Finalist vs FirstSeed Notes
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/
FirstSeed Notes
Capture, organize, and refine your thoughts with a beautifully designed note-taking app. Supports Markdown, task management, and transcription to create summaries and meeting minutes. Syncs across devices and offers customization options.
- Markdown-supported note creation and editing
- Task management with ToDo lists
- Highlighting important sentences
- Recording and transcription capabilities
- Note categorization with tags
- Cross-device syncing via iCloud
- Customizable font size and line spacing
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FirstSeed Notes is a beautifully designed notes app that helps you capture your thoughts and turn them into ideas you can build on. Write down what's on your mind, organize it with notebooks and tags, and come back to it anytime. From quick notes and to-do lists to meeting recordings and study notes, FirstSeed Notes keeps your thinking and your plans in one place. Write Comfortably - A clean, simple editor that's easy to use every day - Markdown support and smart formatting - Add tables, equations, images, and links - Adjust font size and line spacing to suit your style - See character, word, and line counts at a glance - Export notes as Markdown or PDF Stay Organized - Organize notes with notebooks, sections, and tags - Keep important notes close with Favorites - Jump back to recent notes instantly - Manage tasks with to-do lists - Highlight key sentences and review them all in one place Record and Summarize - Record audio and get a transcript automatically - Turn transcripts into summaries, meeting minutes, action items, study notes, and more with AI AI Agent - Just ask the AI Agent to find, organize, tag, and move your notes Sync and Share - Sync your notes across your devices with iCloud - Share a single note or an entire notebook and edit together in real time - Invited members can join for free Your notes are synced and shared through iCloud. Some features require a subscription or a lifetime purchase. About Subscription: Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your account settings on the App Store after purchase. Terms of Use: https://firstseed.io/terms.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Finalist at 497 against FirstSeed Notes's 1. Finalist also leads on device support (5 vs 3) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). FirstSeed Notes's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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 FirstSeed Notes sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
FirstSeed Notes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Finalist has 497 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 77% of Finalist's written reviews are positive against 75% of FirstSeed Notes's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Finalist ships an update every 11 days, FirstSeed Notes fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Finalist | FirstSeed Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (497 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.8% of reviews — better | 75.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 497 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 11 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 121 MB | 114 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Diversion Marketing Inc | FirstSeed Inc |
Customer experience
Finalist
FirstSeed Notes
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
FirstSeed Notes
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
FirstSeed Notes
- Personal Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Team Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
- Personal Yearly1 Month trial$26.991 Year
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- Team Yearly1 Month trial$95.991 Year
- Lifetime$49.99
Questions
Is Finalist free?
Is FirstSeed Notes free?
Which has better reviews, Finalist or FirstSeed Notes?
Do Finalist or FirstSeed Notes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Finalist or FirstSeed Notes?
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