Comparison

Jotaid vs smalltype

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

Head to head
About

Jotaid

This app transforms your notes into interconnected concepts, visualizing relationships between ideas. It uses AI to help you discover hidden connections and structure your thoughts, offering a unique approach to knowledge management.

Highlights
  • Concept nodes for fine-grained idea mapping
  • Live knowledge graph visualization
  • AI-powered relation discovery
  • Co-occurrence matrix for idea clustering
  • Markdown editor with syntax highlighting
  • Global hotkey and share sheet capture
Read full description

The more you capture, the harder it gets to see what you know. Jotaid turns notes into connected concepts. A node is one idea, not a whole note โ€” so links run between ideas, not documents. The note-taking methods you already use work out of the box, no plugins needed: Zettelkasten, PARA for organizing by project, and design-thinking card clustering are all built in. WHAT YOU CAN SEE โ€ข Concept Nodes โ€” The thread through your notes. One idea, one page. โ€ข Trend โ€” When each concept node appeared, grew, and went quiet. โ€ข Graph & Matrix โ€” Which concepts go together, and how strongly. โ€ข Node Types โ€” Core, Bridge, and Emerging, read from your network. โ€ข Link Predictions โ€” Pairs that probably belong together but never met. โ€ข Canvas โ€” Arrange cards and let themes form. AI THINKS WITH YOU, NEVER FOR YOU (PRO) AI does the groundwork. The judgment stays yours. โ€ข Smart Node & Smart Theme โ€” Propose concepts & groupings. Nothing applies until you tick it. โ€ข Theme Summary โ€” Key findings from every note in a theme. โ€ข Typed Relations โ€” How co-occurring concepts relate, with the passage behind it. โ€ข AI Reading โ€” Your graph and matrix, explained. โ€ข MCP Server (Mac) โ€” Ask your AI agent what your notes add up to. Read-only. After unlocking Pro, connect your own AI provider (BYOK). Jotaid runs no AI service. MARKDOWN & APPLE NATIVE Everything you expect from a notes app, and more. โ€ข Edit & preview modes, with live syntax highlighting, tables, math, and code โ€ข Fast capture: Quick Note, Raycast, PopClip, and the iOS share sheet โ€ข Built-in browser for AI chats, side by side with your notes on Mac (no password-manager extensions) โ€ข On-device semantic search โ€ข Import Markdown files or a whole vault โ€ข Markdown export, encrypted backups โ€ข Native on Mac and iPhone, with iCloud sync FREE & PRO โ€ข Free: the Inbox, no note limit. Editor, backlinks, graph, matrix, Trends, canvas, and iCloud sync included. โ€ข Pro: more projects, cross-filtering, and all AI features. Monthly, yearly, or buy once. All data stored locally. iCloud sync optional. No account required. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://jotaid.com/privacy

About

smalltype

Read full description

Short notes, many times a day, saved as plain .md files in real folders. Open the same folder on your Mac in VS Code, Vim, or any editor. Calm, minimal, and ready for iPhone Duo. smalltype is for your notes. The small ones, the quick ones, the big ones, the unpolished ones. It's a fast, quiet place to type. ## Start No tutorial, no setup screen. Tap New Note and start typing. Leave one empty and it quietly disappears, so you never end up with a pile of blank untitled notes. That's the whole app. ## Yours Every note is a real .md file, sitting right there in the Files app. You can open it, copy it, or back it up yourself, anytime. Delete one and it still goes to Recently Deleted, same as any other file: nothing's gone for good. ## Sync or Don't Keep notes in iCloud Drive to have them on every device. Or keep them On My iPhone, fully local, never leaving your device. Either way, you can switch anytime. ## Visible Markdown Markdown markers stay gently visible as you type. What you see is exactly what's in the file. A bar above the keyboard types the markers for you, with undo and redo a tap away. ## Organize Folders, search, and quick note-making, all from one screen. Nothing to set up first. Put "daily" in a folder's name and new notes inside it get today's date as their name. ## No Catch No ads. No subscription. No tracking. No account, ever. Markdown notes. Yours to keep.

Screenshots

Jotaid4 screens
smalltype4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: smalltype at none against Jotaid's 3. smalltype also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). Jotaid's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support 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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Jotaid sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. smalltype asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Jotaid ships an update every 2 weeks, smalltype every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 8, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 5 level
Jotaid versus smalltype: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJotaidsmalltype
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews50.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 5 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
MonetizationFreeโ€”
DevicesiPhone, Mac โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size153 MB8 MB
Age rating17+4+
Developer็ซ‹่ฃ ๅผ Herman Haidin

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Jotaid

Subscriptions2
  • Jotaid Pro (Monthly)$3.991 Month
  • Jotaid Pro (Yearly)1 Year trial$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Jotaid Pro (Lifetime)$119.99
None

smalltype

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Jotaid free?
Jotaid is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is smalltype free?
smalltype is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Jotaid or smalltype have ads?
Neither Jotaid nor smalltype shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Jotaid or smalltype?
Jotaid ships an update every 2 weeks, and smalltype every 5 days. Most recently, Jotaid was updated on October 8, 2026 and smalltype on October 8, 2026.

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