Comparison

Notesnook vs Formulair

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

Head to head
About

Notesnook

This open-source app offers secure, encrypted note-taking and organization across all your devices. It features a robust editor, to-do lists, and a private journal with advanced security to protect your personal information.

Highlights
  • Military-grade encryption
  • Cross-platform synchronization
  • To-do lists and task management
  • Private journal with media support
  • Rich text and Markdown editor
  • Notebook organization
  • App lock with fingerprint support
Features
Read full description

Your notes are yours. Notesnook encrypts every one of them on your device before it ever reaches the cloud — so no one can read them. Not advertisers, not us. UNLIMITED NOTES. EVERY DEVICE. FREE. Most note apps cap the free plan until it hurts. Others stop after a few dozen notes. Notesnook never limits how much you write or how many devices you sync. A REAL EDITOR Headings, tables, code blocks, maths, outlines, Markdown and full-quality images. Notes that hold up whether you are writing a shopping list or a thesis chapter. ORGANISED AT ANY SIZE Nested notebooks, tags, colours, pinned and favourite notes, and search that stays instant at 10,000 notes. Link notes to each other and build your own private wiki. PRIVACY YOU CAN CHECK YOURSELF • End-to-end encryption is always on — you cannot switch it off, so you cannot forget • Encrypted on your device, in transit and at rest, using XChaCha20-Poly1305 and Argon2 • Even your notebook and tag names are encrypted • 100% open source under AGPLv3 — read every line, or run your own sync server • Recommended by Privacy Guides IMPORT YOUR OLD NOTES Bring your notes, notebooks and tags with you. Import from your previous notes app, plus plain Markdown and HTML files. EVERYWHERE YOU WRITE iPhone, iPad, Mac and the web. Sync is instant, and encrypted the whole way. ALSO INSIDE • Web clipper — save any article, ad-free and offline • Reminders across all your devices • Note version history, so nothing is ever really lost • Publish a note to a shareable link • Dark mode and custom themes FREE FOREVER Unlimited notes, unlimited devices, 50 notebooks, 50 tags and full end-to-end encryption. No ads. No trial countdown. PAID PLANS Add task lists, callouts, recurring reminders, more storage, and — on Pro — app lock, an encrypted vault and full-quality images. From $19.99 a year. Questions or feedback: support@streetwriters.co Privacy policy: https://notesnook.com/privacy Terms: https://notesnook.com/terms

About

Formulair

This app helps perfumers organize raw materials and create fragrance formulas. It allows detailed tracking of ingredients, dilutions, and costs, with tools for scaling and visualizing scent profiles. Export your creations in various formats for sharing or further analysis.

Highlights
  • Raw material organization with detailed cards
  • Formula creation and management
  • Customizable scaling engine
  • Fragrance pyramid and category visualization
  • Dilution tracking and management
  • Formula export to PDF, Markdown, TSV
  • Color-coding for raw materials
Features
Read full description

Designed for apprentice and self-taught perfumers. As easy as using a pen and paper but allows you to make connections between raw materials and formulas which a traditional notebook can't provide. Keep your raw materials organised with collection of cards to store information. Keep track of basic information such as supplier, IFRA limits and cost per gram. Add dates for purchasing your stock and making dilutions to act as a reminder to when raw materials may have gone off. A table summarising concentration in formulas serves to quickly remind you which usage levels you found the most success with. Organise your formulas into custom categories and sketch out new ones with ease. Simply search your raw materials library and set a weight in grams up to 3 decimal places. Mark formula entries as too strong or weak. Change the dilution of a formula entry or swap out a raw material as you please. Formulair makes all of this quick and easy. Features: - A custom scaling engine helps you scale formulas up and down using a scaling factor, target weight or target concentration. - View a fragrance pyramid split into 5 levels of substantivity and a visual raw material category breakdown for each formula. - Keep track of different raw materials' dilutions and change dilutions in formulas using the existing solvent. - Includes a setting to scramble your raw material usage table, hiding sensitive formula information. - Your data is secured by apple in a private iCloud container. - Featuring a carefully designed colour palette, allowing you to assign colours to fully capture the essence your raw materials. - A rich interface supports light and dark mode. Even the raw materials colour palette adapts dynamically. - Raw material cards include a listing of every formula it's used in from strongest to weakest, showing any flags you set for too strong or weak. - Export formulas to pdf allowing you to print and share, markdown to open in note taking software, or tsv (tab-separated value) files, to load into spreadsheet software. Pricing: Formulair allows you to add up to 25 raw materials and up to 25 formulas for free. Once you try to go above this limit, you will be offered a one-time in-app-purchase to buy the full version, which allows you to create unlimited raw materials and formulas.

