Comparison

Lockbook vs Prism Notes

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

Head to head
About

Lockbook

A secure, open-source note-taking app prioritizing user privacy. It encrypts all your data locally, ensuring only you and authorized users can access your notes. Offers seamless syncing and sharing across devices, with a developer-friendly command-line interface.

Highlights
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Open-source code
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Note sharing
  • Developer CLI
  • No personal data collection
Features
Read full description

Lockbook is an end-to-end encrypted notes app for writing, sketching, storing files, syncing across devices, and collaborating in real time. Your notes are encrypted before they leave your device, so even we can't read them. Lockbook is 100% open source: https://github.com/lockbook/lockbook Fast & Native: We built Lockbook for everyday use because we use Lockbook every day. Our native apps feel at home on every platform, with fast sync, offline support, and a polished Markdown editor for serious notes. Secure: Keep your thoughts to yourself. Lockbook encrypts your notes with keys generated on your devices. Only you and the people you share with can access your notes, folders, sketches, and files. Private: Know your customer? We sure don't. We don't collect your email, phone number, or name. We don't need a password. Lockbook is for people with better things to worry about than privacy. Collaborative: Share folders, edit notes together, and see live updates from collaborators without giving up end-to-end encryption. Open: Write in Markdown, sketch in SVG, and keep your work in formats you can actually use. Honest: Be the customer, not the product. We sell a note-taking app, not your data. Developer Friendly: The Lockbook CLI fits right into your favorite chain of piped-together Unix commands. Search your notes with fzf, edit them with vim, and schedule backups with cron. When scripting doesn't cut it, use our Rust library for a robust programmatic interface. Website: https://lockbook.net Terms of Service: https://lockbook.net/tos License Agreement: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://lockbook.net/privacy-policy

About

Prism Notes

Capture thoughts and links quickly with a familiar texting interface. Organize ideas with AI-suggested tags and develop them across linked threads. Review notes to keep what matters and easily search by keyword or meaning.

Highlights
  • Texting-like note capture
  • AI-suggested tags
  • Threaded idea development
  • Review mode for notes
  • Sync across devices
  • Natural language reminders
  • Lock screen capture
Features
Read full description

Prism is the private place for quick thoughts and links. It feels like texting, rather than writing in a document. Capture easily, organize with tags, develop ideas across threads, review to keep only what matters. Free to try! Features: - Private and on-device - Opt in to iCloud sync between iPhone and Mac - Voice transcription and voice memos - Lock screen widgets for text and voice capture - AI-suggested tags to make organizing easy or automatic AI tagging (requires apple intelligence) - Review mode to keep notes alive or let them go - Threads to evolve a thought and link them together - Search by keyword - Natural language reminders - just say "remind me tomorrow at 2pm" (requires apple intelligence)

Screenshots

Lockbook4 screens
Prism Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Prism Notes at free against Lockbook's freemium. Prism Notes also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs weekly) and iOS requirement (18.6 vs 26.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Lockbook sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per month and Prism Notes sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. 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 — 5.0 for Lockbook against 4.9 for Prism Notes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 32 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Lockbook ships an update weekly, Prism Notes every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Lockbook versus Prism Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLockbookPrism Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (14 ratings) — better4.9 (32 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1432 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS26.018.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size80 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLockbook LLCTommy Joseph

Customer experience

Lockbook

All ratings14 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Prism Notes

All ratings32 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Lockbook

Subscriptions1
  • 30GB$2.991 Month
2 purchases

Prism Notes

One-time2
  • Lifetime Unlock$6.99
  • Lifetime Unlock$12.99

Questions

Is Lockbook free?
Lockbook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Prism Notes free?
Prism Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Lockbook or Prism Notes?
Lockbook is rated higher. Lockbook averages 5.0 out of 5 from 14 ratings, while Prism Notes averages 4.9 from 32 ratings.
Do Lockbook or Prism Notes have ads?
Neither Lockbook nor Prism Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Lockbook or Prism Notes?
Lockbook ships an update weekly, and Prism Notes every 4 days. Most recently, Lockbook was updated on October 2, 2026 and Prism Notes on October 13, 2026.

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