Comparison

Mental Note for iPad ๛ vs Weekender

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

Head to head
About

Mental Note for iPad ๛

This app transforms your iPad into a versatile digital notepad. Seamlessly combine text, drawings, pictures, and voice recordings on a single page. Capture ideas in any format and share them easily.

Highlights
  • Combine text, pictures, audio, and drawings
  • Freehand sketching with multiple colors
  • Organize notes with tags
  • Password protect private notes
  • Export notes in PDF, text, and other formats
  • Share notes via email and cloud services
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". Mental Note for iPad brings the future closer with an even bigger sketchpad for you to capture your ideas on. Turn your iPad into a digital notepad.  Combine pictures, 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 pictures, 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 pictures, dictate, add text, sketch on anything.  Ideas clarified. Creativity captured. FEATURES - Draw with your finger using multiple colours and widths on top of pictures, text, or anywhere else on the page. Zoom in to sketch fine details. - Choose a picture from your album and add it to the page. - Add audio to the page by recording with the built-in 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 iPad. FOR iPhone, PLEASE SEE Mental Note - the digital notepad. Read more: www.zymbiotic.com X @zymbiotic facebook.com/zymbiotic

About

Weekender

This app provides a clear view of your upcoming weekends, highlighting free time for planning trips and events. It integrates with your existing calendars and allows for custom holiday and vacation day tracking. Focus solely on your weekend plans without weekday distractions.

Highlights
  • Weekend event overview
  • Existing calendar integration
  • Friday evening display option
  • Custom holiday tracking
  • Add/edit events within app
Features
Read full description

Weekender is a calendar app that shows your upcoming weekends at a glance. Easily spot empty weekends early on so you can plan trips or events with friends and family, and make the most of your weekends :) * Seamlessly displays the events from your existing iOS calendars * Ability to choose which calendars to display * Option to also show Friday evenings with a user selectable cut-off time * In-app purchase to define your own Holidays and Vacation days that are shown along your weekends * Integration with Calendar allows you to add, modify or delete events from within Weekender This app is all about your weekends :) Big things happen on weekends, so why let yourself be distracted with workdays in your calendar! Visually see which weekends are long weekends. On first launch, Weekender will ask you for permission to access your calendar in order to display your weekend events.

Screenshots

Weekender4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Weekender at 4.7 against Mental Note for iPad ๛'s 2.7. Weekender also leads on review sentiment (91% vs 52%) and update cadence (monthly vs every 5 months). On ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Mental Note for iPad ๛ costs $4.99 and Weekender $0.99 up front. Mental Note for iPad ๛ sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and Weekender sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Weekender holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 23 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of Mental Note for iPad ๛'s written reviews are positive against 91% of Weekender's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mental Note for iPad ๛ ships an update every 5 months, Weekender monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Mental Note for iPad ๛ versus Weekender: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMental Note for iPad ๛Weekender
Price$4.99$0.99 — better
Rating2.7 (6 ratings)4.7 (23 ratings) — better
Positive reviews51.7% of reviews90.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings623 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.015.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZymbiotic TechnologiesGanymed Stanek

Customer experience

Mental Note for iPad ๛

All ratings6 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews149 reviews
Positive51.7%
Neutral22.8%
Negative25.5%

Weekender

All ratings23 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral4.3%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive90.9%
Neutral4.5%
Negative4.5%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Mental Note for iPad ๛

One-time3
  • Paper Customization feature$2.99
  • Straight Line Drawing feature$3.99
  • Dark Mode Override feature$3.99
1 purchases

Weekender

One-time1
  • Holidays and Vacation Days$0.99

Questions

Is Mental Note for iPad ๛ free?
Mental Note for iPad ๛ costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Weekender free?
Weekender costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Mental Note for iPad ๛ or Weekender?
Weekender is rated higher. Mental Note for iPad ๛ averages 2.7 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Weekender averages 4.7 from 23 ratings.
Do Mental Note for iPad ๛ or Weekender have ads?
Neither Mental Note for iPad ๛ nor Weekender shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mental Note for iPad ๛ or Weekender?
Mental Note for iPad ๛ ships an update every 5 months, and Weekender monthly. Most recently, Mental Note for iPad ๛ was updated on October 21, 2026 and Weekender on October 23, 2026.

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