Comparison

Simplenote vs AlarmCalendar

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Simple note-taking experience
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Collaboration and sharing
  • Organization with tags
  • Instant search
  • To-do list creation
  • Passcode lock
Read full description

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.

About

AlarmCalendar

Features
Read full description

AlarmCal: Smart Calendar Alarms Never miss an important event again. AlarmCal connects to your calendar and lets you set smart alarms relative to your events — so you're always prepared, not just notified. How it works: Open AlarmCal and see all of today's events in a clean, focused list. Tap any event, choose how far in advance you want to be alerted — 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes, or 1 hour — and you're done. AlarmCal schedules a system-level alarm so you'll be notified even if the app is closed. Features: • View today's calendar events at a glance • Set alarms relative to event start times — no manual time entry needed • Choose from preset intervals: 5, 10, 15, 30 min, or 1 hour before • See at a glance which events already have alarms set • Cancel alarms just as easily as creating them • Pull to refresh your event list anytime • Reliable system notifications powered by AlarmKit Simple by design. No complex calendar views. No overwhelming settings. Just today's events and the alarms you need. AlarmCal does one thing and does it well. Privacy-focused. AlarmCal reads your calendar to display events and schedules alarms locally on your device. Your data stays yours.

Screenshots

Simplenote4 screens
AlarmCalendar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: AlarmCalendar at none against Simplenote's 2. Simplenote's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.2). On price, update cadence and ads 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. Simplenote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. AlarmCalendar asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, AlarmCalendar every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Simplenote versus AlarmCalendar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimplenoteAlarmCalendar
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (4.3K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews86.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings4.3K — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.2
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAutomatticDAVID ARANDA

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

AlarmCalendar

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Simplenote

Subscriptions2
  • Simplenote Sustainer Monthly$19.991 Month
  • Simplenote Sustainer Yearly$199.991 Year
None

AlarmCalendar

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Simplenote free?
Simplenote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is AlarmCalendar free?
AlarmCalendar is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Simplenote or AlarmCalendar have ads?
Neither Simplenote nor AlarmCalendar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simplenote or AlarmCalendar?
Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, and AlarmCalendar every 3 weeks. Most recently, Simplenote was updated on October 27, 2026 and AlarmCalendar on October 25, 2026.

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