Comparison

Card Decks vs Brain Dump

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

Head to head
About

Card Decks

Create and share custom card decks for various uses, from team meetings and planning to personal expression and task management. Configure individual cards with display times for timers or reminders, and easily share decks via email or messages.

Highlights
  • Configurable colored text cards
  • Group cards into decks
  • Create custom card sets
  • Timer and countdown functionality
  • Share decks via email/messages
  • Open source
Features
Read full description

Card Decks is a small utility application for your iPhone and iPad which brings you simple, configurable, colored, multi-line text cards that are grouped into card decks. A card deck can be used to show your vote or estimation on a certain topic in a meeting, e.g. in a planning meeting used in agile software development methods like Scrum or Extreme Programming. If the pre-configured cards don't fit your needs, just extend the existing cards or build your own set of cards, e.g. including special estimation numbers like "Pi" or "?". Or, if you are the chair of a session on a conference, you can use a card deck to remind a speaker of the remaining time for the presentation. Or, as a speaker, use a timer card deck to track the remaining minutes. Or, just use your cards to show your opinion, argument, or mood, in a simple, non-verbal way. Or, use the shuffle feature to randomly select a task from a card deck with tasks, or randomly assign tasks to students, team members, etc. Card Decks contains some pre-configured card decks with voting cards, simple colored cards, cards with numbers, colored cards which show remaining minutes, and some timers. Individual card decks can be created with the built-in editor. Each card in a card deck can be configured with a display time. This way, you can build your own countdown timer with individual numbers, texts, reminders, etc. Example timers for 15 and 60 minutes are pre-configured. Additionally, Card Decks supports sending and receiving card decks via e-mail, messages, etc. for sharing your card decks with your friends or colleagues. Either as an URL, or via a JSON-based document. Found a bug? Missing a feature? Drop a line to carddecks@0xc0.de, or open an issue in the project on GitHub. Card Decks is open source and licensed under the terms of the MIT license. Its source code is hosted on GitHub.

About

Brain Dump

Features
Read full description

Your thoughts move fast. Brain Dump keeps up. You know that feeling. Ideas firing, mental to-do lists stacking up, half-formed plans dissolving before you can write them down. Brain Dump catches every thought before it disappears. Just talk. The app listens, extracts your tasks, and organizes them so your brain doesn't have to hold it all. TALK IT OUT, GET IT DONE Open the app, hit record, and say everything on your mind. Ramble about your day, rattle off errands, vent about that project you've been avoiding. Brain Dump pulls out the actual tasks from your stream of consciousness and turns them into a clear, actionable list. No formatting. No typing. Just talk. BUILT FOR HOW ADHD BRAINS ACTUALLY WORK Most task managers assume you already know what you need to do and have the executive function to type it in neatly. Brain Dump doesn't. It meets you where you are (scattered, overwhelmed, or mid-thought) and does the organizing for you. Here's what makes it different: VOICE-TO-TASK CAPTURE Speak freely and let AI extract tasks from your natural speech. Perfect for when typing feels like too much friction. AI TASK BREAKDOWN Staring at "clean the apartment" for three days? Brain Dump breaks big tasks into small, concrete steps so you actually know where to start. FOCUS BUCKETS (TODAY / TOMORROW / LATER) No complicated priority systems. Three simple buckets keep your attention on what matters right now without losing track of everything else. SMART NUDGES THAT ADAPT TO YOU An AI-powered header reads the room. It celebrates wins, suggests breaks when you've been grinding, gently redirects when you're stuck, and backs off when you need space. OVERWHELM DETECTION Too many overdue tasks piling up? The app notices and offers support instead of guilt. No shame spirals here. EMOTION CHECK-INS Quick, optional emotional pulse checks help you build awareness of your patterns over time. Track whether you're focused, tired, anxious, or riding a productivity wave. PLANNING REMINDERS ON YOUR SCHEDULE Choose morning planning sessions, evening reviews, or Sunday resets. Or pick "surprise me" and let the app find good moments. QUICK CAPTURE FROM ANYWHERE Thought popping up while you're on your task list? Grab it instantly with the quick capture bar without losing your place. DARK MODE Because hyperfocus sessions at 2 AM deserve comfortable lighting. EMAIL BACKUP & RECOVERY Link an email to restore your tasks after reinstalling the app or changing devices. No email is required to start. Brain Dump is the ADHD task manager for people who've tried every productivity app and given up. It doesn't ask you to fit into a system. It builds the system around the way your brain already works. Brain Dump includes a free plan with 10 Brain Dumps per month (up to 5 by voice), 10 task breakdowns, and unlimited task management and reminders. New users also receive 7 days of full AI access with no payment required. Brain Dump Pro is an optional auto-renewing subscription that unlocks unlimited Brain Dumps, voice capture, and task breakdowns. Weekly, monthly, and annual plans are available. Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://thebraindumpapp.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Card Decks4 screens
Brain Dump4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Card Decks at none against Brain Dump's 3. Card Decks also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Brain Dump's advantage is iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). 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. Brain Dump sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Card Decks asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Card Decks ships an update every 5 months, Brain Dump every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Card Decks versus Brain Dump: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCard DecksBrain Dump
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews77.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB87 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperArne HarrenLee O'Connor

In-app purchases

None

Card Decks

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Brain Dump

Subscriptions3
  • Brain Dump Weekly7 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Brain Dump Monthly7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Brain Dump Annual7 Days trial$44.991 Year

Questions

Is Card Decks free?
Card Decks is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Brain Dump free?
Brain Dump is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Card Decks or Brain Dump have ads?
Neither Card Decks nor Brain Dump shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Card Decks or Brain Dump?
Card Decks ships an update every 5 months, and Brain Dump every 4 months. Most recently, Card Decks was updated on October 31, 2026 and Brain Dump on November 5, 2026.

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