# SiYuan vs Harbor Notes

The clearest difference is rating: Harbor Notes at 5.0 against SiYuan's 4.0. Harbor Notes also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 70%) and update cadence (every 4 days vs weekly). SiYuan's advantage is ratings volume (29 vs 4). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. SiYuan sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Harbor Notes sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Harbor Notes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SiYuan has 29 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of SiYuan's written reviews are positive against 100% of Harbor Notes's.

SiYuan ships an update weekly, Harbor Notes every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | SiYuan | Harbor Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.0 (29 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/siyuan/id1583226508/reviews) | **[5.0 (4 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/harbor-notes/id6788795948/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **29** | 4 |
| Positive reviews | 70.0% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Weekly | **Every 4 days** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 419 MB | 37 MB |
| Requires iOS | **17.0** | 18.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Yunnan Liandi Technology Co., Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1583226510) | [Cloudmanic Labs, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/483718119) |

## What reviewers say

### SiYuan

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/siyuan/id1583226508)

A privacy-focused personal knowledge management system that allows offline use and encrypted data synchronization. It combines blocks, outlines, and bidirectional links to help users organize and refine their thoughts.

**Highlights:** Privacy-first design, Offline data storage, End-to-end encrypted sync, Block-based organization, Outline structuring, Bidirectional linking

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PRO Features | $79.99 | one-time |
| Subscription | $188.99 | one-time |


### Harbor Notes

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/harbor-notes/id6788795948)

Capture, organize, and secure all your thoughts, tasks, and files in one private space. This app offers rich note-taking features, robust organization, and instant search, even within images and scanned documents. Your data is yours, with optional end-to-end encryption and no ads or data selling.

**Highlights:** Rich notes with checklists, tables, and highlights, Notebooks, stacks, and tags for organization, Task management with due dates, Document scanning and sketching, Voice memos and file attachments, Instant search with OCR, Offline-first native apps

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Unlimited — Monthly | $9.99 | per month |
| Unlimited — Yearly | $99.00 | per year |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is SiYuan free?

SiYuan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Harbor Notes free?

Harbor Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, SiYuan or Harbor Notes?

Harbor Notes is rated higher. SiYuan averages 4.0 out of 5 from 29 ratings, while Harbor Notes averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.

### Do SiYuan or Harbor Notes have ads?

Neither SiYuan nor Harbor Notes shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, SiYuan or Harbor Notes?

SiYuan ships an update weekly, and Harbor Notes every 4 days. Most recently, SiYuan was updated on October 15, 2026 and Harbor Notes on October 11, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*