Comparison

Diarly vs DayNote

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

Head to head
About

Diarly

A private journaling app that allows users to record daily thoughts, moods, and memories. It offers features like mood tracking, journal prompts, and secure password protection. The app helps users build a personal timeline of their life, one entry at a time.

Highlights
  • Private journaling and diary
  • Mood tracking and insights
  • Journal prompts and templates
  • Password protection and encryption
  • iCloud sync across Apple devices
  • Photo, video, and audio attachments
Features
Read full description

You don't need a free hour or the right words to keep a journal. Start with five minutes and one honest sentence. Write with your first coffee, on the train home, or in the quiet before sleep. A journal grows the same way a life does: one ordinary day at a time. Diarly is a private journal, diary, and notes app for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Each entry becomes part of a personal timeline you can search, revisit, and keep. DAILY JOURNAL, DIARY, AND PRIVATE NOTES Use Diarly as a daily journal or diary, a gratitude journal, a travel journal, a mood diary, a photo journal, a voice journal, or private notes with a password. Create separate journals, or keep dated entries and undated notes together. Diarly Free includes one journal with unlimited entries and media. Add photos, videos, drawings, audio, tags, locations, weather, and calendar details. Write in Markdown and organize notes, lists, ideas, plans, and quotes. MOOD TRACKER AND JOURNAL INSIGHTS The built-in mood tracker makes it easy to log how you feel. You can also save your mood and feelings to Apple Health. Mood Calendar and Insights show how your logged moods change over time, gently highlighting lighter or heavier stretches without judging what they mean. Diarly can be used as a private mental health journal for writing about thoughts, feelings, stress, or anxiety. It is a journaling and reflection tool, not a medical or mental health tracker. JOURNAL PROMPTS, TEMPLATES, AND DAILY WRITING Journal prompts and reusable templates make daily journaling easier to begin. Build a journal template with a prompt, weather, location, calendar events, today's photos, or Apple Health details such as sleep, steps, and workouts. These optional details can support a sleep journal, fitness journal, or health journal without analyzing your health. The Today view gives you a quick glimpse of your journal through a customizable feed of recent entries, mood check-ins, writing suggestions, quotes, tags, calendar events, and On This Day memories. Reminders, writing goals, and journal streaks help you return without making the diary another chore. FIND AND REVISIT YOUR MEMORIES Search finds entries and notes by words, tags, moods, and dates. Timeline and Calendar organize daily entries by date. Map shows travel journal entries saved with a location. Gallery gathers journal photos, videos, and drawings. On This Day recalls earlier years. PRIVATE DIARY WITH PASSWORD AND ICLOUD SYNC Your journal stays on your device. Premium syncs your diary through your personal iCloud Drive. There is no separate account to create, and we never store your journal on our servers. Lock the app with a password, Face ID, or Touch ID for free. Premium adds encryption for the text of your entries and private notes. The app is built exclusively for Apple devices. One Premium subscription covers iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch and adds iCloud sync, multiple journals, encryption, themes, export formats, and the AI Assistant. IMPORT, EXPORT, AND KEEP YOUR JOURNAL Import journals from Apple Journal, Day One, Journey, Stoic, Evernote, Markdown, and CSV. Export your journal to Markdown, PDF, Rich Text, and HTML so your writing remains readable outside the app. AI+ is a separate optional subscription. It lets you transcribe audio journal entries into text and use OCR to extract text from photos. Your journal remains yours, whether you write a daily diary, track moods, collect memories, or keep private notes. Help Guides → https://diarly.app/help Privacy Policy → https://diarly.app/privacy Terms of Use (EULA) → https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

DayNote

This app provides a guided journaling experience to help users reflect on their day. It prompts users with questions about learning, achievements, good experiences, and areas for improvement, allowing them to record thoughts via typing or voice. Users can revisit past entries to track their perspective and notice positive moments.

Highlights
  • Guided daily reflection questions
  • Voice and text entry options
  • Review past entries
  • Focus on positive experiences
  • Track personal growth
Features
Read full description

End your day with a clearer head. Some days pass in a blur. Others leave you with plenty on your mind. DayNote gives you a place to pause, put your thoughts into words, and remember what mattered. Start with four simple questions: • What did you learn? • What did you achieve? • What were your good experiences? • What can you improve? Your answers don’t need to be profound. A small win, an unexpected lesson, or a moment you want to remember is enough. WRITE IT DOWN. TALK IT THROUGH. Type your thoughts or record them in your own voice. NOTICE THE GOOD. Give the little things a place alongside the big ones. A kind conversation. Something you finally finished. A day that turned out better than you expected. MAKE ROOM FOR REFLECTION. Explore what went well and what you’d like to do differently. Write a few words or take your time. LOOK BACK ON YOUR DAYS. Revisit your entries to remember experiences, rediscover lessons, and see how your perspective has changed. COME BACK WHEN YOU CAN. Reflect each evening or whenever you need a moment to yourself. You don’t need a perfect routine to begin. Take a moment for today. Leave something for tomorrow. You may read more about our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy here: Terms of Service: https://goo.gl/qKXvYk Privacy Policy: https://www.zaminiti.com/daynote-privacy-policy

Screenshots

Diarly4 screens
DayNote4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Diarly at 85% against DayNote's 50%. Diarly also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 49 months) and ratings volume (1.5K vs 10). DayNote's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 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. Diarly sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and DayNote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Diarly holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Diarly has 1.5K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Diarly's written reviews are positive against 50% of DayNote's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Diarly ships an update fortnightly, DayNote every 49 months. Both last shipped on November 11, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Diarly versus DayNote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiarlyDayNote
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (1.5K ratings) — better4.4 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews84.7% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1.5K — better10
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 49 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size281 MB82 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperKrzysztof NowakZaminiti Pty Ltd

Customer experience

Diarly

All ratings1,475 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.7%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews923 reviews
Positive84.7%
Neutral7.0%
Negative8.2%

DayNote

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Diarly

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Entries disappearing after app updates
  • Inability to password protect individual journals

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to add reminders and notifications
  • Option to organize entries into folders
  • Support for Markdown formatting and backlinking
  • Improved export and backup functionality

DayNote

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Diarly

Subscriptions5
  • Monthly AI+$1.991 Month
  • Monthly Premium$2.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium7 Days trial$24.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Premium Journal – Yearly Plan7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Yearly Premium7 Days trial$29.991 Year
2 purchases

DayNote

Subscriptions2
  • DayNote Premium (1 Month)$1.491 Month
  • DayNote Premium (1 Year)$8.991 Year

Questions

Is Diarly free?
Diarly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DayNote free?
DayNote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Diarly or DayNote?
Diarly is rated higher. Diarly averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.5K ratings, while DayNote averages 4.4 from 10 ratings.
Do Diarly or DayNote have ads?
Neither Diarly nor DayNote shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Diarly or DayNote?
Diarly ships an update fortnightly, and DayNote every 49 months. Most recently, Diarly was updated on November 11, 2026 and DayNote on November 11, 2026.

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