Defter Notes vs Harbor
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Defter Notes
This app provides an infinite canvas for spatial thinking, allowing users to capture, connect, and explore ideas through handwriting, drawing, and text. It adapts to various creative processes, offering fluid editing and intuitive navigation for deep work and complex projects.
- Infinite canvas for spatial thinking
- Handwriting, drawing, and text input
- Connect and link ideas
- Stacks for deep work
- Fluid editing with gestures
- Supports PDFs, images, and links
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Defter Notes is loved by academics, students, teachers, researchers, journal keepers, knowledge workers, designers, architects, engineers, writers, and anyone who thinks best with their hands and eyes. It’s built for people who see ideas as living things: connected, evolving, and worth exploring. Think without boundaries Defter Notes gives you an infinite canvas for spatial thinking. Drop ideas anywhere. Draw connections. Expand as far as your thoughts take you. Enjoy pure creative flow. Capture ideas your way Whether it starts as a quick sketch, a handwritten note, or a PDF you’re diving into, Defter Notes adapts to your process. Write, draw, or type; then move, link, and layer it all together. Your ideas stay flexible and alive. Work the way your brain works Move items freely. Zoom in and out of context. Build hierarchies of Spaces that let you go deeper into your projects. Defter Notes stays out of the way so your focus stays on thinking. Top features * Stacks for deep work: Ideal for reading, studying, or comparing multiple resources. * Deft movement with gestures: Drag pages or extract text directly out of PDFs. * Cross-reference and multitask: View, resize, and reorder documents side by side. * Handwriting and text tools: Combine pen, pencil, marker, and text boxes using Apple Pencil or Scribble. * Fluid editing: Double-tap any item to edit or share. * Intuitive navigation: Use the mini-map, navigation bar, gestures, and select tool to move effortlessly through infinite spaces. * Supports links and files: Drop in PDFs, images, URLs, and attachments right onto your canvas. Join the community: https://discord.com/invite/GjS5tJSmBW Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://www.defternotes.com/touprivacypolicy https://defternotes.com
Harbor
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Harbor is a beautiful, local-first read-later app for people who are done losing their reading lists. When you save an article, Harbor keeps a full, clean copy on your device — not a bookmark, the whole thing. It works offline forever, syncs through your own iCloud, and has no account and no server. We can't read your library, can't delete it, and can't be acquired and shut it down. It's just files you own. SAVE FROM ANYWHERE • Share a link from Safari or any app, or paste a URL in the app. • Harbor downloads the page and turns it into a clean, readable article. • Everything you save is yours offline, instantly. A READER YOU'LL WANT TO LIVE IN • Distraction-free typography with light, sepia, and dark themes. • Adjustable font, size, and spacing; reading progress and highlights. PRIVATE, ON-DEVICE EXTRAS — FREE • One-tap summaries and auto-tags powered by on-device Apple Intelligence. • Read-aloud for any article with natural on-device voices. • Instant full-text search across everything you've saved. OWN YOUR DATA, LITERALLY • Export your entire library to HTML and Markdown anytime. • No account, no sign-up, no tracking, no analytics. Nothing collected. ONE-TIME UNLOCK, NEVER A SUBSCRIPTION Save up to 20 articles free. Unlock Harbor Unlimited once for unlimited saves, on-device summaries, read-aloud, and export — a single purchase, yours to keep. Harbor respects publishers: it saves what a normal reader sees, for your own offline reading, and is not for redistribution. Terms of Use (EULA): https://harbor.nyrai.ai/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://harbor.nyrai.ai/privacy.html
Screenshots
Verdict
Defter Notes and Harbor are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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. Defter Notes sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Harbor sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Defter Notes | Harbor |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (75 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 75.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 75 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Deft Works ApS | NYRAI LLC |
In-app purchases
Defter Notes
- Monthly Plan$2.991 Month
- Mini Supporter$2.991 Month
- Supporter$7.991 Month
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- Yearly Plan$17.991 Year
- Big Supporter$29.991 Month
- Lifetime Access - Welcome Offer$29.99
- Lifetime Access$39.99
Harbor
- Harbor Unlimited$12.99









