Comparison

List vs Notely

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

Head to head
About

List

Create reusable checklists for recurring tasks like grocery shopping or routines. Track progress with clear percentages and organize lists by tags. Enhance lists with notes, photos, and even AI-powered suggestions for improvement, all while keeping your data private on your device.

Highlights
  • Create reusable checklists
  • Track list completion percentage
  • Add notes to list items
  • Reorder and sort list items
  • Attach photos to lists
  • Save lists as PDFs
  • On-device AI suggestions
Features
Read full description

List it. Track it. Status it. List-it turns anything you do again and again into a simple checklist you can reuse: the weekly grocery run, a morning routine, a work procedure, a plan with a deadline. Check items off, see the percent complete at a glance, and keep it all private: your lists are stored only on your device. One purchase, no subscription, no account, no ads. BUILD IT ONCE, USE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN • Make a list in seconds and reuse it every week: uncheck and go • Add a note under any item • Reorder items with one tap, and sort by your own order, A to Z, or unchecked first • Names and notes can be in any language you type LISTS FOR EVERYTHING Checklists, plans, tasks, SOPs (standard operating procedures), goals and milestones, brainstorming, recipes, packing lists, responsibilities, and anything you want to memorize. Tag a list as SOP, Checklist, Process, Brainstorm or Milestones, then filter by tag. SEE YOUR STATUS • Percent complete on every list, so you see what is done and what is left • See when you last used each list and on how many days • A dashboard ranks your ten most used lists • Search every list and item at once ADD PICTURES, PRINT, SAVE • Attach photos from your library or camera to a list • Save a list as a PDF to print or keep in the Files app • Add your own pictures to the banners at the top of your lists IMPROVE A LIST WITH ON-DEVICE AI On supported devices, List-it can look at one list at a time and suggest where it slows you down: steps to add, change or remove, ranked by expected benefit. Nothing changes until you tap Apply, and it all happens on your device. (Requires iOS 26 or later on a device that supports Apple Intelligence. Every other feature works on all supported devices.) PRIVATE BY DESIGN One purchase, no subscription. No account, no ads, no tracking, no analytics. Your lists and pictures stay on your device, so you can stay focused. Think of it as writing on a simple notecard without worrying about losing it. We would love to hear your favorite lists and the features you would like to see next. Made for iPhone and iPad.

About

Notely

This app offers a private and flexible digital notebook for handwriting, typed notes, and PDF annotation. Convert handwriting to editable text, draw with precision tools, and organize your work with folders and backups. Keep ideas accessible without an account or internet connection.

Highlights
  • Handwriting to editable text conversion
  • Precision drawing tools
  • PDF annotation and markup
  • Organized library with folders
  • On-device search
  • Portable backups
Features
Read full description

Notely is a notebook for iPad and iPhone that feels like paper and keeps everything on your device. Write by hand, mark up PDFs, record a lecture while you take notes, then study from what you wrote. There's no account and no cloud. Your notes stay where you wrote them. New in 1.4 Notely has a hand-drawn look now, with drawn icons and handwritten headings. I also rebuilt the pencil from scratch. It picks up the grain of the paper and responds to pressure, and if you tilt Apple Pencil on its side it shades like a real one. Record the lecture with your notes Press record and keep writing. Notely transcribes on your device as you go and remembers when each stroke was written. Later, tap a line of ink and the audio jumps to what was being said at that moment. Tapping a line in the transcript works too. Transcription depends on on-device speech support for your language and device. If it isn't available, Notely still saves the audio. Study from your own notes Make flashcards yourself, or lay tape over part of a page and quiz yourself on what's underneath. Cards come back on a spaced review schedule, and you can turn on reminders for when they're due. On devices with Apple Intelligence, Notely can also draft cards from a note and answer questions about it, with a link back to the page each answer came from. You review every draft before it's saved. Handwriting that turns into text Tap the handwriting button and Notely turns your writing into typed text, on the device. Anything it can't read confidently stays as ink. Search also looks inside your handwriting, typed text and PDFs. Pages or open space Use Letter or A4 pages, or switch a note to an infinite canvas when you need room to think. There's always a blank page waiting at the end, and if you don't use it, it's left out when you export. Templates include Cornell notes, dot grid, lab reports, math and physics pages, and music staff. Import PDFs and write on them, or scan paper pages with the camera. Private by default Notely works offline, with no analytics and no ads. Lock any note with Face ID or a password. Locked notes are kept out of Spotlight search and the widget. A few more things - Export pages as PDF or PNG - Back up notes to a .vectora archive and restore them without overwriting anything - Bring notebooks over from Goodnotes or Notability (PDF exports work best; native import is experimental) - A home screen widget with recent notes and a New note button - Shortcuts actions to create a quick note or open recent notes - Folders, tags and smart collections Notely is made by one person. If something bugs you, the support page reaches me directly.

Screenshots

List4 screens
Notely4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: List at 100% against Notely's 33%. List also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.4). Notely's advantage is price (Free vs $8.99) and update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Notely is free to download; List costs $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

List holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Notely has 8 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of List's written reviews are positive against 33% of Notely's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

List ships an update monthly, Notely every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
List versus Notely: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterListNotely
Price$8.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.4 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings18 — better
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.217.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developercorrelateencourage LLCJUSTIN WEI SUN

Customer experience

List

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Notely

All ratings8 ratings
Positive75.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral33.3%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

List

No in-app purchases

None

Notely

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is List free?
List costs $8.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Notely free?
Notely is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, List or Notely?
List is rated higher. List averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Notely averages 4.4 from 8 ratings.
Do List or Notely have ads?
Neither List nor Notely shows ads.
Which is updated more often, List or Notely?
List ships an update monthly, and Notely every 5 days. Most recently, List was updated on November 8, 2026 and Notely on November 5, 2026.

Other comparisons