Comparison

Grapla vs MatNotes

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

Head to head
About

Grapla

Features
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Grapla is a BJJ journalling platform and technique encyclopedia for grapplers who want to understand jiu jitsu and expand their journey through it. HUGE KNOWLEDGE LIBRARY. Browse hundreds of positions, techniques, submissions and principles — all bio-mechanically connected by thousands of validated transitions. See how positions relate, where submissions live, and how the parts you already know fit into the bigger picture. Build up your own techniques using the Flowlab tool, using positions and submissions as steps and adding your own notes to each. LOG YOUR TRAINING. Record sessions with voice or text. Track coaches, training partners, and gyms. Build a complete picture of your mat time, week after week. Remember everyones names and what you've ever submitted each other with. The analytics platform will be evolving over time, so sessions you log now will have better and better insights as the app grows. Grapla will record the data on your device and your Apple account (we don't track anything, ever), and as the app evolves your data will be available for interesting insights and growth visibility. You just need to log what you can, and the app should make that easy. TAKE NAMES. Are you sick of forgetting peoples names? Feels awkward asking them their name again for the third time? Start saving them in the app after each session and even give them a nickname to help you remember. The app lets you track rolls with everyone you meet while training, and can save all of the positions and submissions you hit in each round, so you can build up insights at a training partner level. Save notes and styles and even their relative age/strength characteristics - younger/stronger/etc. BUILD YOUR VOCAB. Describe what happened in training — Grapla matches your notes against the library and helps to recognise and find the positions and submissions you were drilling. Curate the matches, name them, and even save them as your own techniques. ROUND TIMER. We've just added a free round timer suitable for coaches, or players who want to throw a timer up on the phone screen and hit the mat. It can be used as a plain timer with no frills, or you can completely customise the rounds with positions, goals and reset conditions, and hook it up so it runs once or loops for all eternity. If you have an Apple Watch you can even stop/start/pause/next it from the watch too. WHY GRAPLA? • 200+ position perspectives, 150+ techniques, 100+ submissions, 100+ learning principles • New positions and submissions constantly being added - soon you will be able to add your own ones too (if we haven't already got it!) • 3,000+ transitions, biomechanically validated • Create your own flows and techniques with clear steps and fully editable details • Voice-record-to-notes that understands jiu-jitsu vocabulary • Training log with people, places, and partners • Curated personal techniques you can compose yourself • 100% on-device speech recognition — recordings never leave your phone • Built for hobbyists, competitors, and coaches alike • Works offline - no data tracking This is being built by one guy in Dublin - it might have some bugs but it's my pet project, so it will be updated constantly. Thanks for trying it out.

About

MatNotes

This app helps martial arts students retain techniques by providing a structured review schedule for short instructional videos. It allows students to ask coaches questions directly from videos and track their progress. Coaches can film techniques once and have them resurface for students on spaced repetition schedules.

Highlights
  • Spaced repetition for technique review
  • Video playback with slow-motion and looping
  • Timestamped questions for coaches
  • Private training notes and progress tracking
  • Searchable technique library for coaches
  • Academy branding
Features
Read full description

MatNotes is how a jiu-jitsu academy makes the details from class actually stick. Coaches film a technique right after teaching it. Sixty to ninety seconds, phone propped on the mat. Students get it that night, then again on a spaced schedule (day 1, 3, 7, and 21), the same rhythm your memory needs to hold onto something new. Instead of "I saw that grip once and forgot it," the move keeps coming back until it is theirs. FOR STUDENTS - A simple checklist of what to review, not an endless feed - Watch tonight, then again each time the app brings it back - Slow any video to half speed and loop the exact section you are stuck on - Tap a moment in a video to ask your coach a question, with the timestamp attached - Keep private training notes and track the techniques you have drilled FOR COACHES - Film once, and the app resurfaces it for every student on the right days - See your students' questions, with the exact video moment, before class starts, so you know what to clean up - Spot where the room got lost on a technique and reteach it - Everything you have filmed, captioned and searchable by position, in one place - Your academy's name and colors throughout MatNotes is used by a whole academy under one plan. Coaches set up and manage their gym on the MatNotes website. Students join with a link from their coach and use the app for free. Questions? Visit thematnotes.com

Screenshots

Grapla4 screens
MatNotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MatNotes at none against Grapla's 1. MatNotes also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.5). 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. Grapla sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. MatNotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Grapla versus MatNotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGraplaMatNotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.515.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size222 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCONOR LUDDYJacob Weaver

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Grapla

One-time1
  • Grapla Pro Unlock$8.99
None

MatNotes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Grapla free?
Grapla is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MatNotes free?
MatNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Grapla or MatNotes have ads?
Neither Grapla nor MatNotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Grapla or MatNotes?
Grapla ships an update weekly, and MatNotes weekly. Most recently, Grapla was updated on October 29, 2026 and MatNotes on October 7, 2026.

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