Simplenote vs Samen
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.
Samen
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Samen is the app for households that share everything: groceries, tasks, the kids' schedule and who gave which medication. Groceries Type a few letters and the app recognises the item — 226 Dutch grocery items, with English synonyms (type 'milk' and you'll find 'Melk'). Items are grouped by aisle automatically, in the order of your own supermarket. Tasks One shared list per household. When someone ticks something off, everyone sees it straight away. Two people tick off the same milk at the same time? The app always keeps the newest action, never an old one that accidentally undoes something. Week Drop-off and pick-up duties, the kids' activities — one weekly overview where anyone can claim a run with a single tap. An orange dot means: nobody has arranged it yet. Medication A simple log: what, when, by whom. No dosing advice, no warnings — just a reliable overview, so two parents don't accidentally give the same dose. Always works Samen works fully offline. Add something on the train with no signal — it syncs as soon as you're back online. Privacy No ads, no tracking, no selling of data. Available in Dutch and English. Terms of use https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Samen at every 3 days against Simplenote's fortnightly. 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
Both are free to download. Simplenote sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month and Samen sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, Samen every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Simplenote | Samen |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (4.3K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 86.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 4.3K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 11 MB | 68 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Automattic | Tim Reynaert |
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
Samen
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Simplenote
- Simplenote Sustainer Monthly$19.991 Month
- Simplenote Sustainer Yearly$199.991 Year
Samen
- Samen Premium Monthly$1.991 Month
- Samen Premium Yearly$17.991 Year
- Samen Premium$3.99









