Comparison

Text Diary vs Best Note Ever

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

Head to head
About

Text Diary

A free and simple text-based journaling app that allows unlimited entries. Organize your thoughts with folders, colors, and tags, and easily search or filter your past entries. Enjoy a comfortable user experience with quick startup and dark mode.

Highlights
  • Unlimited daily diary entries
  • Organize by folder, color, tag
  • Searchable diary entries
  • Filter by date or tag
  • Quick startup and comfortable operation
  • Dark mode support
  • Completely free to use
Read full description

It's a simple text diary app. All features are completely free to use. Features: - Unlimited daily diary - Classified by folder, color, tag - Search diary - Filter by date or tag - Quick start-up, comfortable operability - Dark mode - All free URL scheme: textdiary://

About

Best Note Ever

Features
Read full description

A notes app that stays simple. Write a title on the first line, then keep going. Headings, bullets, numbered lists and checkboxes appear as you type, so there is no preview mode to switch to and no formatting bar to fight with. FORMATTING THAT GETS OUT OF THE WAY Type the shorthand and the markers disappear, leaving only the result. • # for a title, ## and ### for sections • - for a bullet • 1. for a numbered list • - [ ] for a checkbox you can tick with one tap • [text](https://...) for a link, showing the label instead of the URL Checked items get a strikethrough so you can see progress at a glance. Tap a checkbox anywhere, even while the keyboard is open. PHOTOS IN LINE Add a photo from your library and it sits in the note where you put it. Tap to open it full screen, pinch to zoom. Photos are resized on the way in, so a note full of pictures does not balloon. FIFTEEN COLORS, INCLUDING RAINBOW Give a note a color and the whole row is tinted with a soft gradient and an accent stripe, so you can find it without reading. Swipe for the next color, or press and hold to pick from all fifteen. One of them is a rainbow. BUILT FOR EDITING • Undo and redo, by button or Command-Z • Return continues a list; Return on an empty item ends it • Backspace at the start of a line removes the marker before joining lines • Arrow keys move between lines with a hardware keyboard • Drag to reorder, swipe to delete TAKE YOUR WRITING WITH YOU Export one note or all of them as .md files, with any photos collected into an images folder. Plain Markdown opens in almost anything, so nothing is locked in here. ON IPAD The list sits beside the note you are reading. Collapse the sidebar when you want the full width for one note. YOUR NOTES STAY YOURS No account, no sign-in, no sync service. The contents of your notes are saved on your device and are never sent anywhere. BUILT TO BE USABLE VoiceOver reads headings as headings. Text scales with your Dynamic Type setting, and the markers scale with it. Light and dark are both handled. ALREADY USING THE APP? Every note you wrote before this update opens exactly as it did, with the same plain text behavior. Nothing is reformatted and nothing is moved. If you want a note to use the new formatting, turn it on for that note from the menu, and turn it back off whenever you like. The app is free and shows a banner ad on the list screen.

Screenshots

Text Diary4 screens
Best Note Ever4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Best Note Ever at every 2 weeks against Text Diary's every 2 months. Best Note Ever also leads on iOS requirement (18.4 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Text Diary ships an update every 2 months, Best Note Ever every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on July 9, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Text Diary versus Best Note Ever: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterText DiaryBest Note Ever
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (6 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.018.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFugaPiyo Inc.ryuya matsuo

In-app purchases

None

Text Diary

No in-app purchases

None

Best Note Ever

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Text Diary free?
Text Diary is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Best Note Ever free?
Best Note Ever is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Text Diary or Best Note Ever have ads?
Both Text Diary and Best Note Ever show ads.
Which is updated more often, Text Diary or Best Note Ever?
Text Diary ships an update every 2 months, and Best Note Ever every 2 weeks. Most recently, Text Diary was updated on July 9, 2026 and Best Note Ever on September 22, 2026.

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