Comparison

DEVONthink To Go 4 vs Semper

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

Semper

This app helps manage recurring tasks with separate daily, weekly, and monthly lists that automatically reset. It offers optional streaks and simple reminders without gamification or guilt.

Highlights
  • Three distinct recurring task lists
  • Automatic list resetting
  • Count-based item tracking
  • Optional streak tracking
  • Customizable daily reminders
  • Light and dark mode support
  • Offline data storage
Features
Read full description

Semper is a checklist for the things you do again and again — daily, weekly, and monthly — that clears itself, so you never have to rebuild it. Most to-do apps are built for one-off tasks. You add something, you do it, it disappears. But the things that actually hold a life together aren't one-offs. Take the medication. Water the plants. Call your parents. Change the sheets. Those come back, and rebuilding the same list every morning is its own small chore. Semper keeps three standing lists — Daily, Weekly, Monthly. Clear them at your own pace. When the period turns over, the list is simply fresh again. There's no reset button and nothing to re-add. WHAT'S INSIDE • Three lists, each on its own natural cycle • Count-based items for the things you want to do a few times a week, whenever it fits • Optional streaks — off unless you want them, and quiet when you do • Simple daily reminders you control • Light and dark, following your system • Your items and history stay on your device — no account, no sign-up CALM BY DESIGN Semper doesn't gamify, guilt-trip, or celebrate at you. No badges, no confetti, no red numbers climbing on the icon. Miss a day and nothing scolds you — the list is just there tomorrow, the way it always is. PRICING Semper is free to use for three months. After that, one payment unlocks it for good — no subscription. Your items and history remain visible either way. A single purchase covers every device on your Apple ID and supports Family Sharing.

Screenshots

DEVONthink To Go 44 screens
Semper4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Semper at 100% against DEVONthink To Go 4's 39%. Semper also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.0). DEVONthink To Go 4's advantage is ratings volume (258 vs 2). 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

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 Semper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Semper holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: DEVONthink To Go 4 has 258 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of DEVONthink To Go 4's written reviews are positive against 100% of Semper's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on November 5, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
DEVONthink To Go 4 versus Semper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDEVONthink To Go 4Semper
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (258 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews39.4% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings258 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size193 MB55 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperDEVONtechnologies, LLCArchon Development

Customer experience

DEVONthink To Go 4

All ratings242 ratings
Positive92.6%
Neutral2.5%
Negative5.0%
Written reviews33 reviews
Positive39.4%
Neutral21.2%
Negative39.4%

Semper

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

2 purchases

DEVONthink To Go 4

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

Semper

One-time1
  • Semper Unlimited$4.99

Questions

Is DEVONthink To Go 4 free?
DEVONthink To Go 4 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Semper free?
Semper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, DEVONthink To Go 4 or Semper?
Semper is rated higher. DEVONthink To Go 4 averages 4.7 out of 5 from 258 ratings, while Semper averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do DEVONthink To Go 4 or Semper have ads?
Neither DEVONthink To Go 4 nor Semper shows ads.
Which is updated more often, DEVONthink To Go 4 or Semper?
DEVONthink To Go 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, and Semper every 3 weeks. Most recently, DEVONthink To Go 4 was updated on November 5, 2026 and Semper on November 5, 2026.

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