# Joplin vs LightHouse Notes

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.

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.

## The numbers

| Metric | Joplin | LightHouse Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.1 (480 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joplin/id1315599797/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **480** | — |
| Positive reviews | 66.5% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Monthly | **Every 3 weeks** |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Size | 73 MB | 9 MB |
| Requires iOS | **15.6** | 17.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Laurent Cozic](https://appshunter.io/developer/1315599796) | [Giorgio Bellini](https://appshunter.io/developer/6787420438) |

## 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


### LightHouse Notes

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/lighthouse-notes/id6796986640)

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Beacon | $22.99 | per year |
| Harbor Lifetime | $44.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Joplin free?

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

### Is LightHouse Notes free?

LightHouse Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Do Joplin or LightHouse Notes have ads?

Neither Joplin nor LightHouse Notes shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Joplin or LightHouse Notes?

Joplin ships an update monthly, and LightHouse Notes every 3 weeks. Most recently, Joplin was updated on November 2, 2026 and LightHouse Notes on November 6, 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.*