Comparison

Simplenote vs Stream Journal

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

Stream Journal

Capture life events, record thoughts, set goals, and solve problems with a simple journaling app. Organize entries by customizable sections and easily search your entire journal. Export your entries in text format for safekeeping.

Highlights
  • Chronological entry stream
  • Customizable journal sections
  • Searchable journal entries
  • Export entries to text format
  • Simple and intuitive interface
Features
Read full description

The main function of this app is to let you capture the events and experiences of your life, record unique thoughts and ideas, set goals for the future and solve tricky problems. This journal is all about simplicity. It has no bells and whistles in it, only the necessary functionality. It has two main parts to it. One is the ‘Stream’ of your entries. Another is ‘Sections’. The entries in the ‘Stream’ are presented in chronological order with the newer entries being on top. Each entry belongs to a certain section of your journal. Examples of sections are: ‘thoughts’, ‘quotes’, ‘my plans’, etc. In the ‘Sections’ you choose which sections of your journal should be shown in the ‘Stream’. You can choose to show one section, several sections or all sections. The sections are editable. Other features of this app: - Search through entire journal or a set of selected sections. - Export of entries in the text format.

Screenshots

Simplenote4 screens
Stream Journal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Stream Journal at none against Simplenote's 2. Stream Journal also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). Simplenote's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 7 months) and ratings volume (4.3K vs 11). On price, rating, review sentiment 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. Stream Journal asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Simplenote against 4.7 for Stream Journal. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Simplenote has 4.3K ratings behind it against 11, 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 89% of Stream Journal's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, Stream Journal every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Simplenote versus Stream Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimplenoteStream Journal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (4.3K ratings)4.7 (11 ratings)
Positive reviews86.2% of reviews88.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.3K — better11
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB19 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAutomatticKaren Grigorian

Customer experience

Simplenote

All ratings4,313 ratings
Positive94.9%
Neutral1.5%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews1,718 reviews
Positive86.2%
Neutral4.5%
Negative9.3%

Stream Journal

All ratings11 ratings
Positive90.9%
Neutral9.1%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive88.9%
Neutral11.1%
Negative0.0%

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

Stream Journal

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

Stream Journal

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Simplenote free?
Simplenote is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Stream Journal free?
Stream Journal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Simplenote or Stream Journal?
Simplenote and Stream Journal are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 4.3K and 11 ratings respectively.
Do Simplenote or Stream Journal have ads?
Neither Simplenote nor Stream Journal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simplenote or Stream Journal?
Simplenote ships an update fortnightly, and Stream Journal every 7 months. Most recently, Simplenote was updated on October 12, 2026 and Stream Journal on October 2, 2026.

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