Comparison

Second Brain SB vs Opal

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

Head to head
About

Second Brain SB

Read full description

Second Brain is a note taking app that serves the purpose of acting like your second brain, storing information, and remembering easily what is the most important

About

Opal

This private journaling app uses AI to help you understand your thoughts and emotions. It offers guided prompts, ambient soundscapes, and the ability to write, speak, or add photos to your entries. AI tools analyze your writing to reveal patterns and insights, all while prioritizing your privacy with on-device storage.

Highlights
  • AI-powered pattern analysis
  • Guided journaling journeys
  • Voice and image entry support
  • Multiple journal organization
  • On-device privacy controls
  • Prompt-based or blank page entries
Read full description

Opal is a guided journal and diary to delve deeper: why you react the way you do, what you actually want, what your dreams keep trying to show you. Pick a guide from a large free library, follow a ten day series, or open a blank page and write whatever is on your mind. A FREE LIBRARY OF GUIDES Browse guides on finding clarity, purpose and direction, relationships, attachment styles, limiting beliefs, Stoic philosophy, gratitude, and more. Each guide walks you through a sequence of questions, with an example answer beside every prompt so you always have somewhere to begin. TEN DAY SERIES When you want a longer practice, start a series. Shadow Work spends ten days with the parts of yourself you usually avoid, from the inner critic to the golden shadow. Deep Manifest helps you name the desire underneath the goals you keep setting. The Dreaming Life teaches you to record your dreams and follow the figures and images that keep returning. A new day appears on your home screen each morning, and each one builds on what you wrote before. GUIDED AUDIO JOURNALING Some pages open with a short recorded practice. Press play, close your eyes, and let a memory or an image surface. When the audio ends, write about what came up and where you felt it in your body. Ambient soundscapes are there too, for when you want rain or low tones behind your writing. WRITE YOUR WAY Type, talk, or write by hand. Voice entries are saved as tapes you can replay, each with a transcript you can read back. Add photos to any entry, and keep separate journals for the different threads of your life. CONNECT DOTS ACROSS TIME Opal reads across your entries and shows you what it finds: recurring themes, emotional patterns, relationship dynamics, dream symbols. Each week, month, and year it assembles a reflection drawn from your own words, shows you the passages it relied on, and keeps it in your archive. You can also ask your journal a question and get an answer grounded in what you actually wrote. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your writing is stored on your device. No account required, no cloud sync by default, no data sold. Lock Opal with a password. When you use an AI feature, names, places, and other identifying details are masked on your phone before anything is sent, and you decide how much context is shared. Your entries are never used to train AI models. Export or delete them whenever you like. ENDORSED BY THERAPISTS "Opal encourages deep self-expression and deep self-acceptance while also giving tools for change." Leanne Domash, Ph.D., Psychologist and Author Opal is free to download, with a free library of guides. Opal Premium unlocks [premium features]. Start with one prompt tonight. Questions: opaljournal@gmail.com Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Second Brain SB3 screens
Opal4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Opal at 2 against Second Brain SB's —. Second Brain SB's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 18.1). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Second Brain SB versus Opal: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSecond Brain SBOpal
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (37 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—37 — better
Update frequency—Every 8 days
Ads—No
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
Devices—iPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS11.0 — better18.1
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB336 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGianlucca VickDarby Tarlow

In-app purchases

None

Second Brain SB

No in-app purchases

None

Opal

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Second Brain SB free?
Second Brain SB is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Opal free?
Opal is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

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