Comparison

Notebooks vs Airlist

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

Head to head
About

Notebooks

This app helps you write, organize, and manage documents, tasks, and files. It offers flexible writing modes, robust organization tools, and task management features, all while ensuring your data remains accessible and under your control.

Highlights
  • Formatted text, plain text, and Markdown writing
  • Create documents with styles, tables, and attachments
  • Organize with nested hierarchies and 'books'
  • Task management with due dates and checklists
  • Wiki-style linking and backlinks
  • Full-text search
  • Cross-device synchronization
Features
Read full description

Own your notes — forever. Notebooks is a writing and organization app with no subscription, no lock-in, and no worries. Your documents are stored as standard files you can always access, export, or move freely. Pay once. Use for life. Use Notebooks as a personal wiki, Zettelkasten, document archive, task manager, or long-term writing space. Capture quick notes, turn them into actionable tasks, combine text fragments into chapters, organize research, or keep business documents separate from personal journals — without ever switching apps. Designed to help you stay focused and work at your own pace, Notebooks grows with your needs and is always ready to support you. WRITE AND CREATE Create beautifully formatted documents with styles, attachments, tables, checklists, and optional tables of contents. Choose from ready-made styles or design your own. Write in different ways: Formatted text (WYSIWYG) Plain text, with smart handling of lists, automatic character pairing, and a focused writing view Markdown, supporting MultiMarkdown and Discount, with syntax highlighting, dedicated keyboard keys, wiki-style links, and interactive checklists Sketch ideas or annotate images and PDFs using Apple Pencil. STORE AND ORGANIZE Notebooks stores all documents as regular files in standard formats. You always remain in control — no lock-in, no export worries, fully compatible across devices and over time. Organize your work in books and nested hierarchies without limits. Import PDFs, emails, web pages, MS Office and iWork documents, images, audio, video, and more. Use full-text search to find even the most deeply nested document. PLAN AND ACT Turn books into project lists and documents into tasks. Assign due dates and alerts, create nested projects, and track progress naturally — right where your work lives. Use simple checklists in formatted documents or Markdown for lightweight task tracking. STAY FOCUSED Link documents together to build knowledge over time. Use wiki-style links, backlinks, contexts, and smart books to keep everything connected and within reach. When you rename or move documents, links stay intact. A PLACE YOU CAN RELY ON Sync your documents between iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. Work on documents stored in other apps, compile selections into PDFs or eBooks, scan documents and extract text using OCR, and trust that your data stays accessible — now and in the future. With time, Notebooks often becomes the one place users rely on to keep everything that matters close at hand. WHAT USERS SAY “Notebooks is a wonderful app — sophisticated in an unassuming way. I feel more productive without spending time managing the app itself.” “You are GTD in every way that makes it efficient — and makes me efficient.”

About

Airlist

Organize your thoughts, ideas, and tasks with an intuitive outliner. Create nested lists for groceries, projects, or anything else, and sync them across all your Apple devices. Features include widgets, dark mode, and advanced search.

Highlights
  • Infinitely nested lists
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • Dark Mode support
  • Advanced saved searches
  • Easy export and import
Features
Read full description

A delightful outliner for your dreams, ideas, lists, and projects. == Native iOS app - Built natively for iPhone, iPad and Mac == Delightful, beautiful lists - Easily create beautiful infinitely nested lists of groceries to buy, movies to watch, books to read, projects to complete, or anything you can dream of. - Zoom in on any note, showing only what you need to focus on. == Sync everywhere and stay organized on all your devices - Airlist syncs across all your iOS devices. == Dates Done Right - Start and Due Dates? Yes. - Start and Due TIMES? You bet. - Repeat after complete or custom schedule? Of course. == Loaded with features not distractions - Get in, get out. Beautiful design. Intuitive UI. - Airlist is simple at its core and advanced where you need. == Plus so much more - Widgets (Home and Lock Screen) - Unlimited Items. Infinite Zoom. - Dark Mode - Automatic Sync - Drag and Drop - Backlinks and References - Keyboard Shortcuts - Tags - Easy export and import - Beautiful formatting - Advanced Saved Searches Privacy Policy: https://airlist.app/privacy Terms of Service: https://airlist.app/terms

Screenshots

Notebooks4 screens
Airlist4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Airlist at Free against Notebooks's $17.99. Notebooks's advantage is ratings volume (1.1K vs 16) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On rating, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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

Airlist is free to download; Notebooks costs $17.99 up front. Notebooks sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and Airlist sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 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 — 4.7 for Notebooks against 4.7 for Airlist. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notebooks has 1.1K ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Notebooks's written reviews are positive against 85% of Airlist's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Notebooks versus Airlist: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotebooksAirlist
Price$17.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (1.1K ratings) — better4.7 (16 ratings)
Positive reviews82.3% of reviews84.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.1K — better16
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB33 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAlfons SchmidLogerhaus, LLC

Customer experience

Notebooks

All ratings1,069 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.7%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews215 reviews
Positive82.3%
Neutral5.6%
Negative12.1%

Airlist

All ratings15 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral7.7%
Negative7.7%

Bugs and requests

Notebooks

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Data loss after iOS upgrades
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved Markdown support
  • More font and color customization options
  • Better Apple Watch integration
  • Export to Word format

Airlist

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Notebooks

One-time4
  • Small Tip$0.99
  • Custom Storage Locations$2.99
  • Medium Tip$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Generous Tip$4.99
2 purchases

Airlist

Subscriptions2
  • Airlist Premium Monthly1 Month trial$2.991 Month
  • Airlist Premium Yearly1 Month trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Notebooks free?
Notebooks costs $17.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Airlist free?
Airlist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Notebooks or Airlist?
Notebooks is rated higher. Notebooks averages 4.7 out of 5 from 1.1K ratings, while Airlist averages 4.7 from 16 ratings.
Do Notebooks or Airlist have ads?
Neither Notebooks nor Airlist shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notebooks or Airlist?
Notebooks ships an update monthly, and Airlist monthly. Most recently, Notebooks was updated on October 29, 2026 and Airlist on October 30, 2026.

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