DEVONthink To Go 4 vs Sam's List
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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
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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
Sam's List
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Sam’s List is a calm, local-first app for the things that matter each day: write down a task, see what is relevant, and check it off. It also gives you a simple, private place to record everyday spending. NEW!! Sam’s List Cloud lets you connect your synced tasks and spending to a compatible AI assistant, with permissions you control TODOS, WITHOUT THE NOISE • Capture tasks in seconds • Organize them in folders or keep them in Inbox • See Today, All, Upcoming, and Calendar views • Add notes, start dates, due dates, reminders, and repeat schedules • Search and filter when you need to find something • Import selected Apple Reminders and Calendar events • Share text or links from other apps into a new task WIDGETS THAT HELP YOU ACT Put your list where you need it. Add dedicated Tasks and Spending widgets to your Home Screen or Lock Screen. Complete tasks from a widget, open the right list or task, and use a Smart Stack to move between task and spending widgets. SIMPLE SPENDING Record an expense with a name, amount, category, date, and note. Review this month’s total, see a clear category chart, browse recent expenses, and create, rename, reorder, or recolor your own categories. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT No account. No ads. No analytics. No tracking. Your tasks and spending records stay on your device by default. Optional private iCloud sync is available with Premium. PREMIUM, WHEN YOU WANT MORE Sam’s List Premium is a one-time lifetime purchase—never a subscription. It unlocks private iCloud sync, custom spending categories, Apple Calendar import, Quick Expense with Siri, Shortcuts or Back Tap, and Premium widgets. Sam’s List is a personal organizer and manual spending tracker. It is not a bank or financial advice service. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: DEVONthink To Go 4 at every 3 weeks against Sam's List's every 2 months. Sam's List'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
Both are free to download. DEVONthink To Go 4 sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Sam's List sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
DEVONthink To Go 4 ships an update every 3 weeks, Sam's List every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DEVONthink To Go 4 | Sam's List |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (260 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 39.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 260 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 193 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | DEVONtechnologies, LLC | Why&Key LLC |
In-app purchases
DEVONthink To Go 4
- Monthly1 Month trial$2.991 Month
- Yearly1 Month trial$19.991 Year
Sam's List
- Sam's List Premium subscription$4.991 Month
- Sam's List Premium yearly$44.991 Year
- Sam’s List Premium Lifetime$1.99
Questions
Is DEVONthink To Go 4 free?
Is Sam's List free?
Do DEVONthink To Go 4 or Sam's List have ads?
Which is updated more often, DEVONthink To Go 4 or Sam's List?
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