Comparison

Element Note vs MindSpill

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

MindSpill

Organize your tasks, notes, and calendar events in one unified view. Capture thoughts naturally through voice or text, and let the app untangle them into actionable items. Integrates with your existing calendar and offers export options.

Highlights
  • Unified task, note, and calendar view
  • Natural language input (voice & text)
  • AI-powered task breakdown
  • Real-time calendar integration
  • Export to Apple Reminders, Calendar, Notes, Notion
  • Home screen widgets
  • On-device voice transcription
Features
Read full description

Say what's on your mind. Messy is fine. MindSpill gives you back your whole day — tasks, notes, and your real Apple Calendar, together on one screen instead of scattered across three apps. Something big? Ask it to break it down. And if it's simple, it'll tell you that instead. SAY IT ONCE Talk the way you'd talk to a friend who's about to help — half-finished, out of order, jumping around. No blank field to stare at, no format to get right. Your voice is transcribed on your device. Prefer to type? Type it messy. Point the camera at a whiteboard, a school letter, a handwritten list, and MindSpill reads the text. Paste a link and get the parts you actually need to act on. IT COMES BACK UNTANGLED The problem was never that there's too much. It's that everything is stuck together and you can't see where to pull. Say "dentist Thursday at 4" and it's there on Thursday at 4, with a nudge before it. Say "call the dentist Thursday" and it's waiting on your Plan that morning. Say "I should call the dentist" and it sits in Ongoing, showing up every day until you deal with it — and never once nagging you about it. Say "pay rent on the 1st of every month" or "team sync every other Tuesday at 10" and it repeats on its own. When plans change, move just that one, or change all the ones after it. YOUR REAL CALENDAR, IN THE SAME VIEW The events already on your iPhone appear right beside what you captured, so you can see your actual day in one place. No copying, no importing. MindSpill also checks for conflicts before you schedule something, so you find out before it's a problem. ROOM TO BREATHE MindSpill finds the open time in your day and offers it to the things that are waiting. On a packed day, it suggests a short Mind Break in a gap. And when something has sat there for days, you can let it go — no guilt, no red marks. TOLD STRAIGHT Tap Break it Down on anything you've been avoiding. Sometimes it splits into steps. Sometimes it surfaces the thing you'd have forgotten. Sometimes it just tells you this one's simple and to go do it. Most apps' AI always has something to say. This one knows when a task doesn't need help. GOES WHERE YOU ALREADY ARE A widget on your home screen that reads like your plan, where you can tick things off. A word to Siri. And when you want something somewhere else, send it: Apple Reminders, Apple Calendar, Apple Notes, or Notion. NO STREAKS. NO SHAME. Miss a day and nothing happens. There's no number to protect, no chain to break, no notification asking where you've been. A quiet weekly view shows where your time actually went — no scores, no judgement. ALSO IN THIS APP - Works on iPhone, iPad and Mac, kept in sync with MindSpill Pro - In English, Deutsch, Español and Français - Siri Shortcuts and App Intents - Home screen widgets you can tick tasks on - Comments on tasks and notes - Search everything you've ever said PRIVACY Voice transcription happens on your device — your audio never leaves your phone. Photos are read on-device and only the text is kept. The text of a spill is sent to our AI service to be sorted, only after you agree. Your data is never sold or used for advertising. PRICING Everything is free for 7 days — the full app, nothing held back. After that, MindSpill Pro is $5.99/month or $49.99/year, renewing automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel any time in your Apple ID settings. When your trial ends, you keep what you made. Your spills, tasks and notes stay, and you can still view, edit, complete and export them. Terms: https://mindspill.app/terms Privacy: https://mindspill.app/privacy

Screenshots

Element Note4 screens
MindSpill4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: MindSpill at 5.0 against Element Note's 4.6. MindSpill also leads on update cadence (every 4 days vs fortnightly). Element Note's advantage is ratings volume (2.6K vs 1). 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 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.49 per year and MindSpill sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MindSpill 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 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Element Note ships an update fortnightly, MindSpill every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Element Note versus MindSpill: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterElement NoteMindSpill
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (2.6K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews69.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings2.6K — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS17.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size129 MB15 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperSoysauce LabNeon Media Limited Liability Company

Customer experience

Element Note

All ratings2,625 ratings
Positive90.5%
Neutral4.1%
Negative5.4%
Written reviews361 reviews
Positive69.8%
Neutral11.4%
Negative18.8%

MindSpill

All ratings1 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

MindSpill

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Element Note

Subscriptions2
  • Element Note Yearly$3.491 Year
  • Element Note Yearly$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$14.99
2 purchases

MindSpill

Subscriptions2
  • MindSpill Pro (Monthly)7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • MindSpill Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Element Note free?
Element Note is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MindSpill free?
MindSpill is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Element Note or MindSpill?
MindSpill is rated higher. Element Note averages 4.6 out of 5 from 2.6K ratings, while MindSpill averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Element Note or MindSpill have ads?
Neither Element Note nor MindSpill shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Element Note or MindSpill?
Element Note ships an update fortnightly, and MindSpill every 4 days. Most recently, Element Note was updated on November 7, 2026 and MindSpill on November 9, 2026.

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