Comparison

Plain Note vs Sticky Notes

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

Head to head
About

Plain Note

This app allows you to create and organize notes with customizable tags and icons. It offers lock screen and home screen widgets for quick access and supports character/line counting. Personalize your experience with themes, app icons, and fonts.

Highlights
  • Organize notes with tags
  • Customizable tag icons and colors
  • Character and line counting
  • Lock screen and home screen widgets
  • Customizable themes, app icons, and fonts
  • Archive and organize notes
Features
Read full description

"Plain Note" is a simple notes app. You can organize your notes by adding tags, and it supports lock screen and home screen widgets. It can be used on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Features • You can categorize your notes with tags. • Customize tag icons and colors. • You can count the number of characters and lines. • Archive and organize your notes. • Widgets can be added to the lock screen and home screen. • Customize themes, App icons, and fonts. (Some features are available for a fee.) Premium (in-app purchase) • Sync data with iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud. This can also be used as a backup. • All themes and App icons are available. • All tag icons are available. • All font customizations are available. *Prices may vary by country or region. Please check in the app. *Some features may not be available in all languages or regions. Terms of Use: https://monelyze.app/en/terms/ Privacy Policy: https://monelyze.app/en/privacy

About

Sticky Notes

Pin notes and to-do lists directly to your Home and Lock Screens for quick access. Organize tasks, customize backgrounds with colors or photos, and choose from various fonts. Ideal for reminders, class notes, and visualizing goals.

Highlights
  • Pin notes to Home and Lock Screens
  • Organize tasks by category
  • Customize backgrounds with photos
  • Cute font options
  • Character count display
  • Undo/Redo functionality
Features
Read full description

Sticky Notes is a notepad app you can use just like sticky notes. Pin your memos to the Home Screen so you can see them anytime and edit with a single tap. Now with checklists, bullet lists, numbered lists, and headings — organize shopping lists, to-do lists, tasks, and schedules all in one app. We hope you'll give it a try. ■ App highlights - Pin memos to your Home Screen or Lock Screen for instant access anytime - Show a note on the Lock Screen without placing a widget - Manage shopping and packing lists with checklists — tick items right from the widget - Sort memos by purpose to manage to-dos for work or school - Customize the background with colors or photos to make a notepad that's truly yours - Choose cute fonts and freely adjust the text size ■ Organize with lists and headings Keep shopping lists, to-do lists, and packing lists as checklists. Checked items get a strikethrough, so you can see what's left at a glance. - Checklists — tap to tick off, right from your Home Screen widget - Bullet and dash lists — line up tasks and things to buy - Numbered lists — for steps, recipes, anything where order matters - Headings — use Title, Heading, and Subheading to break up longer notes - Everything looks the same on iPhone, iPad, widgets, and Apple Watch ■ Powerful customization - Background of your choice (color, pattern, or photo) - Switch fonts (handwriting-style and cute fonts available) - Adjust text size, line height, and letter spacing - Change text color - Set your own photo as the background ■ Suggested uses - Keep your schedule, to-dos, and tasks in plain sight on the Home Screen - Build a shopping list as a checklist and tick items off at the store - Pack for a trip with a checklist you tick as you go - Lay out steps or recipes as a numbered list - Break long notes into sections with headings ■ Handy memo features - Character count helps you gauge length for social posts or assists with writing - Undo or redo your latest input with a single tap - Copy the memo's contents with one tap - Share memos to other apps or run various actions from the share sheet ■ Show a Note Large on Your Lock Screen Notes you only need to check for a while — like a shopping list or a packing list — are handy to show on the Lock Screen. Just glance at the screen; there’s no need to unlock. Unlike a widget, you don’t have to set aside space in advance. Show the note from the menu when you need it, and end it once you’re done. - Switch by situation: a shopping list while you shop, a packing list while you travel - You can show several notes at the same time - When you edit the note, the Lock Screen updates too - For notes you want to keep visible all the time, a Lock Screen widget is a better fit ■ Fully optimized for iPad - The note screen is optimized for the iPad's larger display - Full support for window resizing. Side by side with another app or scaled down, the layout adapts to the width automatically - Works with Split View, Slide Over, Stage Manager, and windowed apps - Use the whole screen in portrait or landscape - Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets work on iPad too - Keep a note open next to whatever you're reading or looking up ■ Widget types - Memo widget - Memo list widget - Lock Screen-only widget - Apple Watch widget ■ Get more with Premium Upgrade to Premium to keep the simple feel and unlock even handier extras. Benefit 1. All ads removed Benefit 2. Set your own photos as memo backgrounds (use wallpapers from your favorite anime or manga, family photos, anything you love) Benefit 3. The memo list widget becomes available *The one-time Pro plan supports Family Sharing, so when one family member buys it, everyone in the family can use Premium features. ■ Subscription Please review the following for subscription terms: - Privacy Policy: https://rands-app.com/privacy-policy-en/ - Terms of Use: https://rands-app.com/terms-en/

