Comparison

Finalist vs FirstSeed Notes

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Unified timeline view
  • Calendar, task, and reminder integration
  • Weather forecast display
  • Journal and activity ring integration
  • Customizable themes
  • Native Apple technology integration
Features
Read full description

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/

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Read full description

FirstSeed Notes is a beautifully designed note-taking app that helps you capture and refine your daily thoughts and insights. By writing down the words in your mind and organizing your ideas, you can naturally build them up over time. It supports your everyday thinking and actions, from taking notes and keeping records to organizing ideas, managing ToDos, and reflecting on important sentences. Main Features - Create and edit notes (simple and comfortable writing experience) - Organize tasks with a ToDo list - Highlight important sentences to record and review them later - Supports recording and transcription - Create summaries, meeting minutes, study notes, action lists, and more from transcriptions - Categorize and organize notes with tags - Quickly access important notes with bookmarks - Fast access to recent notes - Share individual notes or entire notebooks - Sync across devices - Customize font size and line spacing - Markdown support - Smart formatting feature - Display character and line counts Data can be synced and shared via iCloud servers. Some of the above features require a subscription or lifetime license. 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

Finalist4 screens
FirstSeed Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Finalist at 5 against FirstSeed Notes's 3. Finalist also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Finalist ships an update every 10 days, FirstSeed Notes weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Finalist versus FirstSeed Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFinalistFirstSeed Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (461 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.4% of reviews84.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings461 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 daysWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size87 MB109 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDiversion Marketing IncFirstSeed Inc

Customer experience

Finalist

All ratings461 ratings
Positive92.2%
Neutral2.8%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews106 reviews
Positive77.4%
Neutral5.7%
Negative17.0%

FirstSeed Notes

Written reviews13 reviews
Positive84.6%
Neutral7.7%
Negative7.7%

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
Show 4 more
  • 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
Show 13 more
  • 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

7 purchases

Finalist

Subscriptions5
  • Finalist Pro Weekly3 Days trial$2.997 Days
  • Finalist Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Finalist Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Finalist Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Finalist Pro Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time2
  • Finalist Lifetime$59.99
  • Finalist Pro Lifetime$59.99
5 purchases

FirstSeed Notes

Subscriptions4
  • Personal Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Team Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Personal Yearly1 Month trial$26.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Team Yearly1 Month trial$95.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is Finalist free?
Finalist is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is FirstSeed Notes free?
FirstSeed Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Finalist or FirstSeed Notes have ads?
Neither Finalist nor FirstSeed Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Finalist or FirstSeed Notes?
Finalist ships an update every 10 days, and FirstSeed Notes weekly. Most recently, Finalist was updated on September 23, 2026 and FirstSeed Notes on September 11, 2026.

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