Comparison

Notesnook vs Hindsight

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

Hindsight

This app helps you build a daily reflection habit with short, insightful notes. Organize your thoughts into custom categories and set reminders to stay consistent. Review past entries to gain perspective and foster intentionality in your life.

Highlights
  • Daily reflection habit building
  • Short note-taking
  • Customizable categories
  • Reminder setting
  • Past entry review
  • Dark Mode support
Read full description

Reflection is the best investment we can make to live a better day. It doesn’t take filling up entire pages in a journal to find insights. Short notes about the moments of life add up to a big picture of where we are and help us see more clearly where we want to go. Hindsight is designed to help forge a new habit of reflection in the day-to-day. Customizable to your priorities but dead-simple so nothing bogs you down. Create categories for anything you want to keep track of and set reminders to help keep yourself consistent. Slowing down for a few seconds to think about the moment and jot down a note can bring a surprising boost of intentionality to our lives, but occasionally read the notes from your past self to get the best perspective. Once you have a Hindsight habit, use that newfound perspective to choose the next habit you want to practice—and you can add a new category for it to keep track of your progress. Customizable color schemes for each category and Dark Mode support make this habit easy on the eyes.

Screenshots

Notesnook4 screens
Hindsight4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Hindsight at none against Notesnook's 20. Hindsight also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and review sentiment (100% vs 79%). Notesnook's advantage is update cadence (every 8 days vs every 15 months) and ratings volume (681 vs 5). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Hindsight asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hindsight holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notesnook has 681 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Notesnook's written reviews are positive against 100% of Hindsight's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notesnook ships an update every 8 days, Hindsight every 15 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Notesnook versus Hindsight: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotesnookHindsight
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (681 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.8% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings681 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 15 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.614.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size96 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStreetwriters LLCRakish Labs Ltd.

Customer experience

Notesnook

All ratings672 ratings
Positive93.0%
Neutral2.4%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews401 reviews
Positive78.8%
Neutral6.5%
Negative14.7%

Hindsight

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Hindsight

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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
None

Hindsight

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Notesnook free?
Notesnook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hindsight free?
Hindsight is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Notesnook or Hindsight?
Hindsight is rated higher. Notesnook averages 4.7 out of 5 from 681 ratings, while Hindsight averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Notesnook or Hindsight have ads?
Neither Notesnook nor Hindsight shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Notesnook or Hindsight?
Notesnook ships an update every 8 days, and Hindsight every 15 months. Most recently, Notesnook was updated on October 20, 2026 and Hindsight on October 13, 2026.

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