Comparison

Simplenote vs NoteBox

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

NoteBox

This app offers a streamlined note-taking experience with quick input, powerful text editing, and seamless syncing across devices. Easily organize, search, and share your notes with extensive integration options.

Highlights
  • Quick note input from various sources
  • Disturbance-free text editing with advanced formatting
  • Fast iCloud syncing across iOS devices
  • Extensive sharing options to numerous apps
  • In-note text search and Google/Wikipedia integration
  • Support for external keyboards and VoiceOver
Features
Read full description

NoteBox is a superb productivity-boosting tool with compact design, fast input, smooth experience, ease to share, fast syncing, and excellent extensions and widgets with full support for VoiceOver. You will definitely love this note-taking app. Download now! NoteBox can help you: Quick Input - Type immediately after starting the app to jot down your inspirations -Quickly add new notes with handy drop-down feature or universal “+”button - Swiftly save notes from Notification Center or Share Sheet - Long press on “add” button to import text files from all cloud drive storage as notes - Easy input with an external keyboard and shortcut keys Text Editing - Focused and swift note-taking with disturbance-free interface - Swipe side-to-side to move screen cursor when typing - Pinch to zoom and adjust the font size - Convert selected texts into numbered or bulleted lists - Type “-,” “+,”“*,”or numbers and “.” with space key before each line for automatic list creation of the next line - iPhone’s horizontal typing mode available - Scroll down the textbox to display character count Saving, Syncing and Searching - Virtually unlimited storage capacity for text-based notes - Quick syncing with other iOS devices through iCloud - Remember keywords you have searched for notes before - In-note text search - Google or Wikipedia searching with selected note text Easy to Share - Effortless note delivery to dozens of apps or services* - Customizable shortcuts: one touch for note delivery or double-tap for sharing of listed notes - Select multiple notes to bulk process, e.g. changing folders, merging, and exporting to Evernote - Share partially selected texts - Customize the apps of your choice to use for URLs, dates, and addresses in the notes More -Single-handed use, e.g. side-to-side swiping in the tool bar to change the folder - Managing notes with Getting Things Done (GTD) system or to-do list - Automatic switch to night mode in dim environment to reduce eye strain --- Please support indie developers and decide what you want to pay. Pay What You Want Pricing for the first time! We have spent hundreds of hours developing NoteBox, which has become an indispensable tool for many users. We believe you will also find it useful. Instead of asking for the money, we prefer letting you download and use the full version for free (with the only restriction on note-saving capacity). You can decide what you want to pay with your own judgment. --- * Apps and services NoteBox supports: - Tightly integrated with Dropbox, Evernote - Note-taking apps: 1Writer, Bear, ByWord, Day One, Drafts, Simplenote, Ulysses, UpWord, Write ... - To-do list or calendar apps: reminders, Clear, Due, Fantastical, OmniFocus, The Hit List, Things, Todoist -Social media apps: Buffer, Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Tumblr, LINE, Whatsapp, WordPress, SinaWeibo, TencentWeibo More app news and information: http://twitter.com/getnotebox If you like NoteBox, we appreciate your comments and ratings. We also welcome your feedback. Please write to: elaborapp@gmail.com, and follow us on Twitter @getnotebox --- An Elaborated App, Made with Love in Taipei by Elaborapp

Screenshots

Simplenote4 screens
NoteBox4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Simplenote at free against NoteBox's free with in-app purchases. Simplenote also leads on ratings volume (4.3K vs 10). NoteBox's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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 and NoteBox sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Simplenote against 4.6 for NoteBox. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Simplenote has 4.3K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 86% of Simplenote's written reviews are positive against 90% of NoteBox's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, NoteBox monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and June 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Simplenote versus NoteBox: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimplenoteNoteBox
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (4.3K ratings) — better4.6 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews86.2% of reviews89.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.3K — better10
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB25 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperAutomatticElaborapp

Customer experience

Simplenote

All ratings4,313 ratings
Positive94.9%
Neutral1.5%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews1,717 reviews
Positive86.2%
Neutral4.5%
Negative9.3%

NoteBox

All ratings10 ratings
Positive90.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews49 reviews
Positive89.8%
Neutral6.1%
Negative4.1%

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

NoteBox

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
10 purchases

NoteBox

One-time10
  • Tip$0.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$1.99
  • Tip$1.99
Show 7 more
  • Unlock note capacity limit$2.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$3.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$4.99
  • Tip$4.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$5.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$6.99
  • Unlock note capacity limit$7.99

Questions

Is Simplenote free?
Simplenote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is NoteBox free?
NoteBox is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Simplenote or NoteBox?
Simplenote is rated higher. Simplenote averages 4.7 out of 5 from 4.3K ratings, while NoteBox averages 4.6 from 10 ratings.
Do Simplenote or NoteBox have ads?
Neither Simplenote nor NoteBox shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simplenote or NoteBox?
Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, and NoteBox monthly. Most recently, Simplenote was updated on September 29, 2026 and NoteBox on June 10, 2026.

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