Joplin vs LightHouse Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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.
LightHouse Notes
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LightHouse is a calm, private place for notes, documents and ideas on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Write with rich text, checklists, tables, images and attachments. Organize work into Harbors, tags, pinned notes and visual cards. Connect related notes, create calendar events, scan documents, review earlier versions and export or back up your work. Anchor keeps everyday note-taking free with unlimited notes and up to three Harbors. Beacon and Harbor Lifetime unlock unlimited Harbors, fast cross-device synchronization, editing protection, locked notes, scanning, revision history, templates, custom themes and advanced tools. Beacon is an annually renewing subscription; Harbor Lifetime is a one-time purchase for the current LightHouse app and product generation, including LightHouse 2.0. Synchronization uses Apple iCloud and CloudKit with the user’s own Apple Account. LightHouse has no separate developer-operated notes server, no advertising and no third-party behavioral analytics. Document recognition runs on device. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Joplin at none against LightHouse Notes's 2. Joplin also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. LightHouse Notes sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $22.99 per year. Joplin asks for nothing beyond the download.
Joplin ships an update monthly, LightHouse Notes every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Joplin | LightHouse Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.1 (480 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 66.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 480 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 73 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Laurent Cozic | Giorgio Bellini |
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
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- Implement a trash/recycle bin for deleted notes
LightHouse Notes
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Joplin
No in-app purchases
LightHouse Notes
- Beacon$22.991 Year
- Harbor Lifetime$44.99







