Comparison

abcNotes vs Brain;Notes

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

Head to head
About

abcNotes

Create realistic, customizable sticky notes and to-do lists on your iOS device. Organize shopping lists, class notes, and projects with a variety of backgrounds and skins. Share and sync your notes across devices.

Highlights
  • Realistic sticky note appearance
  • Customizable skins and backgrounds
  • Virtual desktops for organization
  • Scale, rotate, and drag notes
  • Email and sync notes
  • Save notes as images
Read full description

abcNotes - Simply the most realistic & user friendly notes in the world! abcNotes - is a freeware, feature limited version. The limitations are: • Only one desktop (paid version supports up to 15 virtual desktops) • Only 10 note skins (45 in paid version) • Only 32 desktop backgrounds (88 in paid version) • Synchronization is NOT supported • A bit of advertisements. abc Notes Lite - Checklist & Sticky Note Application for iPhone and iPad (share, email and synch your lists, memos, projects and school notebooks) free version Bellow is the description of the abcNotes full version: ----------------------------------------- abcNotes was designed to become your stylish and highly customizable, functional and easy to use assistant in taking notes and managing To Do lists. abcNotes is an awesome note taking application! It takes advantage of unique iOS devices touchscreen preserving realistic look & feel of paper sticky notes. BEAUTIFUL APPEARANCE: • 88 backgrounds to choose from • 45 note skins • 27 badge designs & 115 icons EXTREMELY FUNCTIONAL: • 15 virtual desktops • Scale, rotate and drag notes • Easy to edit, duplicate, move between desktops • Supports any iPad orientation SHARE YOUR NOTES: • Email notes and desktops • Copy note image to any application • Synchronize notes between iOS devices • Save notes as image and place to lock or home screen No more boring note lists – abcNotes brings you the ability to make REAL notes on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Put everything you need to remember into abcNotes! View you notes the way you want! Rotate your abcNotes to any angle you wish! abcNotes is great for shopping lists, student class notebook, to record lecture and interview notes or to track projects, recordings and more tasks at home, school and university (class or homework). Please feel free to contact us at abcnotes@alsedi.com if you have suggestions, feature requests, or bug reports. Give it a try!

About

Brain;Notes

Organize your thoughts and information with a scrapbook-style notepad. Freely add text, photos, maps, URLs, and voice memos to multiple workspaces. Notes can be secured with biometric authentication and exported as PDFs.

Highlights
  • Scrapbook-style organization
  • Support for text, photo, location, URL, and voice notes
  • Multiple workspaces with custom wallpapers
  • Biometric note locking
  • Calendar and Reminder integration
  • PDF export and AirDrop support
  • Stable and Shared note modes
Features
Read full description

"Brain;Notes" is a scrapbook-like sticky note that uses sticky notes to efficiently organize your ideas and information. You can freely write down not only text but also maps, photos, URLs, and other notes on your workspace. It can be used in a variety of ways depending on your ideas and thoughts, such as mind mapping. Main Features ・Simple menu-driven user interface. ・Available note types: text, photo, location, URL, and voice. ・Voice notes can be recorded for 60 seconds. ・Multiple workspaces are available for managing notes. ・Each workspace can have its own wallpaper. ・Each note can be locked by biometric authentication. ・Notes can be created as events in Calendar.app. ・Notes can be registered in Reminder.app. ・Workspaces can be exported as PDF files. ・AirDrop is supported. ・App supports for Sharing. (Notes can be created by "Share" from other apps. Notes can be created by dragging from other apps.) Unique Features: ・When a note is set to "Stable" mode, it will appear in all workspaces. If you create a new workspace, the note will still appear automatically. ・When a note is set to "Shared" mode, it will only appear in the workspace you select. Attentions: ・There is no ability to delete a workspace. However, you can delete all notes on a workspace with a three-finger tap gesture. Please be careful not to create too many workspaces. ・If there are less than 10 notes left, the app will automatically refill notes to 10 at midnight. Gesture Operations: Workspace (gray area): ・Single Tap: shows menu. ・Double Tap: creates new note. ・Two Finger Tap: reset wallpaper. ・Three Finger Tap: deletes all notes on the workspace. Sticky notes: ・Single Tap: shows menu. ・Double Tap: transforms appearance. ・Long Press: shows context menu.

Screenshots

abcNotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: abcNotes at 77% against Brain;Notes's 0%. abcNotes also leads on rating (4.6 vs 1.0) and ratings volume (2.9K vs 1). Brain;Notes's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs freemium). On price and in-app purchases 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. abcNotes sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Brain;Notes sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

abcNotes holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: abcNotes has 2.9K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of abcNotes's written reviews are positive against 0% of Brain;Notes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

abcNotes ships an update every 2 weeks, Brain;Notes every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
abcNotes versus Brain;Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterabcNotesBrain;Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (2.9K ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews77.0% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings2.9K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 6 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size41 MB9 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperALSEDI GroupKouichi Abe

Customer experience

abcNotes

All ratings2,914 ratings
Positive91.5%
Neutral4.0%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews421 reviews
Positive77.0%
Neutral7.6%
Negative15.4%

Brain;Notes

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Bugs and requests

abcNotes

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Notes randomly deleted
  • Checklist feature not working
  • Sync issues between iOS devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add date/time stamp to notes
  • Ability to write notes with Apple Pencil
  • Option to set reminders/alarms for notes
  • Improved search and organization tools
  • More customization options for note styles

Brain;Notes

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

abcNotes

One-time1
  • Unlock all features$2.99
4 purchases

Brain;Notes

One-time4
  • 20 notes$0.99
  • 50 notes$1.99
  • 80 notes$2.99
Show 1 more
  • 150 notes$4.99

Questions

Is abcNotes free?
abcNotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Brain;Notes free?
Brain;Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, abcNotes or Brain;Notes?
abcNotes is rated higher. abcNotes averages 4.6 out of 5 from 2.9K ratings, while Brain;Notes averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do abcNotes or Brain;Notes have ads?
abcNotes shows ads; Brain;Notes does not.
Which is updated more often, abcNotes or Brain;Notes?
abcNotes ships an update every 2 weeks, and Brain;Notes every 6 days. Most recently, abcNotes was updated on September 22, 2026 and Brain;Notes on September 15, 2026.

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