joplin's 4.1. mDone also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 66%) and update cadence (weekly vs monthly). Joplin's advantage is ratings volume (476 vs 7) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

mDone holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Joplin has 476 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of Joplin's written reviews are positive against 100% of mDone's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Joplin ships an update monthly, mDone weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Joplin versus mDone: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJoplinmDone
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (476 ratings)5.0 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings476 — better7
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLaurent CozicMarcus Williams

Customer experience

Joplin

All ratings476 ratings
Positive76.7%
Neutral6.3%
Negative17.0%
Written reviews495 reviews
Positive66.5%
Neutral9.3%
Negative24.2%

mDone

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Joplin

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • 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

6 requests
  • 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
Show 1 more
  • Implement a trash/recycle bin for deleted notes

mDone

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Joplin

No in-app purchases

None

mDone

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Joplin free?
Joplin is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is mDone free?
mDone is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Joplin or mDone?
mDone is rated higher. Joplin averages 4.1 out of 5 from 476 ratings, while mDone averages 5.0 from 7 ratings.
Do Joplin or mDone have ads?
Neither Joplin nor mDone shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Joplin or mDone?
Joplin ships an update monthly, and mDone weekly. Most recently, Joplin was updated on October 8, 2026 and mDone on October 10, 2026.

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