Minute Notes vs Benchpad
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β with what reviewers say about each.
Minute Notes
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Capture a thought before it disappears. Minute Notes is a focused notepad for writing, finding, and exporting plain-text notes without an account. Open the app, create a note with one tap, and keep typing. FAST FROM THE FIRST NOTE β’ Create a note with one tap β’ Search across titles and note text β’ Pin important notes to the top β’ Export any note as portable plain text with the system share sheet β’ Use a native split layout built for both iPhone and iPad PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your notes are stored on this device. Minute Notes has no account, no ads, no analytics SDK, and no cloud or upload service. You choose where an exported note goes. Minute Notes is deliberately small: a clear place to capture an idea, find it again, and move it somewhere else when you are ready.
Benchpad
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Benchpad is a scratchpad, not a second brain. Three pads. You name them β Work / Personal / Scratch, Today / This Week / Someday, whatever fits your head. No folders, no tags, no filing decisions. Open, type, close. WRITE WITHOUT DECIDING Every note app asks "where does this go?" before you've written a word. Benchpad doesn't. Three pads means the decision is already made. WORKS ON A PLANE Offline-first, not offline-tolerant. Every keystroke saves to your device before any network request. Sync happens in the background when you're online β and merges conflict-free if you edited on two devices at once. CONSTRAINT IS THE PRODUCT Benchpad is for people who want to write things down β not maintain a system. A note app that knows when to stop. When you can't create infinite folders, you write instead of organizing. Constraint isn't a compromise. It's the product. A REAL EDITOR Headings, checklists, tables, code blocks with syntax highlighting, images, file attachments all with slash commands and a block editor. NO AI. NO ADS. NO DATA MINING. Nothing reads, summarizes, or trains on your notes. Notes are encrypted at rest. Plain markdown β copy everything out anytime, no lock-in. FREE FOREVER, REALLY One pad, the full editor, offline support, sync, and an archive of 100 notes β free, no credit card, no time limit. Pro ($10/year flat) unlocks all three pads, all six themes, attachments, voice-note audio, and Markdown/PDF export. Benchpad is for people who want to write things down β not maintain a system. A note app that knows when to stop.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Minute Notes at none against Benchpad's 1. Benchpad's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 40 months) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Benchpad sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $9.99 per year. Minute Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.
Minute Notes ships an update every 40 months, Benchpad fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 14, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Minute Notes | Benchpad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 40 months | Fortnightly β better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No β better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod β better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 β better |
| Further details β not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 113 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dmitriy Motorin | Gagandeep Singh |
In-app purchases
Minute Notes
No in-app purchases
Benchpad
- Benchpad Pro$9.991 Year









