Comparison

Spacebar Memory vs Gather

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

Head to head
About

Spacebar Memory

Effortlessly capture and organize everyday audio, from meetings to personal stories. This app transcribes speech to text, provides automatic highlights, and allows you to chat with your memories for recall and brainstorming. Share your captured moments with others.

Highlights
  • Effortless audio capture
  • Speech-to-text transcription
  • Automatic highlights
  • Conversational memory interaction
  • Organized memory library
  • Memory sharing
Features
Read full description

Spacebar is a memory app for everyday audio. Meetings, voice journals, coffee chats, brainstorms, dinner stories… - Effortless Capture: Just tap to start talking. Works in the background so you can focus on the moment. - Seriously Smart: Transcribes speech to text + provides automatic highlights. - Living Memories: Chat with any memory to recall or brainstorm. - Memory Library: Organize and revisit your captured moments. Share memories with colleagues, friends, family... Perfect for: - Professionals documenting meetings - Sharing a conversation with someone who wasn't present - Preserving family stories - Journalists and interviewers - Students capturing lectures - Anyone who wants to save fleeting thoughts and ideas --- WHY WE BUILT SPACEBAR *IRL beats URL* Virtual meetings suck. Meet your friends, classmates, colleagues, and family in real life. Spacebar is built to be used outside. *Stay In Conversation Flow* Get completely lost in conversation and don’t worry about missing anything. Spacebar helps you remember all the details. *AI Needs Humans* Ch@GPT doesn't get you... We've built one that can pull context from your real life. *Remember Together* Conversations and stories bring people together. Spacebar lets you share with everyone involved. --- Terms of Use: https://spacebar.fm/terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://spacebar.fm/privacy-notice

About

Gather

Capture and organize your ideas, moments, and inspirations with a multimedia field recorder. This privacy-focused app allows quick collection of text, images, and videos, with offline functionality and on-device storage.

Highlights
  • Offline functionality
  • Privacy-focused, no ads or tracking
  • Quick multimedia capture
  • Organize and connect notes
  • Review moments in a feed
  • Are.na integration
  • Open-source
Features
Read full description

Develop your curiosity and personal taste with Gather, a multimedia field recorder for cultivating your personal archive of ideas, moments, and rituals. Key Features: * Offline-Capable: Full functionality without internet connection * Privacy-Focused: No ads, no logins, no tracking and all data is stored on-device* * Quick Capture: Collect everyday inspiration and moments on-the-go as fast as texting yourself * Organize: Connect unorganized blocks later while in transit or after getting home, so you don’t have to worry about organizing when collecting. * Review: Revisit your favorite moments and curb your social media addiction while scratching your scroll itch in a TikTok-like feed Additional Benefits: * Multimedia support: collect text, images, videos, and links! Support for more types like audio on the horizon * Are.na Integration: Sync selected collections and blocks to give them an online home * Personalization: Customize app icons and configure the interface through detailed settings * Share extension: quickly save text, images, and links from other apps * Open-Source: Transparent, secure, and community-driven Gather was developed by a person (Spencer) for their own use, which means it has the best interests of the person using it in mind. No dark patterns or corporate shenanigans, ever. * this doesn’t include content that you decide to sync to external providers --- Gather is made and maintained by Spencer Chang, an indie engineer and internet artist based in San Francisco, California. You can learn more about the philosophy behind Gather in this interview with Are.na (https://www.are.na/editorial/an-interview-with-spencer-chang) Gather emerged from a personal need for a tool to facilitate my own archival practice—something that helped me collect the daily inspiration I encountered, connect them to relevant containers, and revisit ideas that important to me. More info: https://gather.directory/ Privacy Policy: https://gather.directory/privacy

Screenshots

Spacebar Memory4 screens
Gather4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Gather at none against Spacebar Memory's shown. Gather also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Spacebar Memory's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Spacebar Memory sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $5.00 per month and Gather sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Spacebar Memory against 5.0 for Gather. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13 and 29 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Spacebar Memory ships an update fortnightly, Gather every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 14, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Spacebar Memory versus Gather: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpacebar MemoryGather
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (13 ratings)5.0 (29 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1329 — better
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size40 MB44 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLatent Spacebar, Inc.Spencer Chang

Customer experience

Spacebar Memory

All ratings13 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Gather

All ratings29 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Spacebar Memory

Subscriptions3
  • Unlimited Memory$5.001 Month
  • Spacebar Membership$5.001 Month
  • Pro Membership$14.991 Month
One-time1
  • Spacebar Booster$4.99
7 purchases

Gather

One-time7
  • Gather Contribution$2.99
  • Gather Contribution$5.99
  • Gather Contribution$9.99
Show 4 more
  • Gather Contribution$12.99
  • Gather Contribution$34.99
  • Gather Contribution$59.99
  • Gather Contribution$99.99

Questions

Is Spacebar Memory free?
Spacebar Memory is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Gather free?
Gather is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Spacebar Memory or Gather?
Gather is rated higher. Spacebar Memory averages 4.9 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Gather averages 5.0 from 29 ratings.
Do Spacebar Memory or Gather have ads?
Spacebar Memory shows ads; Gather does not.
Which is updated more often, Spacebar Memory or Gather?
Spacebar Memory ships an update fortnightly, and Gather every 6 weeks. Most recently, Spacebar Memory was updated on September 14, 2026 and Gather on September 19, 2026.

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