# Zealous Notes vs SpendQ Buddy

The clearest difference is price: SpendQ Buddy at Free against Zealous Notes's $4.99. SpendQ Buddy also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). Zealous Notes's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ads (none vs shown). On update cadence and device support there is nothing between them.

SpendQ Buddy is free to download; Zealous Notes costs $4.99 up front. SpendQ Buddy sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Zealous Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

Zealous Notes ships an update every 8 days, SpendQ Buddy every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Zealous Notes | SpendQ Buddy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $4.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | **[4.3 (3 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zealous-notes/id6444421541/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **3** | — |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | **Every 8 days** | Every 2 weeks |
| Monetization | Paid | — |
| Size | 265 MB | 69 MB |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | **15.1** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Jason Browning](https://appshunter.io/developer/656493581) | [Nemanja Mihajlovic](https://appshunter.io/developer/1784030980) |

## What reviewers say

### Zealous Notes

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/zealous-notes/id6444421541)

Organize your thoughts with a versatile note-taking application. Link related notes, embed various media files directly, and enhance your text with markup tools. Features include searchable PDFs, video playback, and audio transcription.

**Highlights:** Stackable and linked notes, Inline PDF, video, and audio embedding, Searchable and mark-upable PDFs, Audio transcription, Hashtag organization, Marker mode with zoom, Calendar event linking

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


### SpendQ Buddy

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spendq-buddy/id6739170494)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (4)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| No Ads | $0.99 | per month |
| Premium Monthly Access | $3.99 | per month |
| Premium Yearly Access | $44.99 | per year |
| Unlock 15 Extra Categories | $1.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Zealous Notes free?

Zealous Notes costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Is SpendQ Buddy free?

SpendQ Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Do Zealous Notes or SpendQ Buddy have ads?

SpendQ Buddy shows ads; Zealous Notes does not.

### Which is updated more often, Zealous Notes or SpendQ Buddy?

Zealous Notes ships an update every 8 days, and SpendQ Buddy every 2 weeks. Most recently, Zealous Notes was updated on November 3, 2026 and SpendQ Buddy on October 30, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*