Comparison

Minimal | Notes vs Blocknotes

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

Blocknotes

This app saves your notes as local HTML files, ensuring complete offline privacy. Your notes sync automatically across devices via iCloud Drive. It requires an iCloud account to function.

Highlights
  • Local HTML file storage
  • Completely offline functionality
  • No internet connection required
  • Automatic iCloud Drive sync
  • Cross-device synchronization
Features
Read full description

Own your data! This app stores your notes as simple, local HTML files. Blocknotes never connects to the internet. It’s completely offline and private. Files are stored in your iCloud Drive, so it automatically syncs across devices. Requires you to be signed in with iCloud.

Screenshots

Minimal | Notes4 screens
Blocknotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Minimal | Notes at 81% against Blocknotes's 25%. Minimal | Notes also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.0) and ratings volume (290 vs 2). Blocknotes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Minimal | Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Blocknotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Minimal | Notes holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Minimal | Notes has 290 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Minimal | Notes's written reviews are positive against 25% of Blocknotes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Minimal | Notes ships an update every 3 weeks, Blocknotes monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Minimal | Notes versus Blocknotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMinimal | NotesBlocknotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (290 ratings) — better4.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews81.3% of reviews — better25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings290 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationSubscriptionFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTimelessAutomattic

Customer experience

Minimal | Notes

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

Blocknotes

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative50.0%

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

Blocknotes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
None

Blocknotes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Minimal | Notes free?
Minimal | Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Blocknotes free?
Blocknotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Minimal | Notes or Blocknotes?
Minimal | Notes is rated higher. Minimal | Notes averages 4.7 out of 5 from 290 ratings, while Blocknotes averages 4.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Minimal | Notes or Blocknotes have ads?
Neither Minimal | Notes nor Blocknotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Minimal | Notes or Blocknotes?
Minimal | Notes ships an update every 3 weeks, and Blocknotes monthly. Most recently, Minimal | Notes was updated on October 4, 2026 and Blocknotes on September 21, 2026.

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