Comparison

Workflowy vs Author

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

Head to head
About

Workflowy

This app offers a distraction-free environment for capturing notes, managing tasks, and organizing complex thoughts through infinitely nestable lists. It features AI summarization, kanban boards, and real-time collaboration, syncing seamlessly across all your devices.

Highlights
  • Infinitely nested lists
  • AI summarization and brainstorming
  • Kanban boards for task management
  • Real-time collaboration and sharing
  • Cross-device syncing
  • Offline access
Features
Read full description

Workflowy is a simple, distraction-free app for capturing notes, managing tasks, and organizing your thinking. Infinitely nestable, surprisingly powerful - it helps you manage all the information in your life. With Workflowy you can: • Capture notes and ideas in an instant • Organize complex thinking with infinite nesting • Ask AI to summarize, rewrite, or brainstorm with your notes • Plan and manage tasks with kanban boards • #Tag and @assign items to stay on top of things • Link items across lists - edit once, update everywhere • Share and collaborate in real-time • Upload photos, files, and embed videos • Search and filter your entire Workflowy in seconds Workflowy syncs across all your devices and auto-saves everything. No more missing notes or lost files. Trusted by teams and thinkers at: Atlassian, Slack, The New York Times, and thousands of entrepreneurs, writers, engineers, scientists, and students worldwide. Feature highlights: • Infinitely nested lists • Workflowy AI (chat with notes, AI nodes, quick actions) • Calendar • Kanban boards • Mirrors (live synced copies) • #Tags and @mentions • Date organization with /date shortcuts • Global text search and filtering • Simple sharing and permissions • Works offline • Syncs with desktop and web • One-swipe task completion • File uploads and image attachments • Highlight text and color tags • Item starring • YouTube and X embeds • MFA (Multi-factor authentication) • Expand and collapse lists • Mobile keyboard shortcuts Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/appstore/dev/stdeula/

About

Author

This app serves as a companion to its macOS counterpart, offering a minimalist and powerful writing experience on iOS devices. It allows users to create and manage their written content seamlessly across platforms.

Highlights
  • Minimalist writing interface
  • Powerful writing tools
  • iOS companion app
  • Syncs with macOS version
Read full description

The iOS companion to Author macOS.

Screenshots

Workflowy4 screens
Author4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Workflowy at Free against Author's $19.99. Workflowy also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.0) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

Workflowy is free to download; Author costs $19.99 up front. Workflowy sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month and Author 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

Workflowy holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Workflowy has 8.3K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Workflowy's written reviews are positive against 72% of Author's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Workflowy ships an update weekly, Author every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Workflowy versus Author: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWorkflowyAuthor
PriceFree — better$19.99
Rating4.8 (8.3K ratings) — better3.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews88.1% of reviews — better71.5% of reviews
Number of ratings8.3K — better5
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS15.6 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size54 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFunRoutine INCThe Augmented Text Company LTD

Customer experience

Workflowy

All ratings8,254 ratings
Positive97.0%
Neutral1.3%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews1,078 reviews
Positive88.1%
Neutral4.7%
Negative7.1%

Author

All ratings5 ratings
Positive40.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews137 reviews
Positive71.5%
Neutral6.6%
Negative21.9%

User reviews

Workflowy

From 8.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Best way to organize thoughts
  • 🔒 Secure and reliable
  • 👍 Simple and intuitive
  • 👍 Excellent for productivity and organization
  • 👍 Versatile for various use cases

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional data loss issues
  • 🐛 Offline mode not always reliable
  • 🔋 Can be slow on mobile devices
  • 👎 Limited customization options

Author

From 5 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Clean, minimalist interface design
  • 💡 Innovative concept mapping and mind mapping features
  • 📚 Excellent citation and reference management
  • ⌨️ Useful keyboard shortcuts and productivity features
  • 🎯 Powerful outlining and document folding capabilities

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and data loss issues
  • 📱 iOS/iPad app severely broken and non-functional
  • 🔄 Syncing problems between devices
  • 🎨 Limited formatting and customization options
  • 📊 Poor image handling capabilities

Bugs and requests

Workflowy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Cursor sometimes gets stuck
  • Syncing issues between web and mobile versions
  • Inability to delete items consistently

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add ability to attach files and documents
  • Improve mobile app experience
  • Implement better notification and reminder system
  • Add more formatting options (e.g., font styles, colors)

Author

Reported bugs

20 issues
  • App crashes frequently, causing data loss
  • iOS app shows blank screen and won't open documents
  • iPad app completely non-functional
  • Text disappears or becomes greyed out during iCloud saves
  • Vision OS app lacks cursor for text input
Show 15 more
  • Ask AI feature shows infinite loading spinner
  • Unexpected Russian pricing text displayed to US users
  • App doesn't launch or open on some systems
  • Files not detected in Downloads folder
  • Cannot open documents created in desktop version on iOS
  • Automatic file conversion to Liquid format breaks iOS compatibility
  • Text rendering issues (white text on white background)
  • Table function broken - cannot write in cells
  • App lags and deletes lines when typing quickly
  • Highlight feature not working
  • Citations not resolving automatically
  • Markdown export only exports preamble
  • Copy-paste functionality issues
  • French localization not working despite being advertised
  • App not compatible with iOS 18 and latest macOS versions

Requested features

20 requests
  • iPad and iOS app that actually works
  • Typewriter scrolling mode
  • Variable screen width for large displays
  • Complete LaTeX export with full file support
  • Markdown support
Show 15 more
  • Better image handling and integration
  • Find and replace functionality
  • Dark mode for older macOS versions
  • Inline predictive text support
  • Nested list creation and editing
  • Paragraph indentation options
  • Photo support on macOS version
  • Keyboard shortcut reference guide
  • Table editing improvements
  • Integration with reference management software (Zotero, EndNote)
  • Local AI endpoints or BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) for privacy
  • Better onboarding and UI guidance for new users
  • Typeface options (Courier, American Typewriter, serif fonts)
  • Line spacing options (1.5, double spacing)
  • Color themes and dark mode options

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Workflowy

Subscriptions2
  • Workflowy Pro - Monthly$8.991 Month
  • Workflowy Pro - Yearly$79.991 Year
1 purchases

Author

One-time1
  • Export & AIFree

Questions

Is Workflowy free?
Workflowy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Author free?
Author costs $19.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Workflowy or Author?
Workflowy is rated higher. Workflowy averages 4.8 out of 5 from 8.3K ratings, while Author averages 3.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Workflowy or Author have ads?
Neither Workflowy nor Author shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Workflowy or Author?
Workflowy ships an update weekly, and Author every 2 months. Most recently, Workflowy was updated on November 12, 2026 and Author on November 1, 2026.

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