5e Buddy vs DnD Campaign Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
5e Buddy
This app serves as a digital companion for tabletop role-playing games, offering interactive character sheets, dice rolling, and campaign management. It allows for the creation and tracking of multiple characters, including homebrewed content, and supports importing and exporting character data.
- Interactive character sheets
- Character building from scratch
- Homebrew content support
- Virtual dice rolling
- Multiple character organization
- Import/export character data
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Hold your adventure in the palm of your hand! 5e Buddy is the ultimate third party companion for 5th Edition champions, homebrew heroes, or average RPG gamers. 5e Buddy replaces a traditional character-sheet with an interactive application that can easily: *Track stats, spells, or equipment *Build characters from scratch *Record character backstory and party data *Roll dice virtually *Accommodate homebrewed species, stats, or equipment *Organize multiple characters for multiple campaigns *Import existing characters from PDF character-sheets *Export character-sheets or character data *And so much more! 5e Buddy is ideal for players of all levels, providing full class, species, and background information in the app. As your character evolves, so does the app! 5e Buddy is perfect for players at every table and allows you to connect with your characters from the palm of your hand. All players are able to use 5e Buddy free of charge. 5e Buddy will automatically allow each user full access to one character of their making. To unlock access to unlimited character creation, a user can pay a small fee. This small fee allows the 5e Buddy team to continue to update and improve the app for all players. 5e Buddy was created by the development team at Magical Duck Studios LLC. Magical Duck Studios is a small software development company dedicated to creating magical tools to improve your daily experiences. For more information about their story or to learn about updates coming to 5e Buddy, please visit their website at https://magicalduckstudiosllc.com. Disclaimer: This app was created by a third party provider and uses SRD for all of its content. Magical Duck Studios is not associated with Wizards of the Coast or any of their official content.
DnD Campaign Notes
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YOUR CAMPAIGN, READY FOR THE NEXT SESSION Keep session notes, NPCs, locations and plot threads together on iPhone and iPad. Open a character sheet, look up an NPC or roll dice without losing your place at the table. NOTES, CHARACTERS AND DICE • Link NPCs, places and plots with @ mentions. • Write session notes and export them as Markdown. • Use 5e character sheets for abilities, skills, spells and inventory. • Roll dice and keep combat initiative, HP and conditions close at hand. • Browse the offline D&D 5e SRD reference. • View campaign details and notes side by side on iPad. INVESTIGATOR NOTES For Call of Cthulhu campaigns, keep SAN, characteristics, custom percentile skills and investigator notes in one sheet. This is an independent record-keeping tool, not an official character builder or a replacement for your game's rulebook. No Call of Cthulhu rulebook content is included. START FREE The free tier includes one campaign, up to 20 NPCs, 10 locations and 5 plot threads, along with session notes, dice, character records, Markdown export and the offline SRD. Your first AI session recap is free. OPTIONAL PRO TOOLS Pro adds unlimited campaigns, NPCs, locations and plots, PDF export and player share links. Optional AI tools can help with session recaps, NPC portraits, names, backstories and session preparation. Notes and dice work without using AI. SAVED RECORDINGS AND SESSION FINDS On supported iOS 26 devices and languages, transcribe saved recordings on your device. A language model download may be required. Cloud transcription is a separate choice and supports files up to 25 MB. AI recaps still send the selected transcript for processing. Review suggested NPCs and loot alongside their source text, edit them, and choose what to save. Nothing is imported automatically. YOUR CONTENT Campaign notes and voice recordings are stored on your device. AI features process content you choose to send. No account is required to organize your campaign. See the privacy policy for details about analytics and AI processing. SUBSCRIPTIONS Pro is available with monthly or yearly subscriptions. The App Store purchase screen shows the current local price and any trial for which you are eligible. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled; manage or cancel them in your Apple Account settings. Feedback: support@dmnotes.app Privacy: https://dmnotes-app.pages.dev/privacy/ Terms: https://dmnotes-app.pages.dev/terms/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: DnD Campaign Notes at none against 5e Buddy's shown. 5e Buddy's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. 5e Buddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and DnD Campaign Notes sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
5e Buddy ships an update every 5 days, DnD Campaign Notes every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.
| Parameter | 5e Buddy | DnD Campaign Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 137 MB | 28 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Magical Duck Studios LLC | Pavel Korkodinov |
In-app purchases
5e Buddy
- 5eBuddy Premium$7.99
DnD Campaign Notes
- DM Notes Pro · Monthly$5.991 Month
- DM Notes Pro · Yearly7 Days trial$29.991 Year
Questions
Is 5e Buddy free?
Is DnD Campaign Notes free?
Do 5e Buddy or DnD Campaign Notes have ads?
Which is updated more often, 5e Buddy or DnD Campaign Notes?
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