Comparison

Craft vs Essayist

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

Head to head
About

Craft

This app helps you organize your thoughts, manage tasks, and boost productivity with an AI assistant. Create structured documents, plan your day, and connect with other tools for a seamless workflow across all your devices.

Highlights
  • AI Assistant for research and writing
  • Structured document creation
  • Native task management system
  • Daily notes and calendar view
  • Offline access and sync
  • Integrations with other tools
Features
Read full description

Unleash your creativity and take control of your plans with Craft, a productivity app that transforms how you write, organize, and get things done. Create structured documents, manage tasks, organize your knowledge with Collections, and chat about it all with the AI Assistant. With seamless sync across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web, your workspace is always ready, online or offline. WRITE ANYWHERE, ANYTIME Your best ideas don’t wait for an internet connection. Work seamlessly offline with full access to all features, then let your changes sync automatically when you reconnect. Whether you’re on iPhone, iPad, or Mac, Craft keeps your writing experience consistent and powerful. AI ASSISTANT IS THERE TO HELP For seamless research, text editing, or searching across your entire knowledge base, Craft’s AI Assistant keeps you in flow on every device you use Craft on. Powered by advanced large language models, it finds any note, answers questions based on your content, and helps you stay on top of your knowledge without making you maintain a strict organizational system. BUILT-IN TASK MANAGEMENT Turn your ideas into action with our native Tasks system. Capture tasks as they emerge in your notes, manage them in a dedicated Inbox, and access them from any page with the Assistant’s help. Set target dates, due dates, and reminders to stay on track. With a unified tasks view, it’s the perfect balance between AI-powered fluidity and a dedicated, always-available space. STAY ON TOP OF YOUR DAY Make daily planning effortless with Daily Notes. Capture quick thoughts, plan your schedule, track tasks, or maintain your personal journal, all in one dedicated space. Switch to the calendar view to visualize your progress, reflect on your week, and understand how your days are shaping up. CONNECT YOUR DOCS TO OTHER TOOLS Turn Craft into the home for your whole workflow. Connect your documents to popular AI chat tools and productivity apps using deep integrations and APIs. Save conversations into Craft, pull in tasks, events, or other content from your existing tools, or even use your Craft documents as a CMS for powering a blog or website. EVERYTHING YOU NEED - Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web - Markdown and keyboard shortcuts - Link sharing and web publishing - Version history - Fast, reliable sync - Advanced integrations and API support - AI-powered Assistant - Incredible customer support WHAT’S NEW Craft Assistant: your smart partner to brainstorm, research, and write. It can help you find your notes across your space, rewrite and summarize documents, all while keeping you in the flow. MCP & API: connect Craft to AI models and other tools in your productivity stack, turning it into an organizational layer and live memory. Whiteboards: turn thoughts into visuals with a spacious canvas for sketching ideas, mapping projects, and collaborating creatively. QUESTIONS? Contact us on X at @craftdocs or email feedback@craft.do SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS If you purchase a Craft subscription, you’ll be charged via the payment method associated with your Apple ID. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period. You can turn off auto-renewal at any time in your account settings on the App Store. Craft subscriptions are available as one-month and 12-month packages. Prices may vary depending on country and are subject to change without notice. Current subscriptions cannot be canceled during the active subscription period. If you don’t choose to purchase a Craft subscription, you can continue using Craft for free. Terms of service: https://www.craft.do/terms Privacy policy: https://www.craft.do/privacy

About

Essayist

This app simplifies academic writing by automatically formatting essays in various styles like APA, MLA, and Chicago. It includes a universal reference manager, citation tools, and equation support, allowing for distraction-free writing and easy export to PDF or Word.

Highlights
  • Automatic essay formatting
  • Universal reference manager
  • In-text citation and footnote insertion
  • LaTeX equation support
  • Export to PDF and Word
  • Minimalist interface
Features
Read full description

