Comparison

Mental Note ๛ vs NoteCard

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

Head to head
About

Mental Note ๛

This app offers a versatile digital notepad experience, allowing users to combine text, photos, voice recordings, and drawings on a single page. Capture ideas in any format, organize them with tags, and share them easily.

Highlights
  • Combine text, photos, audio, and drawings
  • Finger drawing with multiple colors
  • Add photos from album or camera
  • Record audio while editing notes
  • Organize notes with tags
  • Password protect private notes
  • Export notes in various formats (PDF, text)
Read full description

"...a true notepad experience that may help you make a clean break from the pencil-and-paper era." -New York Times. Users describe Mental Note as "the only notepad app... that's actually better than, and as simple as, a pen and paper." It's "the future of note taking", and "a big sketchpad... [to] free associate and put stuff down in any format". Turn your iPhone into a digital notepad. Combine photographs, voice recordings, drawings and text - all on the same page, in any order you choose. An idea... a flash - a moment of genius. When a thought hits, and you have to remember it, why limit how you record it? The more context and sensory details you can capture, the clearer the idea can be put down. Use photographs, audio, sketching and text together on the same page... a digital page that can be shared with anyone. Mental Note allows you to capture ideas as they happen: use photographs, dictate, add text, sketch on anything. Ideas clarified. Creativity captured. FEATURES - Draw with your finger using multiple colours and widths on top of photographs, text, or anywhere else on the page. Zoom in to sketch fine details. - Take a photo or choose one from your album and add it to the page. - Add audio to the page by recording with your microphone. Continue to edit your note while recording. - Organize your notes using tags. - Password protect your private notes and flag your important ones. - Attach Calendar events to your notes. - Undo, redo anything in the note by shaking the device. - Delete note sections using the toolbar button or by swiping any note section. - Move a note section by swiping and then dragging it to its new location. - Length of a note is limited only by device memory. - Export in a variety of formats including PDF, text, Mental Note format, and more. Send using email, iCloud, Dropbox, and more. * Send a note in Mental Note format so the note may be imported into another person's Mental Note app. * Using email, export a complete note directly from Mental Note as either a PDF document or a picture (each audio recording is attached to the email as a separate file). You can also email just the text from your note. - Export your notes and backups to your iCloud and/or Dropbox account. - Share a note with your friends using most installed apps. - Map the location a note was created at (if location services are enabled). - Change the size and font of the text in your notes. - Change the color and background of your notes. - Numerous other configuration options. THIS VERSION IS OPTIMIZED FOR iPhone. FOR iPad, PLEASE SEE Mental Note for iPad. Read more: www.zymbiotic.com X @zymbiotic facebook.com/zymbiotic

About

NoteCard

This app provides a straightforward way to create and manage notes using a card-based system. Organize your thoughts with categories, tags, and favorite markers. Enhance your notes with photos and customize their appearance with theme colors and dark mode.

Highlights
  • Card format for notes
  • Multiple categories and tags
  • Favorite notes designation
  • Keyword-based note search
  • Photo integration (up to 10 per note)
  • Customizable theme colors
  • Dark mode support
Read full description

NoteCard is an intuitive and user-friendly note-taking app that offers simple yet powerful features. [Key Features] -Design: Save your notes in card format, allowing you to create and edit them anytime, anywhere. We've implemented a clean and intuitive design for a seamless user experience. -Note Organization: Set up multiple categories and tag your notes with various labels. Easily organize and differentiate your notes by category. You can also designate important notes as 'Favorites' for separate categorization. -Note Search: When you need to quickly find a specific note, simply search for it! Just enter the keywords you're looking for, and the notes will appear instantly. -Photo Integration: Add photos to your notes for a more comprehensive record. Import images from your album when words alone aren't enough. (Up to 10 photos per note) -Theme Colors: Customize the theme color of your notes to suit your preferences. Explore a variety of theme colors based on your taste. -Dark Mode: NoteCard supports Dark Mode. Choose between Light Mode and Dark Mode according to your preference.

Screenshots

Mental Note ๛4 screens
NoteCard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: NoteCard at Free against Mental Note ๛'s $4.99. NoteCard also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months). Mental Note ๛'s advantage is review sentiment (63% vs 50%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On 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

NoteCard is free to download; Mental Note ๛ costs $4.99 up front. Mental Note ๛ sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. NoteCard asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mental Note ๛ ships an update every 5 months, NoteCard every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and July 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Mental Note ๛ versus NoteCard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMental Note ๛NoteCard
Price$4.99Free — better
Rating4.0 (15 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews63.2% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings15 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB18 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZymbiotic TechnologiesMinsung Kim

Customer experience

Mental Note ๛

All ratings15 ratings
Positive73.3%
Neutral6.7%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews201 reviews
Positive63.2%
Neutral17.9%
Negative18.9%

NoteCard

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Mental Note ๛

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes sometimes disappear or get deleted unexpectedly
  • Audio recording feature not working properly
  • Keyboard issues causing loss of typed text
  • Location services not accurately detecting user's location

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add iCloud or Dropbox sync
  • Implement copy/paste and text formatting options
  • Improve drawing tools with more customization
  • Introduce a task/to-do list feature
  • Add video recording capability
Show 1 more
  • Provide more font and color options

NoteCard

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Mental Note ๛

One-time3
  • Paper Customization feature$2.99
  • Straight Line Drawing feature$3.99
  • Dark Mode Override feature$3.99
None

NoteCard

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Mental Note ๛ free?
Mental Note ๛ costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is NoteCard free?
NoteCard is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Mental Note ๛ or NoteCard have ads?
Neither Mental Note ๛ nor NoteCard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mental Note ๛ or NoteCard?
Mental Note ๛ ships an update every 5 months, and NoteCard every 3 weeks. Most recently, Mental Note ๛ was updated on September 23, 2026 and NoteCard on July 22, 2026.

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