Columns.app vs CleanPad
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Columns.app
Organize your thoughts and tasks with a unique column-based list manager. Ideal for planning, tracking, and managing projects, ideas, or collections. It offers a structured, linear approach similar to mind maps for clear visualization.
- Organize with linear columns
- Plan and track progress
- Manage projects and ideas
- Create roadmaps
- Teamwork organization
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Columns is a list manager. Lists are great for organizing things and see the big picture. It's perfect for planning, tracking, noting, managing and thinking. It is like mind maps but organized in a linear, columns structure. What for? Make a list of movies you want to see. Put all your recipes together. Create a roadmap for your project. Organize teamwork. Lists help track progress. Write a novel. So it’s a tool for organizing lists, and lists are a tool for organizing things. If you need the ultimate organizer, you found it.
CleanPad
Capture your thoughts, ideas, and memories in a cozy and secure digital space. This app offers a minimalist interface with customizable categories and enhanced privacy features, including automatic locking and biometric authentication for your notes.
- Cozy and customizable design
- Distraction-free editing
- Note categorization and tagging
- Automatic private note locking
- Biometric authentication
- Local storage for privacy
- Grid and list view options
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CleanPad is thoughtfully designed to provide a cozy and secure space for capturing your thoughts, ideas, and memories. With its inviting design and focus on privacy, it feels like a personal sanctuary for note-taking. CleanPad features a minimalist interface that helps you focus on what truly matters. With customizable categories, enhanced privacy, and an experience designed to feel at home, CleanPad makes keeping your thoughts organized simple and intuitive. Features: • Cozy Design: A warm, thoughtfully crafted interface that feels at home and transitions seamlessly between light and dark modes. • Streamlined Editing: A clean and distraction-free Edit Screen for updating titles and content, as well as categorizing, sharing, or deleting your notes. • Categories: Organize your notes with ease. Create, edit, and delete categories, then filter your notes using beautiful color-coded tags. • Private Notes: Keep personal notes in a protected space that locks automatically when you leave the app and supports Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode for secure access. • Seamless Navigation: The Dock keeps everything within reach, letting you navigate your notes, access categories, and create new notes with ease. • Local Storage: Your notes stay exclusively on your device, keeping your thoughts personal and private. • Customizable Views: Switch effortlessly between grid and list views to organize your notes your way. NOTE: List View is available only on iOS. • Quick Actions: Long-press a note to quickly share it, move it to or remove it from the private space, or delete it. • VoiceOver Support: Enhanced accessibility features help make CleanPad inclusive and easy to navigate with VoiceOver. Rediscover the joy of note-taking with CleanPad, a place where your ideas and memories stay private, accessible, and beautifully organized.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: CleanPad at 5.0 against Columns.app's 4.3. Columns.app's advantage is ratings volume (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
CleanPad holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.
Columns.app ships an update every 3 weeks, CleanPad monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Columns.app | CleanPad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Columns, inc. | Uriel Alejandro Ortega Aguilar |
Customer experience
Columns.app
CleanPad
In-app purchases
Columns.app
No in-app purchases
CleanPad
No in-app purchases









