Comparison

Outliner vs Airlist

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

Head to head
About

Outliner

Organize your thoughts, tasks, and projects with a powerful outlining tool. Create structured lists, track project progress with visual indicators, and collaborate with others. Sync your work across devices and cloud storage for seamless access.

Highlights
  • Create structured outlines
  • Track project progress with pie charts
  • Sync with cloud storage (OneDrive, Dropbox)
  • Collaborate with other users
  • Drag and drop editing
  • Search and filter outlines
  • Archive old outlines
Features
Read full description

CarbonFin Outliner allows you to organize your thoughts, tasks, and projects. Easily create a todo list for today, or track an entire project anywhere you are. Share your outlines, edit them online, and collaborate with other Outliner users. Highlights • Create outlines full of notes, structured lists, tasks, or detailed projects • Sync your outlines automatically to Outliner Online, OneDrive, or Dropbox for web or desktop editing • Get a quick view of project progress - tasks with subtasks show a pie-chart indicating percent completed Organize • Search through all your outlines or an individual outline • Tag your outlines, and filter based on tag • Archive old outlines to hide them from view without deleting Easy-to-use Editor • Drag and drop to move items within an outline • Copy, paste • Undo, redo • Expand all, collapse all • Optional outline numbering • Zoom in to focus on a single subtree Outliner Online • Securely synchronize your outlines with Outliner Online • View and edit your outlines in any web browser • Import and export outlines as plain text or OPML • Keep all your devices synchronized • Share an outline with other Outliner users to collaborate OneDrive and Dropbox • Sync your outlines with OneDrive or Dropbox to allow quick import/export • Seamlessly access and edit across your iOS devices and PCs -= Recent version history =- Version 3.20 • iOS 27 support • Updated Dropbox and OneDrive integrations • Bug fixes Version 3.19 • iOS 26 support and adoption of liquid glass Version 3.18 • iOS 18 support • Dark and tinted app icons Version 3.17 • Minor bug fixes Version 3.16 • Minor bug fixes • iOS 17 support Version 3.15 • Fixed Dropbox integration • Show a warning when unlinking Dropbox/OneDrive if there are unsynced outlines • iOS 16 support Version 3.12 • Dark mode • Added confirmation to "Delete Completed" • Changing "Archived" won't update the outline's modification time • iOS 13 support Version 3.11 • OneDrive sync support Version 3.10 • Sync the order of outlines across devices (CarbonFin outlines only) • iOS 12 support Version 3.9 • iPhone X support • iOS 11 support Version 3.8 • Open In... support • Ability to hide the outline list on iPad • Minor UI tweaks

About

Airlist

Organize your thoughts, ideas, and tasks with an intuitive outliner. Create nested lists for groceries, projects, or anything else, and sync them across all your Apple devices. Features include widgets, dark mode, and advanced search.

Highlights
  • Infinitely nested lists
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • Dark Mode support
  • Advanced saved searches
  • Easy export and import
Read full description

A delightful outliner for your dreams, ideas, lists, and projects. == Native iOS app - Built natively for iPhone, iPad and Mac == Delightful, beautiful lists - Easily create beautiful infinitely nested lists of groceries to buy, movies to watch, books to read, projects to complete, or anything you can dream of. - Zoom in on any note, showing only what you need to focus on. == Sync everywhere and stay organized on all your devices - Airlist syncs across all your iOS devices. == Dates Done Right - Start and Due Dates? Yes. - Start and Due TIMES? You bet. - Repeat after complete or custom schedule? Of course. == Loaded with features not distractions - Get in, get out. Beautiful design. Intuitive UI. - Airlist is simple at its core and advanced where you need. == Plus so much more - Widgets (Home and Lock Screen) - Unlimited Items. Infinite Zoom. - Dark Mode - Automatic Sync - Drag and Drop - Backlinks and References - Keyboard Shortcuts - Tags - Easy export and import - Beautiful formatting - Advanced Saved Searches Privacy Policy: https://airlist.app/privacy Terms of Service: https://airlist.app/terms

Screenshots

Outliner4 screens
Airlist4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Airlist at Free against Outliner's $4.99. Airlist also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months). Outliner's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (88 vs 15). On rating, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Airlist is free to download; Outliner costs $4.99 up front. Airlist sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Outliner asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Outliner against 4.7 for Airlist. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Outliner has 88 ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 87% of Outliner's written reviews are positive against 85% of Airlist's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Outliner ships an update every 4 months, Airlist monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and June 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Outliner versus Airlist: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOutlinerAirlist
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (88 ratings) — better4.7 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews86.7% of reviews — better84.6% of reviews
Number of ratings88 — better15
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCarbonFinLogerhaus, LLC

Customer experience

Outliner

All ratings88 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral1.1%
Negative5.7%
Written reviews323 reviews
Positive86.7%
Neutral6.2%
Negative7.1%

Airlist

All ratings15 ratings
Positive93.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.7%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral7.7%
Negative7.7%

Bugs and requests

Outliner

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Unexpected error: 500 when saving data
  • Pane that lists outlines won't go away or resize
  • Keyboard takes up too much screen space

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add due dates and priority levels for tasks
  • Improve export and sharing options (e.g., PDF, Word)
  • Implement better organization and search capabilities
  • Introduce a desktop companion app for easier editing
  • Add support for voice notes and other multimedia

Airlist

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Outliner

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Airlist

Subscriptions2
  • Airlist Premium Monthly1 Month trial$2.991 Month
  • Airlist Premium Yearly1 Month trial$24.991 Year

Questions

Is Outliner free?
Outliner costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Airlist free?
Airlist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Outliner or Airlist?
Outliner is rated higher. Outliner averages 4.8 out of 5 from 88 ratings, while Airlist averages 4.7 from 15 ratings.
Do Outliner or Airlist have ads?
Neither Outliner nor Airlist shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Outliner or Airlist?
Outliner ships an update every 4 months, and Airlist monthly. Most recently, Outliner was updated on September 22, 2026 and Airlist on June 1, 2026.

Other comparisons