Comparison

Bamboo vs Tenoa

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

Head to head
About

Bamboo

This app is a Markdown note-taking tool for organizing knowledge and utilizing AI features. It allows users to capture ideas, write long-form content, and connect notes with wiki links. AI assistance is available for drafting, summarizing, and brainstorming, with users controlling their AI provider.

Highlights
  • Markdown editor with syntax highlighting
  • Wiki link creation for connecting notes
  • AI assistance for drafting and summarizing
  • Organize notes into collections
  • Cross-device synchronization
  • Import and export content
Features
Read full description

Bamboo is a Markdown notes app for writing, organizing knowledge, and using AI on your own terms. Available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with Web Clipper support, Bamboo helps you capture ideas anywhere and continue working across devices. Capture quick notes, long-form documents, tasks, reminders, research, meeting notes, reading highlights, and personal knowledge. Bamboo keeps your notes in Markdown so they stay portable, readable, and easy to manage. WRITE AND CAPTURE Use a focused Markdown editor with syntax highlighting, task lists, tables, wiki links, footnotes, highlights, math, images, and attachments. Keep ideas, notes, reminders, and tasks together so writing, thinking, and planning stay in one place. ORGANIZE AND CONNECT Organize notes into collections for projects, areas, archives, or research spaces. Connect ideas with wiki links, pin important notes, star favorites, and build a knowledge base that stays easy to navigate as it grows. AI ASSISTANCE, UNDER YOUR CONTROL Bamboo Pro lets you connect supported AI providers and use assistant features directly in your notes. Draft, rewrite, summarize, brainstorm ideas, and work with selected content without leaving your workspace. You stay in control of the provider and model you use. KEEP YOUR NOTES YOURS Your notes stay in Markdown, making them easy to move, back up, and keep for the long term. Search across notes, revisit recent work, import and export your content, create backups, and keep your work available across devices with optional Bamboo Pro features such as iCloud Sync, HTML export, and PDF export. Bamboo includes optional auto-renewable monthly and yearly Pro subscriptions. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. You can manage subscriptions in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://zhigui.github.io/app-docs/bamboo/privacy_policy.html Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Tenoa

Features
Read full description

Tenoa is a local-first visual library. You save the things worth keeping: pages, images, videos, notes. They become plain files in a library you own, on your own devices. WHAT YOU DO WITH IT - Save from anywhere. Share to Tenoa from Safari, Instagram, or any app with a share sheet. - Browse it visually. Your library is a grid of the things you saved. - Find things again. Search across everything you have saved. - Open it anywhere. Your items are plain files. You can read them, back them up, and move them without Tenoa. NO ACCOUNT There is nothing to sign up for. You never give Tenoa an email address. Open the app and start saving. YOUR LIBRARY STAYS YOURS Tenoa has no accounts or tracking. It hosts no library, and items live on your devices. If you pair Tenoa on this device with the Tenoa desktop app, your library syncs between them peer to peer with end-to-end encryption; Tenoa-operated rendezvous servers only help your devices find each other and never see readable content. WORKS WITH YOUR COMPUTER The desktop app adds browser capture and runs AI summaries and tags on your computer. An optional cloud AI is off by default and uses only your own provider key. Searching by meaning also lives on the desktop. Pair once and everything you save on your phone appears on your desktop, and the other way around. The iPhone and iPad app also works on its own: save, browse, and search without any other device. WHAT IT COSTS This app is free. No subscription, no in-app purchases. A sample library is included so you can look around before you save anything of your own. Questions: hello@tenoa.app

Screenshots

Bamboo4 screens
Tenoa4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Tenoa at none against Bamboo's 2. Tenoa also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, 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. Bamboo sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Tenoa asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bamboo ships an update every 2 months, Tenoa fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Bamboo versus Tenoa: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBambooTenoa
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size56 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer志贵 陈Kofi Kumi

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Bamboo

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Pro7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Annual Pro7 Days trial$29.991 Year
None

Tenoa

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Bamboo free?
Bamboo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tenoa free?
Tenoa is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Bamboo or Tenoa have ads?
Neither Bamboo nor Tenoa shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bamboo or Tenoa?
Bamboo ships an update every 2 months, and Tenoa fortnightly. Most recently, Bamboo was updated on October 16, 2026 and Tenoa on October 14, 2026.

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