Screenshots

Notesnook4 screens
Formulair4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Notesnook at every 8 days against Formulair's every 3 weeks. Notesnook also leads on ratings volume (672 vs 190). Formulair's advantage is review sentiment (87% vs 79%). On price, rating, 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. Notesnook sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Formulair sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. 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 Notesnook against 4.8 for Formulair. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 672 and 190 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 79% of Notesnook's written reviews are positive against 87% of Formulair's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notesnook ships an update every 8 days, Formulair every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Notesnook versus Formulair: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotesnookFormulair
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (672 ratings)4.8 (190 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.7% of reviews86.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings672 — better190
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStreetwriters LLCLux & Terra Ltd.

Customer experience

Notesnook

All ratings672 ratings
Positive93.0%
Neutral2.4%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews399 reviews
Positive78.7%
Neutral6.5%
Negative14.8%

Formulair

All ratings190 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral1.6%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews53 reviews
Positive86.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative13.2%

User reviews

Notesnook

From 672 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and efficient
  • 🔒 Secure and private
  • 👍 Clean and intuitive UI
  • 👍 Cross-platform compatibility
  • 👍 Generous free tier

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Sync and login issues
  • 🐛 Buggy and crashes
  • 💰 Expensive premium tier
  • 🔒 Lack of free encryption features

Formulair

From 190 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use interface
  • 💡 Powerful formula calculation
  • 🚀 Efficient organization of materials
  • 💰 Good value for money
  • ✨ Intuitive design

Room to improve

  • 💸 Expensive for some users
  • 🐛 Crashing when deleting categories/materials
  • 🤔 Lacks advanced features for some workflows
  • 🔄 No batch editing of items
  • 📂 Basic material import

Bugs and requests

Notesnook

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes on launch on older iOS devices
  • Sync issues leading to data loss
  • Unreliable login and verification process

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved search functionality
  • Reminders and calendar integration
  • Handwriting and drawing support
  • Multilingual support
  • Improved table and spreadsheet features

Formulair

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App does not open
  • Forgets license after purchase
  • Crashing when deleting material categories or materials
  • Syncing issues between laptop and iPad
  • Cannot remove imported materials all at once

Requested features

24 requests
  • Group formula raw materials by Top, Core, Base
  • Group product printing by Top, Core, Base
  • Allow sub-categories for formula grouping
  • Formula batch log for tracking batches and inventory
  • Copy images into notes fields
Show 19 more
  • General notes section not tied to material/formula
  • Incorporate/calculate accords in formulas
  • More color variations for app/categories
  • Image option to capture raw material appearance
  • Spanish version of the app
  • Additional fields like 'Manufacturer' or 'Country of Origin'
  • Option to add custom fields
  • Accord library option integrated into formulas
  • Extensive CSV library of raw materials for full version
  • Block information of raw materials
  • Export/import Excel data
  • Allow including created fragrances in new formulations
  • Edit printed items
  • Filter by FEMA
  • Ability to use on Windows computer
  • Pairing and correlation between raw materials
  • Save formulas for accords into other formulas
  • Add an ingredient that is treated as a base with its own formula
  • Make adding infusions and tinctures more convenient

In-app purchases

17 purchases

Notesnook

Subscriptions17
  • Notesnook Pro$0.991 Month
  • Notesnook Essential Plan7 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Notesnook Pro$2.491 Month
Show 14 more
  • Notesnook Pro Plan7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Notesnook Pro3 variants$4.491 Month
  • Notesnook Pro1 Month trial$4.491 Month
  • Notesnook Pro Plan7 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • Notesnook Believer Plan7 Days trial$8.991 Month
  • Notesnook Pro$9.991 Year
  • Notesnook Essential Plan14 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Notesnook Pro$24.991 Year
  • Notesnook Pro Plan14 Days trial$29.901 Year
  • Notesnook Pro Yearly$49.991 Year
  • Notesnook Pro2 variants$49.991 Year
  • Notesnook Pro1 Year trial$49.991 Year
  • Notesnook Pro Plan14 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Notesnook Believer Plan14 Days trial$89.991 Year
1 purchases

Formulair

One-time1
  • Full Version$39.99

Questions

Is Notesnook free?
Notesnook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Formulair free?
Formulair is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Notesnook or Formulair?
Formulair is rated higher. Notesnook averages 4.7 out of 5 from 672 ratings, while Formulair averages 4.8 from 190 ratings.
Do Notesnook or Formulair have ads?
Neither Notesnook nor Formulair shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notesnook or Formulair?
Notesnook ships an update every 8 days, and Formulair every 3 weeks. Most recently, Notesnook was updated on October 15, 2026 and Formulair on October 12, 2026.

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