Comparison

Minimal | Notes vs Noto

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

Head to head
About

Minimal | Notes

This app offers a distraction-free writing environment inspired by meditation. It features collaborative writing, note expiration, and the ability to publish notes as websites. Organize tasks with integrated to-do lists and sync across all your Apple devices.

Highlights
  • Note Lifetime reminders
  • Collaborative writing
  • Publish notes as websites
  • Todo lists sync with Calendar
  • Beautiful formatting
  • Sync across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Features
Read full description

Write with focus. Open your mind with Minimal, a meditation-inspired notes and writing app. Minimal combines thoughtful, modern design with powerful features to deliver a spacious, beautiful writing environment. • Note Lifetime • Collaborative writing • Publish notes as websites • Add Todos to the Calendar app • Beautiful formatting • Sync everywhere: Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch Minimal is a simple yet powerful notes app. Inspired by meditation, nature, and architectural design, Minimal provides a beautiful space to think, write, and organize projects. NOTE LIFETIME The Note Lifetime keeps your notebook fresh and reflective of the present moment. When a note goes unedited for a duration you choose in settings, you’ll be gently notified. This is an opportunity to review the note, act on it, or let it go. COLLABORATIVE WRITING Share notes with friends, family, and teammates. With a gentle design, writing remains focused and tranquil, even as thoughts merge and ideas multiply. Everyone receives changes as notes evolve, and multiple people can make edits at the same time without conflict. FOCUSED + SPACIOUS DESIGN Minimal is designed so only one element is ever in focus. We love the beauty of a blank page – abundant empty space allows for an ease of creative expression. PUBLISH AS WEBSITE Transform notes into beautifully-formatted websites in microseconds. TODO LISTS Todo lists are an effective way to organize projects and complete tasks. Sync with the Calendar app, get things done, and check everything off. BEAUTIFUL FORMATTING Minimal combines Markdown-style formatting with elegant typography. The result is simple, expressive notes that make it easy to think and write. SYNC EVERYWHERE Bring focus to your favorite devices. Minimal is designed for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Cloud Sync is fast, reliable, and invisible. SHARE, EXPORT, IMPORT You’re in control of your notes. Share directly in iMessage, export as PDF or HTML, and use the system share mechanism to take notes anywhere. Importing links + prose into Minimal is just as easy. CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING The best notebook is personal. We made everything in Minimal customizable, from fonts + themes to sorting notes + note actions. You can also build custom workflows using the Shortcuts app. A LITTLE GIFT Wow, thanks for reading. As a little gift for tuning in, these are our favorite musicians -> Somi, Snarky Puppy, and London Grammar. They’re jazzy and introspective, just how we like it. Enjoy. —— For help, write us at team@minimal.app or on Twitter at @minimalnotesapp. To learn about our terms + approach to privacy, visit https://minimal.app/terms. We offer a long free trial and make cancellation easy. After that, Minimal costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. These prices are in USD and may vary by region. Cancel in your iTunes account settings at least 24 hours before renewal.

About

Noto

A modern writing and note-taking application offering powerful text editing tools and extensive organization features. It supports unlimited attachments and various export formats, with optional Pro features for enhanced functionality. Syncs seamlessly across devices.

Highlights
  • Powerful text editing tools
  • Unlimited attachments (Pro)
  • Dark mode
  • iCloud sync
  • Gesture organization
  • Multiple export formats
  • Desktop-class organization
Features
Read full description

Features: - Powerful text editing tools - Bold / Italic / Underline / Strikethrough / Highlight - Number list / Bullet list / Check list - Unlimited attachments (Pro): - Image / Video / Scan / Drawing / File - Table / Block quote / Code / Math Equation - Dark mode - iCloud sync - Organize with gesture - Export to HTML, Markdown, PDF, & JPG - Lock notes (Pro) - Desktop class organization - Drag to reorder your list and paragraph - Drag to organize your notes - Rapid multi select Noto is free to use, including iCloud Sync support. Unlock Noto Pro to enable all features including * Attachments * Note lock * Export * Support future Noto development Terms and Conditions: https://noto.ink/terms Privacy Policy: https://noto.ink/privacy

Screenshots

Minimal | Notes4 screens
Noto4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Noto at freemium against Minimal | Notes's subscription. Noto also leads on ratings volume (1.3K vs 290). Minimal | Notes's advantage is review sentiment (81% vs 68%). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. Minimal | Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Noto sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Minimal | Notes against 4.6 for Noto. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 290 and 1.3K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 81% of Minimal | Notes's written reviews are positive against 68% of Noto's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Minimal | Notes ships an update every 3 weeks, Noto every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Minimal | Notes versus Noto: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMinimal | NotesNoto
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (290 ratings) — better4.6 (1.3K ratings)
Positive reviews81.3% of reviews — better68.3% of reviews
Number of ratings2901.3K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 4 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB87 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTimelessSoysauce Lab

Customer experience

Minimal | Notes

All ratings290 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral3.1%
Negative5.2%
Written reviews374 reviews
Positive81.3%
Neutral6.4%
Negative12.3%

Noto

All ratings1,292 ratings
Positive90.8%
Neutral3.6%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews350 reviews
Positive68.3%
Neutral14.6%
Negative17.1%

User reviews

Minimal | Notes

From 290 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent note-taking app
  • 👍 Beautiful and simple design
  • 🚀 Seamless syncing across devices
  • 👍 Customizable appearance and formatting
  • 🚀 Responsive and helpful developer

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 🔒 Lack of password protection or locking for notes
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model

Noto

From 1.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Smooth and fast
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive UI
  • 🎨 Customizable folders and colors
  • 📁 Excellent organization and hierarchy
  • 💻 Works well across devices

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and sync issues
  • 🔒 Limited free features, requires subscription
  • 📁 Difficulty moving/organizing folders and notes
  • 🖌️ Lack of font/text customization options
  • 🔍 Poor search functionality

Bugs and requests

Minimal | Notes

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when using certain formatting or pasting content
  • Syncing issues between iOS and macOS versions
  • Incompatibility with older macOS versions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to insert images or attachments
  • Improve iCloud sync reliability
  • Implement a folder-based organization system
  • Add a word/character count feature

Noto

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Syncing issues between devices
  • Folders and notes disappearing after updates
  • Crashes when trying to access certain folders
  • Widgets not displaying note content properly

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add tags or keywords for better organization
  • Improve table editing and formatting
  • Implement better export options (PDF, HTML, etc.)
  • Add support for Apple Pencil and handwriting
  • Integrate calendar and reminder features
Show 1 more
  • Allow custom backgrounds and themes

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Minimal | Notes

Subscriptions3
  • Minimal Monthly14 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Minimal Annual14 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Minimal Family Plan14 Days trial$79.991 Year
3 purchases

Noto

Subscriptions2
  • Noto Pro Monthly3 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Noto Pro Yearly7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Noto Lifetime$24.99

Questions

Is Minimal | Notes free?
Minimal | Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Noto free?
Noto is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Minimal | Notes or Noto?
Minimal | Notes is rated higher. Minimal | Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 290 ratings, while Noto averages 4.6 from 1.3K ratings.
Do Minimal | Notes or Noto have ads?
Neither Minimal | Notes nor Noto shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Minimal | Notes or Noto?
Minimal | Notes ships an update every 3 weeks, and Noto every 4 weeks. Most recently, Minimal | Notes was updated on September 29, 2026 and Noto on September 25, 2026.

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