Comparison

esper vs CodeVault

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

Head to head
About

esper

This AI chat app allows you to run open-source language models completely offline on your device. You can also connect to premium models using your own API keys. It offers features like multimodal support, local knowledge bases, and branching conversations for a private and powerful AI experience.

Highlights
  • Run open-source models offline
  • Connect with your own API keys
  • Multimodal support for images and PDFs
  • Local RAG knowledge bases
  • Branching conversations
  • Customizable interface
  • iCloud sync (Pro)
Features
Read full description

esper - Offline & Private AI is your personal AI chat app—designed to keep your conversations private and powerful. Run open-source models completely offline on your iPhone. With esper - Offline & Private AI, you can choose to keep your data on your device. No tracking. Key Features of esper - Offline & Private AI: – Run Offline Download top open-source models like Qwen, Gemma, and DeepSeek directly to your phone—fully functional even without internet or WiFi. – Bring Your Own Key Prefer ChatGPT or Claude? Plug in your own API key and get instant access to premium models from their providers. Swap between models anytime, even within the same conversation. – Multimodal Support Chat with models that support vision for images, PDFs, and other files. – Local RAG knowledge bases Upload documents into organized collections that you can add to chats to provide extra context for models, all 100% private and offline. – Local Image Generation Run stable diffusion directly on your device for unlimited image generations, with esper Pro. – Web search Ground your requests with search results with any model, or use native web search from providers like Google, xAI, OpenRouter, and more. – Shortcuts Send prompts and attachments to esper from shortcut workflows – Branching Conversations Explore different chat paths and easily toggle between threads. – Privacy-First No analytics, no log storage, no server necessary. esper - Offline & Private AI gives total user control to choose completely offline chats, or connect with their favourite online providers. The choice is yours. – Custom GPTs & Model Swapping Build and edit your own GPTs. Switch models mid-conversation—from Gemini to Claude in a single chat. – Customizable Adjust the interface to match your personal style. Take control of conversations with editing, deleting, or retrying messages. – iCloud Sync Sync conversations across your devices with Pro. – Go Pro Pro gives you unlimited model downloads, local image models, knowledge base access, iCloud Syncing, Kokoro voice model, and optional color themes and animations. If you want an AI chat experience that’s powerful, flexible, and private, esper - Offline & Private AI is built for you.

About

CodeVault

Features
Read full description

CodeVault is your personal archive for code snippets and technical notes, built for developers who want to find what they already wrote in seconds. ORGANIZE YOUR CODE Save snippets in 20 languages (Swift, SwiftUI, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Kotlin, Java, C, C++, C#, PHP, SQL, Bash, HTML, CSS, JSON, YAML and more), with syntax highlighting and line numbers. Add plain-text or Markdown notes for documentation, checklists and technical write-ups. FIND EVERYTHING INSTANTLY Custom categories, color-coded tags, pinned items, and full-text search across titles, content and categories. The Home screen surfaces your recent items and most-used categories at a glance. SYNCED AND SAFE Your data stays yours: automatic sync across iPhone, iPad and Mac via iCloud, with a local-only fallback if iCloud isn't available. Optional Face ID or Touch ID lock to protect access to the app. A trash with 30-day restore means one accidental swipe is never permanent. EXPORT AND SHARE Backup and export to JSON, share as Markdown, export notes to PDF: your content stays portable and safe from loss. BUILT FOR MAC AND IPAD A native SwiftUI interface that adapts to the platform: sidebar and multi-column layout on Mac and iPad, compact navigation on iPhone, keyboard shortcuts on Mac. Whether you're collecting handy one-liners, saving configs, tracking terminal commands, or writing technical notes for a project, CodeVault is where you keep them organized and within reach.

Screenshots

esper4 screens
CodeVault4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CodeVault at none against esper's 1. On price, update cadence, ads 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. esper sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. CodeVault asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

esper ships an update every 11 days, CodeVault every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
esper versus CodeVault: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteresperCodeVault
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (9 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings9 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 11 daysEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size163 MB17 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperCody IngramEmanuele Spagnoli

In-app purchases

1 purchases

esper

One-time1
  • esper Pro$12.99
None

CodeVault

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is esper free?
esper is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is CodeVault free?
CodeVault is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do esper or CodeVault have ads?
Neither esper nor CodeVault shows ads.
Which is updated more often, esper or CodeVault?
esper ships an update every 11 days, and CodeVault every 9 days. Most recently, esper was updated on October 15, 2026 and CodeVault on October 18, 2026.

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