Simplenote vs Workflowy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Simplenote
Capture ideas, create to-do lists, and jot down thoughts effortlessly. Organize your notes with tags and pins, and find them instantly with search. Your content syncs across all devices for free, ensuring it's always accessible.
- Simple note-taking experience
- Cross-device syncing
- Collaboration and sharing
- Organization with tags
- Instant search
- To-do list creation
- Passcode lock
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Simplenote is an easy way to take notes, create to-do lists, capture ideas, and more. Open it, jot down some thoughts, and you're done. As your collection grows, stay organized with tags and pins, and find what you need with instant search. Since Simplenote will sync across your devices for free, your notes are with you at all times. - A simple, note taking experience - Sync everything across all your devices - Collaborate and share - Stay organized with tags - Log in with your email or WordPress.com account SYNC WITH CONFIDENCE - Automatically sync seamlessly across any computer, phone or tablet. - Back up and sync everything as you take notes, so you never lose your content. COLLABORATE AND SHARE - Collaborate and work together -- share ideas with a colleague, or write a grocery list with your roommate. - Choose whether to publish your content to the web, and share a link with whoever you want. - Publish directly to a WordPress site by connecting your WordPress.com account. - Quickly and easily share with third-party apps. ORGANIZE AND SEARCH - Stay organized with tags, and use them for quick searching and sorting. - Instantly find what you’re looking for with keyword highlighting. - Use markdown to add formatting. - Create to-do lists. - Choose the sorting order of your notes and tags. - Pin the notes that you use the most. - Edit tags directly by renaming and reordering. - Protect your content with a passcode lock. -- Privacy Policy: https://automattic.com/privacy/ Terms of Service: https://simplenote.com/terms/ California Users Privacy Notice: https://wp.me/Pe4R-d/#california-consumer-privacy-act-ccpa -- Visit simplenote.com to download Simplenote for your other devices.
Workflowy
Capture ideas, manage tasks, and organize your thoughts with an infinitely nestable system. This app offers AI assistance for summarization and brainstorming, along with collaborative features and robust search capabilities. It syncs across devices and works offline, making it a powerful tool for personal and team productivity.
- Infinitely nested lists
- AI summarization and brainstorming
- Kanban boards for task management
- Real-time collaboration and sharing
- Global search and filtering
- Offline access and cross-device sync
- Tagging and mentions
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Workflowy is a simple, distraction-free app for capturing notes, managing tasks, and organizing your thinking. Infinitely nestable, surprisingly powerful - it helps you manage all the information in your life. With Workflowy you can: • Capture notes and ideas in an instant • Organize complex thinking with infinite nesting • Ask AI to summarize, rewrite, or brainstorm with your notes • Plan and manage tasks with kanban boards • #Tag and @assign items to stay on top of things • Link items across lists - edit once, update everywhere • Share and collaborate in real-time • Upload photos, files, and embed videos • Search and filter your entire Workflowy in seconds Workflowy syncs across all your devices and auto-saves everything. No more missing notes or lost files. Trusted by teams and thinkers at: Atlassian, Slack, The New York Times, and thousands of entrepreneurs, writers, engineers, scientists, and students worldwide. Feature highlights: • Infinitely nested lists • Workflowy AI (chat with notes, AI nodes, quick actions) • Calendar • Kanban boards • Mirrors (live synced copies) • #Tags and @mentions • Date organization with /date shortcuts • Global text search and filtering • Simple sharing and permissions • Works offline • Syncs with desktop and web • One-swipe task completion • File uploads and image attachments • Highlight text and color tags • Item starring • YouTube and X embeds • MFA (Multi-factor authentication) • Expand and collapse lists • Mobile keyboard shortcuts Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Simplenote at free against Workflowy's free with in-app purchases. Workflowy's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Simplenote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month and Workflowy sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Simplenote against 4.8 for Workflowy. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4.3K and 8.2K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of Simplenote's written reviews are positive against 88% of Workflowy's.
Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, Workflowy weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Simplenote | Workflowy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (4.3K ratings) | 4.8 (8.2K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 86.2% of reviews | 88.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.3K | 8.2K — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 147 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Automattic | FunRoutine INC |
Customer experience
Simplenote
Workflowy
User reviews
Simplenote
From 4.3K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💻 Cross-platform availability
- 🔍 Reliable search functionality
- 🌐 Seamless syncing across devices
- 📝 Simple, distraction-free interface
- 🔒 Secure with password/fingerprint protection
Room to improve
- 🔖 Limited formatting options (no bold, italic, etc.)
- 🗂️ Lack of folder organization
- 🔄 Occasional syncing issues
- 🖼️ Unable to add images or attachments
- 🔍 Search could be improved for long notes
Workflowy
From 8.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Best way to organize thoughts
- 🔒 Secure and reliable
- 👍 Simple and intuitive
- 👍 Excellent for productivity and organization
- 👍 Versatile for various use cases
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional data loss issues
- 🐛 Offline mode not always reliable
- 🔋 Can be slow on mobile devices
- 👎 Limited customization options
Bugs and requests
Simplenote
Reported bugs
3 issues- Notes sometimes disappear or get duplicated
- App crashes or freezes on certain devices
- Syncing problems between mobile and desktop
Requested features
5 requests- Add bold, italic, and other formatting options
- Implement folder-based organization
- Improve syncing reliability across devices
- Allow adding images, files, and other attachments
- Enhance search capabilities for long notes
Workflowy
Reported bugs
3 issues- Cursor sometimes gets stuck
- Syncing issues between web and mobile versions
- Inability to delete items consistently
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to attach files and documents
- Improve mobile app experience
- Implement better notification and reminder system
- Add more formatting options (e.g., font styles, colors)
In-app purchases
Simplenote
- Simplenote Sustainer Monthly$19.991 Month
- Simplenote Sustainer Yearly$199.991 Year
Workflowy
- Workflowy Pro - Monthly$8.991 Month
- Workflowy Pro - Yearly$79.991 Year








