Finalist vs Researchist
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Finalist
This app combines your calendar, tasks, reminders, and weather into a single, visually appealing timeline. It integrates with your journal and activity data to inspire your planning. Enjoy a beautiful and joyful planning experience without complex workflows.
- Unified timeline view
- Calendar, task, and reminder integration
- Weather forecast display
- Journal and activity ring integration
- Customizable themes
- Native Apple technology integration
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Inspired by paper planners, Finalist shows your calendar, tasks, notes, reminders and weather forecast in one beautiful timeline. It even pulls in your Journal Suggestions and Activity Rings to keep you inspired. Gorgeous themes make planning a joy, not a chore. Finalist is built for people who finish things, no complex workflows or productivity theater. NOTES, IN YOUR PLANNER Your planner remembers what you wrote. A dedicated Notes tab gives you notebooks, tags and search. Keep native notes that sync over iCloud, or connect a folder of plain markdown files, including your Obsidian vault, and edit them in place. Tasks inside your markdown files become real Finalist tasks: dated, tagged and checkable anywhere in the app. YOUR DAY, ON YOUR WRIST The Apple Watch app puts your whole day one glance away: events, tasks, reminders and habits in one scrollable view, topped by a Now card that always knows what matters next. Check off pinned lists from the wrist, grocery list included, and add tasks by keyboard, scribble or dictation. Complications and a Smart Stack widget round it out. (Requires watchOS 26.) DESIGN YOUR DAY Choose between two Daily designs: Daybook, the classic stacked layout, or Broadsheet, a newsprint-inspired look that shines on iPad and Mac. Rearrange sections with the layout editor and save your own presets. On the rebuilt Timeline, drag tasks onto the grid to sketch your day in pencil, then commit when it's real. "I've tried dozens of planning apps, this is the one that finally works." - Beta user "The integration of Reminders and Lists reduces the apps I need daily and makes planning actually fun." - Beta user Built with native Apple technologies: no accounts to create, syncs over iCloud, supports Family Sharing, and runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro and Mac. Full database backup, export and import via JSON and OPML. Finalist is a love letter to paper planners. Give it a try, it feels great :) Purchasing information To get the full functionality in Finalist you will need to either purchase a subscription or a one time In-App Purchase for Lifetime access. The purchase amount will be applied to your iTunes account. Subscriptions will automatically renew unless canceled within 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can cancel anytime with your iTunes account settings. Lifetime purchase is a one-time fee. For more information, see our Terms of Use at https://finalist.works/eula/ and our Privacy Policy at https://finalist.works/privacy-policy/
Researchist
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Researchist is the PDF reader designed for academic reading. Import a paper and it becomes more than a static document: references turn into links, every section gets an outline you can jump through,, and figures and tables are one tap away. READ WITHOUT FRICTION • A focused reading experience built for research papers • Open papers in tabs, or side by side in multiple windows • Highlight with Apple Pencil and attach notes • See all your highlights and notes together in one place, ready to review and share PAPER INTELLIGENCE (BETA) Researchist analyzes each paper using Apple Intelligence • Automatic table of contents, even for PDFs without one • A detailed outline under every heading: one line for what each passage does, linking straight back to it • Figures and tables extracted with their captions for quick reference • Title, authors, and metadata found automatically FOLLOW THE CITATION TRAIL • References and in-text citations are extracted and linked • Tap any citation to see the full reference without losing your place • See how often each work is cited throughout the paper • Jump from a reference to the linked paper with a single tap BUILD YOUR RESEARCH LIBRARY • Organize papers into collections • Personalize your library with color themes and cover styles • Import your existing library from Zotero • Find any paper or note from Spotlight • Create and manage notes with Shortcuts and Apple Intelligence via App Intents WORKS WITH ESSAYIST Researchist and Essayist share the same reference library through iCloud. Papers you add on one device or in either app are automatically available everywhere you work. PRIVATE BY DESIGN All AI analysis runs entirely on your device — your documents never leave it. Researchist collects no analytics by default and never uploads your papers. Network access is used only for public metadata lookup, downloading linked papers, and optional Zotero import. FREE AND PRO Reading, highlighting, and notes are free. Researchist Pro unlocks Paper Intelligence, collections, quick access to linked articles, and color themes & cover styles. Paper Intelligence (Beta) requires an Apple Intelligence compatible device. Start your personal research knowledge base today. Terms of Use: https://www.essayist.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.essayist.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is chart position: Finalist at #179 against Researchist's unranked. Finalist also leads on device support (5 vs 3) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 27.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Finalist sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Researchist sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $39.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Finalist ships an update every 10 days, Researchist fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Finalist | Researchist |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (519 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 75.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 519 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #179 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 27.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 121 MB | 113 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Diversion Marketing Inc | Essayist Software Inc. |
Bugs and requests
Finalist
Reported bugs
9 issues- Settings/preferences crash the app
- Pro subscription not recognized after canceling auto-renewal
- Weather widget fails to display without manual toggling
- App freezes and becomes unresponsive on iPad
- Empty tasks cannot be permanently deleted
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- App crashes when accessing certain reminder lists
- Slow performance after force closing and reopening
- Widget functionality discontinued or broken
- macOS version crashes and lacks performance
Requested features
18 requests- Apple Watch native app
- Recurring/repeating tasks and reminders
- Subtasks functionality
- Task tagging and filtering
- Event location and travel time details
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- Natural language input for tasks and events
- Snooze reminder functionality
- Task comments and checklist support
- List grouping and archiving options
- Menubar-only mode for macOS
- Early/advance reminders for tasks
- Notes section for daily journaling
- School/team collaboration version
- Chinese language support
- Dark mode option
- Family sharing features
- Multiple calendar visibility in month view
- Invite others to meetings and add conferencing
Researchist
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Finalist
- Finalist Pro Weekly3 Days trial$2.997 Days
- Finalist Monthly$4.991 Month
- Finalist Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
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- Finalist Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Finalist Pro Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Finalist Lifetime$59.99
- Finalist Pro Lifetime$59.99
Researchist
- Researchist Pro (Yearly)7 Days trial$39.991 Year








