Comparison

DEVONthink To Go 4 vs SecondBrain Pro

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

Head to head
About

DEVONthink To Go 4

Manage your entire knowledge library on your iPad and iPhone. Organize, edit, and annotate documents, notes, and more. Leverage generative AI for summaries, content creation, and advanced search. Syncs privately and securely across devices.

Highlights
  • Document organization and management
  • AI-powered summaries and content creation
  • PDF annotation and editing
  • On-device OCR for searchable documents
  • Cross-device secure synchronization
  • Custom metadata and tagging
  • Shortcuts automation
Features
Read full description

Your entire knowledge library. Always with you. Always private. DEVONthink To Go is your document repository when you're not at your Mac. Collect, organize, edit, and annotate. Use generative AI to work with your stored knowledge or create new documents. Automate with Shortcuts. Our time-tested technology keeps all your data in sync between your Mac, iPad, and iPhone, privately and securely. The professional document and information manager for iPad and iPhone. From DEVONtechnologies, driving innovation since 2002. - Students: Annotate research papers with AI-powered summaries - Teachers: Organize your materials, use AI to create handouts and tests - Researchers: Have your data with you in a robust, powerful knowledge manager - Lawyers: Keep all case files organized and encrypted Have your important documents with you at all times: - Never lose an important document again, keep everything organized - Store PDFs, notes, images, bookmarks, just about any type - File your documents in groups, even more than one group at a time - Use tags, mark documents with flags or as unread, give them a star rating - Versioning lets you return to a previous state of a document - Revision-proof databases prevent edits to documents with special requirements - Sync your data between Macs, iPads, and iPhones, securely and privately Work with your documents: - Edit texts, Markdown files, or rich text documents - Annotate and edit PDFs with common tools - Make scans, scanned PDFs, or images searchable with the built-in, on-device OCR - Add custom, searchable metadata fields to enrich your documents Use generative AI: - Work with your favorite provider and model - Chat with your documents, analyze or summarize them - Transform text or extract text from images and even handwritten notes - Create new images from your data - Find documents using natural language with the AI-powered search assistant - Let the AI make order from chaos, rename documents, add tags, or label or rate them DEVONthink To Go is well-integrated with other apps: - Link to your documents from other apps with universal links - Access all your documents also through the Files app - Clip data from almost any app with the Clip to DEVONthink extension - Use drag-and-drop, inside DEVONthink To Go or between apps - Automate repetitive tasks with Shortcuts actions DEVONthink To Go is great standalone but also works perfectly with DEVONthink for Mac and across multiple devices. Synchronize your databases securely and privately over the local network or through a cloud service of your choice. You decide what data is synced, when, and where. Strong encryption makes sure that your data belongs to you, not to your service provider or us. Privacy policy: https://www.devontechnologies.com/r/privacy End user license agreement: https://www.devontechnologies.com/r/eula

About

SecondBrain Pro

Features
Read full description

Save a thought while you walk. Find a decision after a meeting. SecondBrain Pro is a voice-first memory app for iPhone and iPad, with an Apple Watch companion for capture from your wrist. Choose local storage or free iCloud sync. Optional Standard and Premium upgrades are one-time purchases. CAPTURE AND RECALL Record a thought or type a note. Organize ideas, learnings, tasks and decisions with tags. Search saved memories by text and dates, or ask AI Chat about your memories when a supported AI provider is available. START FREE Voice and text capture, ordinary search, local storage and iCloud sync are included in Free. On-device AI chat is available on supported Apple Intelligence devices. No SecondBrain account is required. iCloud needs your Apple account and available iCloud storage. STANDARD: OPTIONAL ONE-TIME UPGRADE Add premium speech playback voices, expanded memory context, JSON/Markdown export, and backup and restore tools. iCloud sync is already included in Free. PREMIUM: YOUR OWN BACKEND AND MCP Includes Standard capabilities and adds a connection to your own Cloudflare Worker backend, backend semantic search, API access and MCP integration for compatible tools such as Claude Code and Cursor. This option requires your own Cloudflare account, deployed backend URL and API key. MCP also requires a bridge and compatible client. Cloudflare usage may incur separate charges. Local-only memories are not automatically available to external assistants. WHERE YOUR DATA GOES Local Only stores memories on this device. iCloud sync transfers them through your personal Apple iCloud account. The optional Cloudflare mode sends memories to your configured backend for storage and selected AI processing. Connected MCP clients handle data according to their own configuration and provider policies. Voice capture uses Apple's speech recognition and may use Apple servers. Microphone and speech recognition permission are required. Location context is optional. The app requests in-app consent for AI processing. AI REQUIREMENTS On-device AI chat uses Apple Foundation Models and requires iOS 26 or later, compatible Apple Intelligence hardware, Apple Intelligence enabled and an available model. Voice capture and ordinary search do not depend on Foundation Models. Premium users can configure cloud AI through their own backend. Check the App Store compatibility section before installing. PRICING Free download. Standard and Premium are optional one-time in-app purchases, with no SecondBrain subscription. See the purchase sheet for your regional price and currency. External backend services are separate. Developed in Switzerland by Heinrich Krupp. Product facts: https://secondbrain-pro.netlify.app/facts Support: https://secondbrain-pro.netlify.app/support

Screenshots

DEVONthink To Go 44 screens
SecondBrain Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: DEVONthink To Go 4 at every 3 weeks against SecondBrain Pro's every 2 months. SecondBrain Pro's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. DEVONthink To Go 4 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and SecondBrain Pro sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

DEVONthink To Go 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, SecondBrain Pro every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
DEVONthink To Go 4 versus SecondBrain Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDEVONthink To Go 4SecondBrain Pro
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (257 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews44.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings257 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size193 MB10 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperDEVONtechnologies, LLCHeinrich Krupp

In-app purchases

2 purchases

DEVONthink To Go 4

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly1 Month trial$2.991 Month
  • Yearly1 Month trial$19.991 Year
2 purchases

SecondBrain Pro

One-time2
  • Standard$7.99
  • SecondBrain PREMIUM$17.99

Questions

Is DEVONthink To Go 4 free?
DEVONthink To Go 4 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SecondBrain Pro free?
SecondBrain Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do DEVONthink To Go 4 or SecondBrain Pro have ads?
Neither DEVONthink To Go 4 nor SecondBrain Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DEVONthink To Go 4 or SecondBrain Pro?
DEVONthink To Go 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, and SecondBrain Pro every 2 months. Most recently, DEVONthink To Go 4 was updated on October 30, 2026 and SecondBrain Pro on October 24, 2026.

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