Screenshots

Plain Note4 screens
Sticky Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Plain Note at none against Sticky Notes's shown. Sticky Notes's advantage is iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Plain Note sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Sticky Notes sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 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 — 4.6 for Plain Note against 4.6 for Sticky Notes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.1K and 501 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 62% of Plain Note's written reviews are positive against 60% of Sticky Notes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Plain Note ships an update every 10 days, Sticky Notes weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Plain Note versus Sticky Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPlain NoteSticky Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (1.1K ratings)4.6 (501 ratings)
Positive reviews62.3% of reviews — better60.3% of reviews
Number of ratings1.1K — better501
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysWeekly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB221 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMonelyze Inc.Shota Yamashita

Customer experience

Plain Note

All ratings1,079 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral3.6%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews106 reviews
Positive62.3%
Neutral13.2%
Negative24.5%

Sticky Notes

All ratings501 ratings
Positive89.8%
Neutral5.4%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews151 reviews
Positive60.3%
Neutral10.6%
Negative29.1%

User reviews

Plain Note

From 1.1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and clean design
  • 💡 One-time payment model
  • 🚀 Beautifully designed notes app
  • 🚀 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 👍 Customizable tags and icons

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Notes sometimes don't save properly
  • 🐛 Slow and unreliable synchronization
  • ❌ No text formatting options (bold, italics, etc.)
  • ❌ No ability to insert photos or videos
  • ❌ No option to export notes

Sticky Notes

From 501 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Convenient and easy to use
  • 👍 Customizable backgrounds and fonts
  • 💡 Ability to add notes to home screen
  • 🚀 Lightweight and fast
  • 👍 Helpful for daily tasks and reminders

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔍 Lack of search functionality
  • 💸 Paid version required for advanced features
  • 🔒 No iCloud sync or cross-device support
  • 🔍 Confusing instructions, mostly in non-English languages

Bugs and requests

Plain Note

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Notes sometimes get deleted after updates
  • Widget not working as expected, showing wrong note

Requested features

7 requests
  • Ability to swipe widget to display another note
  • Subfolders for better organization
  • Export function to backup notes
  • Option to change app colors
  • Support for multiple notes in one widget
Show 2 more
  • Text formatting options (bold, italics, headings)
  • Ability to insert photos and videos

Sticky Notes

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Newly created notes not showing up on home screen
  • Duplicated notes with same content
  • Inability to change default font and background settings
  • Disappearing notes after app updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow text formatting (bold, italic, underline)
  • Add checklist/to-do list functionality
  • Implement iCloud sync and cross-device support
  • Provide option to remove app branding from widget
  • Add ability to set reminders/alarms for notes

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Plain Note

Subscriptions2
  • Premium - Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Premium - Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium - Lifetime$29.99
7 purchases

Sticky Notes

Subscriptions3
  • Ad Hiding$1.991 Month
  • Monthly Plan$2.491 Month
  • Yearly Plan$12.991 Year
One-time4
  • Tip$1.00
  • Generous Tip$5.00
  • Greatest Tip$10.00
Show 1 more
  • Lifetime Plan$19.99

Questions

Is Plain Note free?
Plain Note is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sticky Notes free?
Sticky Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Plain Note or Sticky Notes?
Plain Note and Sticky Notes are both rated 4.6 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1.1K and 501 ratings respectively.
Do Plain Note or Sticky Notes have ads?
Sticky Notes shows ads; Plain Note does not.
Which is updated more often, Plain Note or Sticky Notes?
Plain Note ships an update every 10 days, and Sticky Notes weekly. Most recently, Plain Note was updated on September 22, 2026 and Sticky Notes on September 24, 2026.

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