Comparison

CardBeat vs Story Plotter

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

Head to head
About

CardBeat

This app provides a digital cork board for writers to plot novels, screenplays, or short stories. It allows users to break down stories into acts, sequences, and scenes, and rearrange them freely. Users can customize cards with colors, lines, or grids, and choose from various drawing tools or keyboard input.

Highlights
  • Digital cork board for story plotting
  • Structure stories into acts, sequences, and scenes
  • Rearrange plot elements freely
  • Customizable cards with colors and backgrounds
  • Multiple drawing tools and keyboard input
  • Export boards as PDF
  • iCloud syncing
Read full description

CardBeat is a simple yet powerful tool for plotting your novel, screenplay or short story. It's a digital cork board that keeps all the fun things about working with index cards – and gets rid of all the rest. - Easily break your story into acts, sequences and scenes, structure your plots and shuffle them around as much as you like – all without wasting ink or paper. - Use cards in different colors, with lines or grids printed on them. - Choose between three different kinds of pencils in various sizes and an almost infinite amount of colors. - Don't have an Apple Pencil? CardBeat lets you draw just as easily with you finger. - Don't like your handwriting or prefer a cleaner look? CardBeat takes keyboard input, too! - Move your cards around freely in any dimension, without the limits of grids or table cells. - Need feedback from a colleague? Export your board as a PDF for easy sharing. - Want to use CardBeat in a Writers' Room? Connect any screen or projector to your iPad or iPhone and get a crisp overview of the board you're working on. CardBeat also has world-class privacy, with no third-party analytics or ad trackers and a simple off switch for iCloud synching.

About

Story Plotter

This app helps you craft compelling stories for novels, comics, movies, and more. It offers tools for organizing ideas, developing characters and their relationships, and structuring plot points. AI-powered brainstorming and time-series visualization assist in overcoming writer's block.

Highlights
  • Idea Note
  • Plot Note
  • Plot creation function
  • AI Brainstorming
  • Character Correlation & Family Tree
  • Time series with World Setting
  • Theme Setting
Features
Read full description

This is strong plot creation app that support - Novel - Manga - Movie - Drama - Secondary creation - TRPG Scenario - Script If you are worried about the following, we will suggest to use this App. - I don't know what the plot looks like - I can't organize the flow of the story and get confused - I want to create attractive characters, want to organize relationships - Lots of incidents, but unmanageable. This app is fully packed with the essences of more than 15 script reference books, including "Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting" and “save the cat”, called the scripture Bible. This app will lead you to an interesting screenplay !!! ** Features ** This app have - Idea Note - Plot Note and - Plot creation function So, You can easily create plot using stored idea!! In addition, functions also available to support you. - Brainstorming with AI - Correlation & Family Tree with Character setting - Time series with World Setting - Theme Setting By deepening these, you can escape from stack writing plot ** Postscript ** Unless you have permission, this App does not send any creative data to the internet, so you can use it safe. ** SubScribe ** For $4/month, we offer automatic data synchronization across multiple devices. All features other than automatic data synchronization will continue to be available free of charge. ** Terms and Conditions ** Please see this link for the Terms and Conditions By installing the application, you agree to the Terms and Conditions. Terms and Conditions : https://storyplotter.net/term/pc/en.html Privacy Policy : https://storyplotter.net/privacypolicy/pc/en.html

Screenshots

CardBeat4 screens
Story Plotter4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Story Plotter at 4.4 against CardBeat's 3.5. Story Plotter also leads on review sentiment (80% vs 46%) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. CardBeat sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Story Plotter sells 4 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

Story Plotter holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Story Plotter has 193 ratings behind it against 33, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of CardBeat's written reviews are positive against 80% of Story Plotter's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CardBeat ships an update every 2 months, Story Plotter every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 15, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
CardBeat versus Story Plotter: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCardBeatStory Plotter
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.5 (33 ratings)4.4 (193 ratings) — better
Positive reviews45.8% of reviews80.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings33193 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB193 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStefan StuckmannHajime Hata

Customer experience

CardBeat

All ratings33 ratings
Positive60.6%
Neutral12.1%
Negative27.3%
Written reviews24 reviews
Positive45.8%
Neutral29.2%
Negative25.0%

Story Plotter

All ratings193 ratings
Positive83.9%
Neutral7.3%
Negative8.8%
Written reviews126 reviews
Positive80.2%
Neutral10.3%
Negative9.5%

Bugs and requests

CardBeat

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Story Plotter

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Deleting previous work without warning
  • Crashing when trying to edit thumbnails or move characters
  • Syncing and data transfer issues between devices
  • Bluetooth keyboard compatibility problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to pull photos from external sources
  • Implement a collaborative feature for co-writing
  • Add more customization options for character profiles
  • Improve the character relationship diagram functionality
  • Expand timeline options beyond just years/months/days

In-app purchases

1 purchases

CardBeat

One-time1
  • Pro Upgrade$19.99
4 purchases

Story Plotter

Subscriptions2
  • Data Sync(half price)7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Device Synchronize7 Days trial$3.491 Month
One-time2
  • Number of Image Generations$0.49
  • Releasing AI Limitations$2.99

Questions

Is CardBeat free?
CardBeat is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Story Plotter free?
Story Plotter is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, CardBeat or Story Plotter?
Story Plotter is rated higher. CardBeat averages 3.5 out of 5 from 33 ratings, while Story Plotter averages 4.4 from 193 ratings.
Do CardBeat or Story Plotter have ads?
Neither CardBeat nor Story Plotter shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CardBeat or Story Plotter?
CardBeat ships an update every 2 months, and Story Plotter every 2 weeks. Most recently, CardBeat was updated on August 15, 2026 and Story Plotter on September 23, 2026.

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