Comparison

Card Buddy vs Year Count

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

Head to head
About

Card Buddy

This app helps writers and content creators organize their thoughts and ideas on a digital canvas using index cards. It supports spatial organization, image integration, and text formatting to facilitate narrative development and brainstorming.

Highlights
  • Digital index cards
  • Spatial organization on canvas
  • Image integration
  • Markdown text formatting
  • Auto-styling for text
  • Storyboarding and planning
Features
Read full description

Card Buddy turns your screen into an infinite corkboard for index cards. Drag cards anywhere on the canvas and watch neighboring cards glide out of the way — outlining your story should feel as natural as moving notecards on a desk. Perfect for screenwriters, novelists, and anyone who thinks in cards. Lay out your beat sheet, rearrange plot points, and build your story one card at a time. Features: - Drag-and-drop index cards on a free-form canvas, with neighbors that move out of the way automatically - Two-sided cards — type a summary on the front, details on the back - Add images to any card for storyboards and moodboards - Three text styles: Plain, Auto-style (instant headers and subtitles), and Markdown - Kanban layout to organize cards into columns - Built for Mac and iPhone — your boards go where you do Whether you're breaking a screenplay, plotting a novel, or organizing research, Card Buddy keeps your ideas movable. Terms of use: https://www.ussherpress.com/cardbuddy/terms/ Privacy policy: https://www.ussherpress.com/cardbuddy/privacy/

About

Year Count

Features
Read full description

Year Count turns abstract time into something you can see and feel. Watch animated progress bars fill in real time for the current year, month, week, and day — then use that clarity to make the hours ahead matter more. At a glance you know exactly how much of 2026 has passed and how much remains. A year-in-weeks dot grid maps every week of the year onto a single screen, so you can see your progress at the scale that actually drives decisions. Quarter and season progress keep you oriented within each stretch of the year. Go deeper with Life in Weeks — a full-lifetime grid calibrated to your birth year. Seeing your life laid out in dots is quietly motivating in a way that calendar apps never are. Custom countdowns let you add any date that matters: a trip, a deadline, a birthday, a goal. Each countdown shows days passed and days remaining alongside its own animated bar, so you always know where you stand. When something strikes you, export a polished progress image with one tap. Share your year progress with a friend, post it as a reminder, or save it as a wallpaper. Features at a glance: - Animated progress bars for year, month, week, and day - Days passed and days remaining for the current year - Year-in-weeks dot grid - Quarter and season progress - Life in Weeks grid - Unlimited custom date countdowns - One-tap shareable progress image - No account required, no ads

Screenshots

Card Buddy4 screens
Year Count3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Year Count at none against Card Buddy's 1. Card Buddy's advantage is device support (4 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price 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. Card Buddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Year Count asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Card Buddy versus Year Count: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCard BuddyYear Count
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (44 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews83.9% of reviews—
Number of ratings44 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB1 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAllen UssherLinh Phan Nhat Khanh

Bugs and requests

Card Buddy

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Trial mode does not allow saving
  • Images not displaying adequately
  • Double-tap zoom out feature interrupts text selection

Requested features

19 requests
  • Tagging individual cards
  • Apple Pencil support
  • More keyboard shortcuts
  • Support for multiple canvases within a single document
  • More customized options for text formatting, fonts, and colors
Show 14 more
  • Auto update to cloud option
  • Form of auto version number on save
  • Dropping small video clips
  • Templates
  • Fit to window view
  • Grab function for moving the board
  • Linking notes
  • Basic formatting (Bold, Italics, underline, highlight, color)
  • Share outline with others for editing
  • iPhone version
  • Duplicating boards
  • Duplicating cards
  • Disabling double-tap zoom out feature or making it customizable
  • Adding back previous document type options (Storyboard, Kanban, etc.)

Year Count

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Card Buddy

One-time1
  • Non-expiring License$19.99
None

Year Count

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Card Buddy free?
Card Buddy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Year Count free?
Year Count is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Card Buddy or Year Count have ads?
Neither Card Buddy nor Year Count shows ads.

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