Comparison

Simplenote vs dCal

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

dCal

Features
Read full description

dCal is a planner you buy once. See plans that cross month boundaries in a four-week view, write unlimited notes on any day, and keep all of it on your Mac and iPhone — no cloud, no account, no subscription. One purchase covers both. ■ Truly local — proven, not just promised dCal has no network connectivity. macOS App Sandbox denies the app any network entitlement, so it cannot reach any server technically. Perfect for confidential meetings, sensitive client schedules, or anyone who values their privacy. ■ See four weeks at a glance The signature 3–6 week grid view shows long-running projects as continuous lines, never broken at month boundaries — something Apple Calendar can't do. ■ Notes, not just events Each day cell can hold unlimited rich text — meeting minutes, work logs, family notes. Bold, italic, underline, color formatting. Full-text search across all your notes. ■ Windows hyCalendar compatible Opens .cal files from hyCalendar (Windows freeware) byte-for-byte unchanged. Edit on Mac, save, and the file remains identical. ■ Japanese holidays built-in Including substitute holidays and citizens' holidays. Computed from the official rules; no online lookup required. Valid 1980–2099. ■ Fast search Find any keyword across day notes and period event titles, with the matches highlighted. ■ Jump to any date Year scroller + 12-month grid. Two taps to reach any past date. ■ Mac + iPhone — sync your way Use iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive — your choice. dCal itself never talks to those services; it just reads the file your sync client provides. ■ Plain text forever No proprietary binary. Your .cal file remains human-readable. Even without dCal in 20 years, your data lives on. ■ Native Apple experience Modern macOS / iOS design language. Glass materials, rounded cards, system fonts, Dark Mode. Designed for: • Lawyers, accountants, tax advisors with confidentiality obligations • Doctors, therapists, anyone handling sensitive personal data • Executives managing private meetings • Privacy-conscious users • Existing Windows hyCalendar users moving to Apple • Anyone frustrated by Apple Calendar's monthly cut-off Principles: • No account required, no subscription • No analytics, no tracking • One-time purchase • Your data is your data

Screenshots

Simplenote4 screens
dCal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Simplenote at Free against dCal's $14.99. Simplenote also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). dCal's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2). On update cadence, 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

Simplenote is free to download; dCal costs $14.99 up front. Simplenote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. dCal asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, dCal monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Simplenote versus dCal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimplenotedCal
PriceFree — better$14.99
Rating4.7 (4.3K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews86.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings4.3K — better—
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAutomatticinterdisciplinary design lab.

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

dCal

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

dCal

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Simplenote free?
Simplenote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is dCal free?
dCal costs $14.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Simplenote or dCal have ads?
Neither Simplenote nor dCal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simplenote or dCal?
Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, and dCal monthly. Most recently, Simplenote was updated on October 24, 2026 and dCal on October 14, 2026.

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