ClayNote vs Muddy Buddies
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ClayNote
This app assists potters and ceramicists in documenting their creative process. It allows users to record stage notes, annotate images, save inspirations from the web, and organize their work with custom tags and collections. It serves as a digital journal to refine artistic skills.
- Stage notes for each step
- Save web inspirations (Sparks)
- Annotate images for surface treatments
- Customizable studio options
- Organize pieces with collections and tags
- Quick-add notes and reminders
- Reflect on process to refine craft
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Track every pot from wet clay to the finished shelf. ClayNote helps potters and ceramicists document, track and reflect on every piece — from the first idea to the final glaze. Photograph a piece, tick off each stage as it dries, gets trimmed, bisqued and glazed, and write down what you did while you still remember it. FOLLOW EVERY PIECE Ideas, Formed, Trimmed, Bisqued, Glazed, Finished. Tick each stage as your piece gets there, and see at a glance what's drying on the shelf and what's waiting for the kiln. NOTES THAT COME BACK TO YOU Write a note at any stage — the clay body, how thin you pulled it, which shelf it sat on. Next time you make something similar, ClayNote shows you what you wrote the last time round. MAP YOUR SURFACE DECISIONS Record glazes, underglazes, slips, oxides and stamps, and mark on the photo itself exactly where each one went. YOUR WORK IS YOURS One tap saves everything — every piece, note and photo — as a spreadsheet and a folder of pictures you can keep on your computer or a cloud drive. No account, nothing locked in. SPARKS Save the shapes, glaze recipes and reels you love from Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube, and keep them right next to your own work. ALSO • Your materials and methods, customisable to your studio • Collections and tags to organise your work your way • Search your collection by name, grouped by month • A home screen widget • Reminders to keep your journal going between sessions
Muddy Buddies
Document your pottery journey from start to finish, build a comprehensive glaze library, and connect with a community of fellow artists. Track progress, share your creations, and learn from your process.
- Log pottery pieces by stage
- Stage-by-stage process journal
- Build a personal glaze library
- Document glaze layers precisely
- Share work with the community
- Studio calendar for events
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Muddy Buddies was built around a simple belief: pottery is better with intention. Whether you're tracking your progress, building a glaze library from scratch, or sharing your work with fellow potters, this is the place to document your practice and grow alongside a community that gets it. FIND YOUR POTTERY COMMUNITY - Share your work and see what fellow potters are making, wherever they throw - Leave hearts and comments on each other's pieces, the small moments of encouragement that keep people coming back to the wheel - Start a studio and invite your people with a six-character code, a link, or a QR code to scan - Studio calendar to coordinate open sessions, classes, and community events TRACK YOUR CREATIVE JOURNEY - Log pieces through every stage: Greenware, Bisque Firing, Bisque Fired, Glazing, Glaze Firing, Glaze Fired, Finished, Archived - Keep a stage-by-stage process journal with throwing notes, dimensions, bisque notes, and finishing details - Document what worked, what didn't, and build on it next time - See your whole collection in one place and watch yourself improve over time MASTER YOUR GLAZES - Build a personal glaze library with brand, application method, and notes - Record exact glaze layers: location, method, coats, dip time, and notes like "top half only" - Learn from your own history and see exactly how you achieved that perfect surface CAPTURE AND SHARE - Photo uploads for every stage of each piece - Share finished work to Instagram, Messages, and beyond - Your process, documented and yours forever Pottery has always been about more than making objects. It's about growth, the satisfaction of getting better at something hard, and the community that forms around people who care about the craft. Muddy Buddies is built to honor that. Made by a potter, for potters.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Muddy Buddies at 5.0 against ClayNote's 2.8. Muddy Buddies also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18). ClayNote's advantage is ratings volume (29 vs 2) and update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Muddy Buddies holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ClayNote has 29 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
ClayNote ships an update monthly, Muddy Buddies every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ClayNote | Muddy Buddies |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.8 (29 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 29 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 56 MB | 44 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ying-Chao Tung | Blairwright Labs, LLC |
Customer experience
ClayNote
Muddy Buddies
In-app purchases
ClayNote
No in-app purchases
Muddy Buddies
No in-app purchases







