Comparison

Nomen Memory vs Cortex

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

Head to head
About

Nomen Memory

Features
Read full description

Nomen is your personal memory assistant. It helps you remember people, conversations, and important details simply by talking naturally to your phone. Inspired by the ancient Roman nomenclator, Nomen acts as your digital brain. You tell it things as they happen, and later you ask questions to recall them. No folders. No manual tagging. No effort. Just conversation. Save memories by typing or speaking exactly the way you think. β€’ β€œHad lunch with Sarah. She mentioned her new job at TechCorp.” β€’ β€œMom’s birthday is next Thursday. She wants the blue cashmere sweater.” β€’ β€œProject Alpha deadline is May 1st. Need two more engineers.” Nomen understands context, extracts important details automatically, and stores everything for you. Ask natural questions and get clear answers drawn from your own memories. β€’ β€œWhat did Sarah say about her job?” β€’ β€œWhen is Project Alpha due?” β€’ β€œWhat does Mom want for her birthday?” Follow-up questions work seamlessly. Pronouns and references are understood just like in a real conversation. Nomen automatically recognizes people, places, companies, dates, and topics. It builds entity profiles behind the scenes so your memories stay connected over time without any manual work. Browse memories, search instantly, edit or delete anything. You stay in full control. Your memories are deeply personal. Nomen is built to keep them that way. β€’ 100 percent on-device intelligence powered by Apple Intelligence β€’ No external AI services β€’ No analytics or tracking β€’ No data ever leaves your device β€’ Works offline β€’ Optional iCloud sync using your private CloudKit database Built with SwiftUI for a modern, calm, and focused experience. β€’ Dark and light mode support β€’ High-contrast, accessible design β€’ Smooth animations β€’ Thoughtful typography and spacing Nomen is Perfect For β€’ Busy professionals who meet many people β€’ Anyone who wants to remember what friends and family share β€’ Knowledge workers who need better recall β€’ Privacy-conscious users β€’ Apple ecosystem users who want on-device intelligence Key Features β€’ Conversational memory storage β€’ Natural language search and recall β€’ Automatic entity recognition β€’ Conversation history with context β€’ Searchable memory browser β€’ Memory editing and deletion β€’ iCloud markdown exports β€’ Optional developer prompt playground Nomen helps you store today and remember tomorrow. Effortlessly.

About

Cortex

Features
Read full description

Cortex is a private, local-first Markdown workspace for iPhone and iPad. Your notes are real files you control, with fast editing, links, search, and on-device intelligence. CORE FEATURES - Create and organize plain Markdown notes - Daily notes, tasks, templates, links, and backlinks - Keyword search, Smart Search, knowledge graph, and canvas - Save text and links from other apps with the Share Extension - Create, search, and summarize notes with App Shortcuts and Siri - Import, backup, and export your vault - Use Apple Speech for dictation in supported languages FREE - A complete local Markdown vault - Smart Search and knowledge graph - Encrypted notes - Basic dictation - Local attachments up to 5 MB - Import, backup, and export CORTEX PLUS - End-to-end encrypted sync across devices - Ask, Recall, Insights, and semantic Connections - Advanced dictation commands - On-device OCR and audio transcription - Attachments larger than 5 MB Cortex requires no account and contains no ads or tracking. AI inference and embeddings run on your device. If you enable sync, Cortex encrypts your notes before sending authenticated ciphertext to the managed relay or a relay you configure; the relay cannot read note contents. Terms of Use: https://cortex.jtrlabs.com/legal/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://cortex.jtrlabs.com/legal/privacy.html

Screenshots

Nomen Memory4 screens
Cortex3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Cortex at 4 against Nomen Memory's 2. Cortex also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Nomen Memory sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Cortex sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
Nomen Memory versus Cortex: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNomen MemoryCortex
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyβ€”Every 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac β€” better
Requires iOS26.015.0 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size5 MB131 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGreg McInnesJTR Labs LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Nomen Memory

One-time1
  • Long-term Memory$9.99
3 purchases

Cortex

Subscriptions2
  • Cortex Plus (Monthly)$4.991 Month
  • Cortex Plus (Yearly)$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Cortex Believer$99.99

Questions

Is Nomen Memory free?
Nomen Memory is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cortex free?
Cortex is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Nomen Memory or Cortex have ads?
Neither Nomen Memory nor Cortex shows ads.

Other comparisons