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

Capture ideas, manage tasks, and organize your thoughts with an infinitely nestable system. This app offers AI assistance for summarization and brainstorming, along with collaborative features and robust search capabilities. It syncs across devices and works offline, making it a powerful tool for personal and team productivity.

Highlights
  • Infinitely nested lists
  • AI summarization and brainstorming
  • Kanban boards for task management
  • Real-time collaboration and sharing
  • Global search and filtering
  • Offline access and cross-device sync
  • Tagging and mentions
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 2 one-off in-app purchases. 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 8.2K 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 October 1, 2026 and September 27, 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 (8.2K ratings) — better3.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews88.0% of reviews — better71.5% of reviews
Number of ratings8.2K — 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
Size147 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFunRoutine INCThe Augmented Text Company LTD

Customer experience

Workflowy

All ratings8,223 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral1.3%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews1,071 reviews
Positive88.0%
Neutral4.8%
Negative7.2%

Author

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

User reviews

Workflowy

From 8.2K 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
2 purchases

Author

One-time2
  • Export & AIFree
  • Eng$1.99

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 8.2K 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 October 1, 2026 and Author on September 27, 2026.

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