# Finalist vs Harbor Notes

The clearest difference is ratings volume: Finalist at 491 against Harbor Notes's 4. Finalist also leads on device support (5 vs 3). Harbor Notes's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 76%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Finalist sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Harbor Notes sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Harbor Notes holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Finalist has 491 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Finalist's written reviews are positive against 100% of Harbor Notes's.

Finalist ships an update every 11 days, Harbor Notes every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Finalist | Harbor Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.7 (491 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/finalist-daily-planner/id6447014685/reviews) | **[5.0 (4 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/harbor-notes/id6788795948/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **491** | 4 |
| Positive reviews | 76.4% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 11 days | **Every 4 days** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Size | 120 MB | 37 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro** | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Diversion Marketing Inc](https://appshunter.io/developer/1629375927) | [Cloudmanic Labs, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/483718119) |

## What reviewers say

### Finalist

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/finalist-daily-planner/id6447014685)

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:** Family Sharing, Apple Watch app

**In-app purchases (7)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Finalist Pro Weekly | $2.99 | per 7 days |
| Finalist Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Finalist Pro Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Finalist Yearly | $29.99 | per year |
| Finalist Pro Yearly | $29.99 | per year |
| Finalist Lifetime | $59.99 | one-time |
| Finalist Pro Lifetime | $59.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Intuitive day-based organization system
- ✨ Beautiful, thoughtfully designed interface
- 📅 Excellent calendar and reminders integration
- 🎯 Perfect balance of simplicity and functionality
- 📝 Effective task management with bring-forward feature

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes on macOS and when accessing settings
- 🐛 App crashes when opening preferences
- ⚠️ Inconsistent subscription recognition issues
- ⚠️ Confusing pricing structure with multiple tiers
- ⚠️ Limited event creation capabilities

**Reported bugs**

- 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

**Requested features**

- Apple Watch native app
- Recurring/repeating tasks and reminders
- Subtasks functionality
- Task tagging and filtering
- Event location and travel time details


### Harbor Notes

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/harbor-notes/id6788795948)

Capture, organize, and secure all your thoughts, tasks, and files in one private space. This app offers rich note-taking features, robust organization, and instant search, even within images and scanned documents. Your data is yours, with optional end-to-end encryption and no ads or data selling.

**Highlights:** Rich notes with checklists, tables, and highlights, Notebooks, stacks, and tags for organization, Task management with due dates, Document scanning and sketching, Voice memos and file attachments, Instant search with OCR, Offline-first native apps

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Unlimited — Monthly | $9.99 | per month |
| Unlimited — Yearly | $99.00 | per year |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Finalist free?

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

### Is Harbor Notes free?

Harbor Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Finalist or Harbor Notes?

Harbor Notes is rated higher. Finalist averages 4.7 out of 5 from 491 ratings, while Harbor Notes averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.

### Do Finalist or Harbor Notes have ads?

Neither Finalist nor Harbor Notes shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Finalist or Harbor Notes?

Finalist ships an update every 11 days, and Harbor Notes every 4 days. Most recently, Finalist was updated on October 15, 2026 and Harbor Notes on October 11, 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.*