Try Essayist for free today! "Mac App of the Year 2025" — Apple "App of the Day" — Apple "Editors' Choice" — Apple "A-Plus Apps for Students" — Apple "Mac Essentials" — Apple No more fighting margins, hanging indents, or citation formatting. Essayist streamlines academic writing so you can concentrate on your ideas while it takes care of formatting, citations, references, footnotes, page setup, and more. AUTOMATIC FORMATTING Essayist automatically formats margins, fonts, spacing, headings, page numbers, references, citations, footnotes, figures, tables, and other essential elements. UNIVERSAL REFERENCE MANAGER Store and organize references with iCloud, then use them across multiple essays. Add sources through built-in search, Google Scholar, URLs, BibTeX, or manual entry. Essayist formats each source and adds it to your references or works cited list automatically. ZOTERO IMPORT Import your Zotero references and start using them in Essayist. CITATIONS Quickly insert in-text citations, footnotes, and endnotes with the click of a button. CITATION STYLES Choose from APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, Harvard, IEEE, AMA, Vancouver, and more than 10,000 other styles. EQUATIONS Add equations using LaTeX. FIGURES & TABLES Insert fully formatted figures and tables with captions, numbering, titles, and notes. Cross-reference them throughout your essay. ABSTRACT, APPENDICES & TABLE OF CONTENTS Easily add an abstract, appendices, and an automatically generated table of contents. WRITE ANYWHERE, STAY IN SYNC Your essays and references sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud, so you can start on one device and finish on another — even offline. YOUR WORK IS YOURS No ads, no selling your data, no lock-in — export anytime as PDF or Word. EXPORT Export your essays as PDF or Word documents. MINIMAL INTERFACE Write in a clean, distraction-free workspace with customizable themes, backgrounds, and dark mode. MORE • Available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac with universal purchase • US Letter and A4 paper sizes • Times New Roman and Arial fonts • Word and page counts • Spell check, auto-completion, and auto-capitalization • Accessibility support REGULAR UPDATES Have a feature request or found an issue? Contact us at contact@essayist.app. PRICING Essayist is free to download and includes a free trial of Essayist Pro. Pro is available as a monthly or yearly subscription. Terms of Use: https://www.iubenda.com/terms-and-conditions/82031685 Privacy Policy: https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/82031685

Screenshots

Craft4 screens
Essayist4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Craft at free with in-app purchases against Essayist's subscription. Craft also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and review sentiment (85% vs 61%). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Craft sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Essayist sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Craft holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Craft has 6.6K ratings behind it against 429, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Craft's written reviews are positive against 61% of Essayist's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Craft ships an update every 11 days, Essayist fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Craft versus Essayist: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCraftEssayist
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (6.6K ratings) — better4.5 (429 ratings)
Positive reviews84.6% of reviews — better60.5% of reviews
Number of ratings6.6K — better429
Update frequencyEvery 11 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size345 MB82 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCraft Docs LimitedEssayist Software Inc.

Customer experience

Craft

All ratings6,633 ratings
Positive97.1%
Neutral1.0%
Negative1.9%
Written reviews1,641 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral6.1%
Negative9.3%

Essayist

All ratings423 ratings
Positive86.5%
Neutral3.1%
Negative10.4%
Written reviews185 reviews
Positive60.5%
Neutral8.6%
Negative30.8%

User reviews

Craft

From 6.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Absolutely amazing
  • 👍 Beautiful, clean, simple, increasingly powerful
  • 👍 Fantastic Essential App
  • 👍 Intuitive and easy to use
  • 👍 Seamless sync between devices

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🐛 Crashes after recent update
  • 🔍 Lack of customization options (e.g. font size)
  • 🔍 Inconsistent and confusing UI conventions
  • 🔍 Lack of basic features like tags and tables

Essayist

From 429 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 👍 Helpful for academic writing
  • 🚀 Saves time on formatting
  • 👍 Accurate citations
  • 👍 Intuitive interface

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and crashes
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns
  • 🔒 Locked features behind paywall
  • 🔧 Limited functionality

Bugs and requests

Craft

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when using voice control dictation
  • Inconsistent behavior when rearranging notes
  • Exporting to PDF creates blank first page

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for tables and columns
  • Implement tagging system for better organization
  • Improve text editing and formatting options
  • Integrate with more third-party apps and services
  • Add graph view for visualizing note connections

Essayist

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App crashes when trying to add references
  • Formatting issues when copying and pasting
  • Inability to edit title pages and section headings
  • Inconsistent behavior across devices (iPad vs. Mac)
  • Issues with in-text citations and reference lists

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more citation styles (e.g. MHRA, Vancouver)
  • Improve table and image handling
  • Integrate with reference managers like Zotero
  • Add grammar and spell check tools
  • Allow more customization of templates and formatting
Show 1 more
  • Improve export functionality to preserve formatting

In-app purchases

9 purchases

Craft

Subscriptions9
  • Plus Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • Legacy - Monthly Subscription$10.991 Month
  • Family Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$17.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • Team Monthly Subscription$59.991 Month
  • Plus Annual Subscription1 Year trial$95.991 Year
  • Legacy - Annual Subscription$99.991 Year
  • Family Annual Subscription1 Year trial$179.991 Year
  • Business Monthly Subscription2 variants$299.001 Month
  • Team Annual Subscription$599.001 Year
4 purchases

Essayist

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Subscription3 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription3 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$39.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$79.991 Year

Questions

Is Craft free?
Craft is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Essayist free?
Essayist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Craft or Essayist?
Craft is rated higher. Craft averages 4.8 out of 5 from 6.6K ratings, while Essayist averages 4.5 from 429 ratings.
Do Craft or Essayist have ads?
Neither Craft nor Essayist shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Craft or Essayist?
Craft ships an update every 11 days, and Essayist fortnightly. Most recently, Craft was updated on November 1, 2026 and Essayist on October 29, 2026.

Other comparisons