Dotly vs Structured Outliner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Dotly
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Dotly โ capture to Workflowy in seconds. A fleeting thought. A sudden idea. A task you can't afford to forget. Dotly helps you capture it instantly and send it straight to Workflowy. Whether you're offline or on the move, Dotly keeps your thoughts safe until you're ready to sync. Designed for speed and calm, it brings the art of writing and the beauty of structure together โ in one elegant flow. Features: - Instant Capture: Add notes, ideas, or reminders to Workflowy in seconds. No friction, no fuss. - Offline Outbox: Write anytime, anywhere. Dotly queues your notes and syncs automatically when you're back online. - Minimal Design: A clean, fluid interface that keeps you focused on what matters: your thoughts. - Smart Shortcuts: Capture with a single tap from widgets or keyboard shortcuts. Send instantly, stay in the flow. - History: Review everything you've sent. Your capture timeline, always accessible. - Custom Settings: Choose how and where your dots land inside Workflowy. - Cross-Platform: Available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. One purchase unlocks all platforms. Dotly is for thinkers, creators, and builders โ for anyone who believes that every great project begins with a single thought. Download Dotly and start capturing.
Structured Outliner
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Keep your entire outline in a single portable file you control. No account, no server, no lock-in, future-proof. ORGANIZE IN UNLIMITED DEPTH Build trees as deep as you need. Expand, collapse, and reorder topics with just a few taps. Every topic can have its own notes. Write as much or as little as you like. SEARCH EVERYTHING Search titles or note content at once. The tree expands automatically to show every match in context, so you always know where a result lives in your outline. CROSS-LINK TOPICS Link any note to another topic using the outlook: link format. Tap to jump directly there. Tap the back arrow to return where you came from. OPEN FILES AND URLS Tap any file path or URL inside a note to open it. Connect your outline to existing documents in the folder: PDFs, photos, or anything else you reference. COLOR LABELS Assign a background color to any topic: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, or Purple. The color flows down to all child topics that don't have their own. Use it to visually separate sections at a glance. AUTOMATIC BACKUPS The app writes a .bak backup before every save. Restore at any time from the menu. SYNC YOUR WAY Store your file in iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or any Files-compatible provider. Open it from there on each device. No special sync setup required. MEMPAD COMPATIBLE Structured Outliner uses the same .lst format as MemPad for Windows, a portable outliner that has been around since the early 2000s. Open existing MemPad files directly, no conversion needed. FREE VERSION Structured Outliner is free to use. Development is supported by a small banner ad shown at the bottom of the screen. PRO VERSION Upgrade to Pro to remove the banner ad, unlock Color Labels and Topic + Note Search and future planned features. One-time purchase. Restore on any device from the menu.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Dotly at none against Structured Outliner's shown. Dotly also leads on device support (4 vs 2). Structured Outliner's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 5 weeks) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Dotly sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Structured Outliner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Dotly ships an update every 5 weeks, Structured Outliner every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dotly | Structured Outliner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 9 days โ better |
| Ads | No โ better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch โ better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Andriy Bezemchuk | Felipe Carraro |
In-app purchases
Dotly
- Dotly Pro (Lifetime)$2.99
Structured Outliner
- Pro Version$7.99









