Comparison

Craft vs Merlin AI

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

Merlin AI

Access multiple advanced AI models for text, image, and video generation, research with sources, and chat with your files. Organize conversations into projects and collaborate with others. Offers a free tier with daily queries and paid upgrades for higher limits.

Highlights
  • Multiple AI models in one app
  • Web research with sources
  • Chat with files and photos
  • Image and video creation
  • Code and app generation (Crafts)
  • Project organization and collaboration
Features
Read full description

Merlin brings the most capable AI models together in one app. Ask questions, research any topic, work through your files, and create images and videos, all from a single chat. Many models, one app Choose from a wide range of leading AI models for writing, coding, reasoning, and quick answers, or turn on Magic and let Merlin pick the right model for each message. Research with sources Merlin can search the web as it answers and shows the sources it used, so you can check where every answer comes from. For bigger questions, deep research gathers and summarizes information into a full report. Chat with your files and photos Snap a photo, pick from your library, or upload a document and ask Merlin about it. Everything you upload is kept in your Vault, ready to reuse in any chat. Create images and videos Generate and edit images, and turn your ideas into short videos with optional audio. Choose the duration and aspect ratio, then save or share the result. Crafts Ask for code, a diagram, a web page, or a small interactive app, and Merlin builds it as a Craft you can preview right in the chat and share with a link. Projects Organize related chats into projects, add files as project knowledge so Merlin keeps the context, and invite others to view or edit with you. Made for your phone - Dictate your messages instead of typing - Get answers in the language you prefer - Light and dark appearance - Share chats with a link Start for free with daily queries. Upgrade to Merlin Pro for higher limits and access to Pro models. AI responses can be inaccurate. Check important information before relying on it. Privacy Policy: https://www.getmerlin.in/privacy-policy Terms and Conditions: https://www.getmerlin.in/terms-and-conditions

Screenshots

Craft4 screens
Merlin AI4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Craft at 85% against Merlin AI's 43%. Craft also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (6.6K vs 789). 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 Merlin AI sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per 7 days. 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 789, 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 43% of Merlin AI's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Craft ships an update every 11 days, Merlin AI every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Craft versus Merlin AI: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCraftMerlin AI
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (6.6K ratings) — better4.5 (789 ratings)
Positive reviews84.6% of reviews — better42.8% of reviews
Number of ratings6.6K — better789
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size345 MB102 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperCraft Docs LimitedFoyer Tech, Inc

Customer experience

Craft

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

Merlin AI

All ratings790 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral3.0%
Negative9.5%
Written reviews215 reviews
Positive42.8%
Neutral9.3%
Negative47.9%

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

Merlin AI

From 789 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and efficient
  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 💡 Variety of AI models
  • 🔥 Powerful and versatile
  • 😊 Helpful and convenient

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Buggy and unreliable
  • ⏱️ Slow response times
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🔍 Misleading advertising
  • 🤔 Inconsistent performance

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

Merlin AI

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Frequent app crashes
  • Overlapping UI elements
  • Incorrect model selection
  • Inability to cancel subscriptions
  • Censorship of user inputs

Requested features

5 requests
  • Shortcut integration for iOS
  • Improved iPad compatibility
  • Ability to save and reuse prompts
  • Enhanced security and privacy features
  • Seamless integration with other apps

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
10 purchases

Merlin AI

Subscriptions7
  • Merlin Pro Weekly$9.997 Days
  • Weekly Merlin Unlimited$10.007 Days
  • Monthly Merlin Unlimited$15.001 Month
Show 4 more
  • Merlin Pro Monthly$20.001 Month
  • Yearly Black Friday$89.991 Year
  • Yearly Merlin Unlimited$100.001 Year
  • Yearly Merlin Unlimited$150.001 Year
One-time3
  • TopUp - 1500 Queries, 7 Days$3.49
  • TopUp - 3000 Queries, 30 Days$4.99
  • TopUp - 10000 Queries, 30 Days$14.00

Questions

Is Craft free?
Craft is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Merlin AI free?
Merlin AI is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Craft or Merlin AI?
Craft is rated higher. Craft averages 4.8 out of 5 from 6.6K ratings, while Merlin AI averages 4.5 from 789 ratings.
Do Craft or Merlin AI have ads?
Neither Craft nor Merlin AI shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Craft or Merlin AI?
Craft ships an update every 11 days, and Merlin AI every 10 days. Most recently, Craft was updated on November 8, 2026 and Merlin AI on November 7, 2026.

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