Comparison

Element Note vs Journal

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

Head to head
About

Element Note

This app offers a distraction-free digital notebook experience with advanced handwriting, PDF annotation, and sketching capabilities. It features unique brushes, a powerful rendering engine, and smart organization tools. Sync your notes across devices and collaborate with others seamlessly.

Highlights
  • Unique handwriting brushes
  • Smooth drawing engine
  • PDF annotation
  • Text, shape, and image attachments
  • On-device OCR search
  • Smart dark mode
  • iCloud sync and collaboration
Features
Read full description

Element Note is the next-gen note taking, PDF annotation, and light sketching app. We stripped down the unnecessaries and carefully polished the elemental functions for a digital notebook. With a modern look and powerful features, Element Note strives to provide an elegant writing space free of distractions. Features: Unique brushes - Pencil (HB Pencil, Mechanical Pencil) - Pen (Pen, Line Pen, Fountain Pen) - Brush (Art Brush, Round Brush) - Marker (Marker, Round Marker) Best-in-class note rendering engine - Smooth and fluid drawing powered by Metal technology - Support gradient ink for more expressive notes Powerful attachments - Text - Shape - Sticker - Image Universal Search - Search through your PDF & Handwritting using on device OCR Smart Darkmode - Smartly adapts all of your notes to the system darkmode without changing the paper or stroke colors. iCloud Sync & Collaboration - Sync via your personal iCloud (No data is passed to our server) - Collaborate through iCloud collaboration for up to 100 users. Desktop class organization - Intuitive multi-select drag and drop gesture to organize your notes or pages Element Note is free to try for up to 3 notes. Unlock the full app with an in app purchase to create unlimited notes. Terms and Conditions https://elementnote.app/terms Privacy Policy https://elementnote.app/privacy

About

Journal

Create beautiful memory pages by combining text, photos, videos, voice notes, and stickers. Organize your memories into personalized notebooks and watch your digital garden grow with each entry. This app offers a calm and creative space for journaling and scrapbooking.

Highlights
  • Combine text, photos, videos, and voice notes
  • Decorate pages with stickers
  • Freely arrange content on pages
  • Create custom stickers
  • Organize entries into notebooks
  • Visual memory garden growth
Features
Read full description

LogLog — Your Life, Your Story Turn everyday moments into beautiful memory pages with LogLog, a creative journal, photo diary, and digital scrapbook designed around the way you want to remember your life. Write about your day, add meaningful photos and videos, record voice notes, decorate with stickers, and arrange everything freely. Whether you are capturing a special trip, saving a quiet moment, or building a daily journaling habit, LogLog gives every memory a place to grow. CREATE VISUAL MEMORY PAGES Combine different kinds of content on one flexible journal canvas: • Write text and personal reflections • Add photos and videos • Record voice notes • Decorate pages with stickers • Drag, resize, rotate, and arrange elements freely • Create personal diary pages, collages, and visual stories TURN ANYTHING INTO A STICKER Create custom stickers from the little things you love. Save them to your sticker collection and reuse them across future journal pages. Build a personal sticker library filled with favorite objects, memories, places, pets, food, and everyday moments. MAKE IT YOUR SCRAPBOOK Organize memories from travel, relationships, quiet moments, and everyday life into separate scrapbooks. Choose custom backgrounds and give every scrapbook its own personality. WEEK CALENDAR See your memories at a glance with the new Week Calendar. Browse each day and revisit moments from the week. A JOURNAL FOR EVERY MOMENT LogLog is ideal for daily journaling, photo journals, video diaries, digital scrapbooking, travel memories, gratitude journaling, voice journaling, creative collages, and meaningful everyday moments. CALM, CREATIVE, AND PERSONAL LogLog combines a simple interface with flexible creative tools, helping you focus on your memories without complicated editing. Create minimal pages, detailed collages, visual stories, or private diary entries—the page belongs to you. PRIVACY FIRST Your journal content is stored locally on your device, helping keep your personal memories private and under your control. LOGLOG PRO LogLog Pro unlocks all premium features, including unlimited scrapbooks, pages, photos, videos, voice notes, custom sticker creation, custom scrapbook backgrounds, creative canvas tools, and future premium updates. LogLog Pro is available as a weekly auto-renewing subscription with a three-day free trial for eligible new users, or as a lifetime one-time purchase. Prices vary by region and are shown before purchase. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account after confirmation. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://luchv.com/loglog/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Element Note4 screens
Journal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Journal at 5.0 against Element Note's 4.6. Journal also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly). Element Note's advantage is ratings volume (2.6K vs 6). On price, 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

Both are free to download. Element Note sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year and Journal sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Journal holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Element Note has 2.6K ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Element Note ships an update fortnightly, Journal every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Element Note versus Journal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterElement NoteJournal
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (2.6K ratings)5.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings2.6K — better6
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size129 MB56 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperSoysauce LabHa Viet Luc

Customer experience

Element Note

All ratings2,591 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral4.1%
Negative5.4%
Written reviews340 reviews
Positive68.5%
Neutral11.8%
Negative19.7%

Journal

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Element Note

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes and files randomly disappearing
  • Inconsistent behavior when using the floating keyboard
  • Handwriting recognition not working as expected
  • Exported PDFs losing formatting and background colors

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ruler tool
  • Ability to resize/rotate selections
  • Improved text editing and formatting
  • Presentation mode for connecting to displays
  • Ability to import/export multiple files at once
Show 1 more
  • Seasonal or custom sticker packs

Journal

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Element Note

Subscriptions2
  • Element Note Yearly$3.491 Year
  • Element Note Yearly$4.991 Year
One-time3
  • Lifetime Launch Special$4.99
  • Lifetime$9.99
  • Lifetime$14.99
3 purchases

Journal

Subscriptions2
  • LogLog Pro Weekly3 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • LoglogPro Monthly$5.991 Month
One-time1
  • LogLog Pro Lifetime$39.99

Questions

Is Element Note free?
Element Note is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Journal free?
Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Element Note or Journal?
Journal is rated higher. Element Note averages 4.6 out of 5 from 2.6K ratings, while Journal averages 5.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Element Note or Journal have ads?
Neither Element Note nor Journal shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Element Note or Journal?
Element Note ships an update fortnightly, and Journal every 5 days. Most recently, Element Note was updated on October 13, 2026 and Journal on October 14, 2026.

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