Comparison

Renote vs Second Brain

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

Head to head
About

Renote

This app provides version control for your notes, allowing you to track changes, revert to previous versions, and organize your writing with Markdown support. It automatically backs up your work and lets you recover lost information using tags and backups.

Highlights
  • Version control for notes
  • Revert to previous versions
  • Automatic backups
  • Manual tagging
  • Markdown rendering
  • Organize and stylize notes
Features
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Renote tracks your writings with version control systems. You can add tags anytime you want, then you can revert your notes - renote your notes whenever. Renote also automatically create your back-ups on a regular basis against a rainy day as well as your manual tags. You can recover some critical information from your tags and auto back-ups. We also offer Markdown rendering. Your notes can be organized and stylized beautifully. We offer an in-app purchase to remove all the limitations and fully enjoy Renote. Renote Plus subscriptions purchased in-app renew monthly or yearly depending on your plan. Plan pricing may vary by country. To avoid renewal, you must turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before your subscription ends. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your iTunes account settings. - Your iTunes account will be charged at confirmation of your purchase and auto-renews for the same price and duration period as the original one/twelve month package - Auto-renew may be turned off by going to your Account Settings after purchase and must be turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period - No cancellation of the current upgrade plan is allowed during your active period - Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal Terms of Service: https://oshakana.com/renote/toc Privacy Policy: https://oshakana.com/renote/pp

About

Second Brain

Features
Read full description

Speak or type one messy thought. Second Brain separates every intention, creates the right Apple Reminder, Calendar event, or Markdown update, and shows exactly what changed. Your tasks stay in Apple Reminders, your dates stay in Apple Calendar, and your knowledge stays in ordinary Markdown files you control. VOICE TO ACTION โ€ข Speak or type when one thought contains several intentions โ€ข Attach an existing image or take a photo without leaving the capture โ€ข Turn things you need to do into Apple Reminders โ€ข Put meetings, deliveries, and passive dates into Apple Calendar โ€ข Create, append to, or update the right Markdown page โ€ข Keep dates and times exactly as you expressed them SEE AND CONTROL EVERY CHANGE Each capture keeps your words and a receipt for every result. Review destinations, confirm pending events, retry failures, repair exact duplicates, or undo supported changes. YOUR TOOLS, NOT ANOTHER SILO โ€ข Tasks live in Apple Reminders โ€ข Events live in Apple Calendar โ€ข Context stays in ordinary Markdown files โ€ข Use the recommended iCloud Drive folder, another Files folder, or an Obsidian vault โ€ข Capture from Siri, Shortcuts, widgets, Control Center, the share sheet, or the Action Button KNOWLEDGE WITH SOURCES Ask questions about your pages and inspect linked sources. Search in the app, Siri, or on-device Spotlight. Projects keep notes, pages, reminders, events, and recent activity together. MANAGED INTELLIGENCE Managed Intelligence is an optional monthly or annual App Store subscription for hosted OpenAI processing. The secure service verifies access and limits, stores no request bodies, and deletes temporary results after acknowledgement or within 24 hours. EXTERNAL AI PROVIDER CONNECTIONS Settings > AI & Providers can connect an existing Anthropic or OpenAI developer account as an external service. Second Brain does not sell provider access or include provider sign-up, pricing, or purchase links. The credential stays in Apple Keychain, and requests go directly to the selected provider under that provider's terms. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Before any personal data is sent to an AI service, Second Brain names the recipients and data categories and asks for permission. Choose Use Without AI to keep all AI transmission disabled while local capture, notes, reminders, events, and search remain available. Managed requests go to Second Brain's Cloudflare-hosted service and then OpenAI. Personal-key text requests go directly to OpenAI or Anthropic. Permission can be reviewed or withdrawn in Settings > Privacy & AI. Voice can be transcribed fully on device with Apple Speech, so audio never uploads, or through an optional permission-gated online route. When Online transcription is selected, recordings go to OpenAI directly or through the managed Cloudflare route. Failed or cancelled online uploads preserve the local recording for retry. Photos stay local unless the user includes them in an authorized AI request. There is no Second Brain login, advertising, or tracking. Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics receive content-free product or diagnostic data, never captures, transcripts, audio, chat, files, titles, keys, or model content. The public What Gets Sent view and content-free privacy ledger show the applicable routes and transfers. SUBSCRIPTION TERMS Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel subscriptions in your Apple Account settings. Any trial converts to the selected paid plan unless canceled before the trial ends. Terms of Use: https://second-brain-in-motion.heartsker.chatgpt.site/terms Apple Standard EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://second-brain-in-motion.heartsker.chatgpt.site/privacy

Screenshots

Renote4 screens
Second Brain4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Renote at 10.0 against Second Brain's 18.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Renote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month and Second Brain sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 7 level
Renote versus Second Brain: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRenoteSecond Brain
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 5 daysEvery 5 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS10.0 โ€” better18.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size36 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNooon LLCAleksandr Pustotin

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Renote

Subscriptions2
  • Renote Plus - Monthly Plan$2.491 Month
  • Renote Plus - Annual Plan$25.991 Year
2 purchases

Second Brain

Subscriptions2
  • Second Brain Monthly3 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Second Brain Annual7 Days trial$119.991 Year

Questions

Is Renote free?
Renote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Second Brain free?
Second Brain is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Renote or Second Brain have ads?
Neither Renote nor Second Brain shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Renote or Second Brain?
Renote ships an update every 5 days, and Second Brain every 5 days. Most recently, Renote was updated on November 2, 2026 and Second Brain on November 8, 2026.

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