Minimal | Notes vs freewrite.
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Note Lifetime reminders
- Collaborative writing
- Publish notes as websites
- Todo lists sync with Calendar
- Beautiful formatting
- Sync across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
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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.
freewrite.
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I'm Farseen Dev who ported farza's mac app to react native Word from farza : Hi. Welcome to Freewrite :). Plz read this guide. I beg of you. It's 5 min max. My name is Farza. I made this app. This is not a journaling app or a note-taking app. If you use it for that, you'll probably use it once or twice, and then never touch it again. This is a tool purely to help you freewrite. Freewriting is a writing strategy developed in 1973 — it's where you write continuously for a set time without worrying about grammar, spelling, or anything like that. A pure stream of consciousness. I picked up freewriting many years ago. It's led to real breakthroughs — like helping me untangle big feelings around shutting down my last company, reflecting on my relationships, and figuring out what actually matters to me as I continuously figure out the next chapter of life. asdfasdf Using this app is actually super simple: 1. Think of a topic to write about (ex. a breakup, a struggle at work, a new idea) 2. Start the timer 3. Start writing. No backspaces allowed. Don't stop writing. Once the timer is done, it'll fade back in — and you'll know to stop. That's it. Some basic rules: - Again, no backspaces - No fixing spelling - Little 5–10s breaks are fine, but try to not stop typing - No need to stay on the topic you started with — let your mind wander - No judgment — trust your mind! It's like your brain is GPT and you just exhaust all the tokens in your head around a particular topic — and by the end, you'll likely feel clearer about whatever it was you were writing about. I know 15m can sound scary for some. What do you even write about. If you're new to writing, try this: Before you start your working day, open this app and do a 15m session answering this simple question: "What am I working on today? Why is that the most important thing for me to work on?" And don't stop writing for 15 minutes. This little session is how I planned and prioritized my days for many years. Do this for 3-days straight. I find this is an easy way to get into writing. Once you finish a freewrite session, click "Chat". It'll push your entry to any of your favourite ai assistant of your choice by copy pasting the prompt to it to help you reflect. I also baked in my custom prompt I've been using for months. This little thing has helped me so much. AI is really good at helping make connections you might not see. I hope it helps you too. Freewriting is the most important skill I picked up in the last 10 years. It's helped me think through my most difficult life decisions. It's helped me think through startups in a more thorough way. It's made me a better partner and friend (I like communicating with letters). It's helped me be happier (on my down days, I write it all out and feel better). So that's it! That's the app. I hope freewriting helps you. – Farza
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: freewrite. at none against Minimal | Notes's 3. freewrite. also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). Minimal | Notes's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Minimal | Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. freewrite. asks for nothing beyond the download.
Minimal | Notes ships an update every 3 weeks, freewrite. every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Minimal | Notes | freewrite. |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (290 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 81.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 290 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Subscription | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Timeless | Mohammad Farseen Manekhan |
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
freewrite.
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Minimal | Notes
- Minimal Monthly14 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Minimal Annual14 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Minimal Family Plan14 Days trial$79.991 Year
freewrite.
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Minimal | Notes free?
Is freewrite. free?
Do Minimal | Notes or freewrite. have ads?
Which is updated more often, Minimal | Notes or freewrite.?
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