Comparison

Joplin vs Scene Cards

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

Scene Cards

Features
Read full description

Scene Cards turns your screenplay into a visual production reference tool. Import a PDF or Final Draft script and your scenes will appear instantly as cards on a wall — ready to sort, annotate, and plan. Whether you're a writer breaking story, a director prepping a shoot, or any department you are working in, Scene Cards gives you the big picture and the fine detail at the same time. Wall View See your entire film at a glance. Scenes display as cards showing slug line, synopsis, and reference images. Drag to reorder, gap-close, or renumber with a tap. Print and pin it to the wall or use on your desktop or tablet. Script Panel Click open the side panel and read the script pages of the scene you select (no more waiting for sides on set) characters may be colour annotated for clarity. Inspector Panel Dive into any scene — attach reference images, video, audio ,or folders, Each Scene Card can hold any amount of information about it's scene. Create a folder for your own department then share with others. Edit its synopsis, move it anywhere in the grid, mark it omitted, or insert a new scene after it. Three Modes Switch between Script, Locations, and Schedule views. Script is imported from any PDF or Final Draft Locations all scenes organised in location order (think recces and fast access to all scene information) Schedule import your one liner pdf and see all scene cards in shoot day order Designed for macOS and iPhone/iPad A single document works across all your devices. The macOS layout shows everything at once; iOS keeps it clean with sheets and popovers. Scene Cards saves in an open document format — your data is always yours. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Joplin4 screens
Scene Cards2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Joplin at none against Scene Cards's 1. Scene Cards's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs monthly). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Scene Cards sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $14.99 per year. Joplin asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Joplin ships an update monthly, Scene Cards every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Joplin versus Scene Cards: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJoplinScene Cards
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (473 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings473 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.6
Further details — not scored
Size73 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLaurent CozicKeith Tunney

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

Scene Cards

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Joplin

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Scene Cards

Subscriptions1
  • Scene Cards Pro7 Days trial$14.991 Year

Questions

Is Joplin free?
Joplin is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Scene Cards free?
Scene Cards is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Joplin or Scene Cards have ads?
Neither Joplin nor Scene Cards shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Joplin or Scene Cards?
Joplin ships an update monthly, and Scene Cards every 2 days. Most recently, Joplin was updated on September 20, 2026 and Scene Cards on September 16, 2026.

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