Side Notes vs Thinkdrop
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Side Notes
This app helps you organize thoughts by viewing multiple notes simultaneously. It offers layouts for comparing options, conducting analyses, or structuring complex ideas. Focus on your thinking with a clean, intuitive interface and privacy-focused design.
- Side-by-side note viewing
- Multiple layout options (Dual, Four, Single)
- Visual comparison of ideas
- SWOT analysis and Eisenhower Matrix support
- Rich text editing
- Offline functionality
- Export notes as PDF or text
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See both sides of every decision at once. Side Notes shows several notes on one screen, so your pros and cons, two options or a SWOT analysis sit side by side instead of hiding in separate lists. Pick a template, start typing, and compare at a glance. Free, with no ads and no account. START FAST WITH TEMPLATES • Pros & Cons: two columns, one clearer answer • Option A vs Option B: compare two choices side by side • SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in one grid • Eisenhower matrix: sort tasks by urgent and important • Retrospective: went well, to improve, ideas, actions • Blank board: any layout, your own structure THREE LAYOUTS FOR THE WAY YOU THINK • Dual: two notes side by side • Four: a 2x2 grid for matrices and frameworks • Single: one full note when you need room to write Tap any note to edit it full screen, then swipe to move to the next one. MADE FOR REAL DECISIONS Should you take the job offer? Which apartment, which laptop, which city? Put every argument where you can see it. Run a SWOT on a business idea or a career move, plan your week with the Eisenhower matrix, and close a project or a sprint with a retrospective. ON ALL YOUR DEVICES, NO SIGN UP Your boards sync with iCloud across iPhone, iPad and Mac. There is no account to create and nothing to log in to. WRITE, THEN FIND IT AGAIN • Rich text formatting such as bold and italic (iOS 26 and later) • Word count on every note • Search board titles and note content, filter by Today or This week • Swipe to duplicate or delete a board, or long press for more options SHARE YOUR THINKING Export any board as a PDF or share it as text, ready for a meeting, a teammate or your future self. MAKE IT YOURS Light or dark mode and the Ink accent color, with Brick, Forest and Ocean in Side Notes Plus. A calm, paper-like design with serif titles. GREAT ON IPAD AND MAC More room to see every note at once, plus keyboard shortcuts on iPad and Mac (Apple silicon). Fully translated into 34 languages and redesigned for the latest iOS with Liquid Glass. GO FURTHER WITH SIDE NOTES PLUS Everything above stays free. Side Notes Plus is an optional upgrade for when you want more: • Advanced templates: weighted decision matrix, OKR, weekly review, 5 whys • Your own templates: save any board as a template • Lock a board with Face ID or Touch ID • All accent colors: Brick, Forest and Ocean • Markdown export to Notion, Obsidian or any editor Choose a yearly plan with a 1-week free trial, a monthly plan, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Side Notes is free, with no ads and no account. Just a clear space to think things through. Side Notes Plus is an optional auto-renewable subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple Account; it renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://side-notes.app/en/privacy
Thinkdrop
Capture fleeting ideas, thoughts, and reminders quickly and privately. Record, write, or snap your thoughts, then securely store them with end-to-end encryption. Gain insights into your thinking patterns and reduce mental clutter.
- Capture thoughts via writing, voice, or image
- End-to-end encryption for privacy
- Organize thoughts into threads
- Speech recognition for audio notes
- Pin important thoughts
- Sentiment analysis for insights
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Too much on your mind? Always forgetting what you were thinking a few hours ago? All those thoughts in your head, but you can't really organize them? Well, Thinkdrop can help you with these problems. In an age where there is too much information to consume, your mind constantly replaces your thoughts due to limited space. As a result, our minds become cluttered with too many thoughts, leading to stress, anxiety, worry, pressure, confusion, and more. You need a tool that allows you to unload your thoughts. As private as your mind. As secure as your mind. A tool that clears your mind for the better. Thinkdrop is here. Thinkdrop is made to unload your thoughts quickly and privately. Have a thought, idea, compliment, annoyance, concern, accomplishment, or a general remark? Write, speak or even snap it down and unload your thoughts. Thinkdrop then encrypts and securely stores your thoughts locally on your phone or even in your personal iCloud. Thinkdrop is as accessible to you as your own thoughts. Reduce your cluttered mind by unloading your thoughts in Thinkdrop and gain progress Thinkdrop features: - Write, snap, or speak your thoughts. - Proven standard high quality encryption standards (E2EE) on all your thoughts - Expand on your original thought and create threads - Speech recognition when recording your voice to create audio-based thoughts - Import an image for your thought - Playback for all your recorded audio-based thoughts - Pin important thoughts for quick access - Automatically delete out-of-date thoughts the next time you access the ThinkPad - Face or Touch ID to prevent unauthorized access by anyone other than yourself - Beautiful design - Search function to browse all your thoughts - Statistics and insights to understand yourself better (Premium) - Know if you were positive, neutral or negative with machine learning sentiment analysis - Support for unlimited thoughts until you run out of space - Customizable notifications to remind you to clear your mind - Automatically save all captured images to your Photos app - Auto-tagging system - Location Snap to know where you added the thought - Tweet button available to automatically send the written text to your X app - Light and dark mode support - Sync your thoughts across all your Apple devices (Premium) Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Side Notes at none against Thinkdrop's 2. Side Notes also leads on review sentiment (57% vs 31%). Thinkdrop's advantage is rating (4.3 vs 3.9) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support 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
Both are free to download. Thinkdrop sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Side Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.
Thinkdrop holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 22 and 35 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 57% of Side Notes's written reviews are positive against 31% of Thinkdrop's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Side Notes ships an update every 2 months, Thinkdrop every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Side Notes | Thinkdrop |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (22 ratings) | 4.3 (35 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.1% of reviews — better | 31.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 22 | 35 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 90 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Straw Technologies | Ho Ye Lam |
Customer experience
Side Notes
Thinkdrop
In-app purchases
Side Notes
No in-app purchases
Thinkdrop
- Think Drop 2 Monthly Premium$2.991 Month
- Think Drop 2 Annual Premium7 Days trial$23.991 Year









