Comparison

Magpie vs Ember

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

Head to head
About

Magpie

Capture fleeting thoughts and ideas from any source, including voice notes and shared links. Your captured content is automatically organized and accessible within your writing tools, like Claude, when you need it most. Own your notes as plain text files, ensuring they are always yours.

Highlights
  • Capture voice notes
  • Save text thoughts
  • Share and transcribe links
  • Integrates with writing tools
  • Organizes ideas automatically
  • Plain text file ownership
Features
Read full description

Stop losing your best ideas. That spark while scrolling TikTok. The shower thought. The perfect phrasing from a Claude conversation. Something from a podcast you meant to remember. By the time you sit down to write, it's gone. Magpie gives your ideas a place to land. CAPTURE FROM ANYWHERE - Voice notes on the go - Quick text thoughts - Share links (TikToks, YouTube, podcasts, articles) and Magpie transcribes them READY IN CLAUDE WHEN YOU WRITE Your notes aren't trapped in this app. When you open Claude on your computer, your ideas are already there. Working in Cowork? Already loaded. You just talk to Claude like normal and it knows what you've been thinking about. BUILT FOR WRITERS WHO THINK EVERYWHERE Writing a Substack or blog on the side? Ideas hit all day in all the wrong places. Magpie captures them and organizes everything automatically. Zero setup. When you finally sit down to write, everything's waiting. YOUR NOTES, YOUR CONTROL Everything stored as plain text files you own. Not locked in any app. Yours forever. HOW IT WORKS Capture → Store → Write. Save an idea today. Three months from now, ask Claude "what have I been thinking about productivity?" or "show me what I saved last week" and it knows. PERFECT FOR - Writers who think faster than they can type - Anyone whose best ideas happen mid-Claude - Substackers, bloggers, creators who need their ideas to show up when they write Free to start. 25 notes a month. Upgrade for unlimited notes and video transcription. Visit mymagpie.app for tutorials. Terms of Use: https://www.mymagpie.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.mymagpie.app/privacy

About

Ember

A fast and organized workspace for writing Markdown notes, storing PDFs, diagrams, and voice memos. It offers a vault for reusable prompts and syncs across Apple devices. Start for free with full editor access.

Highlights
  • Rich Markdown editor
  • Inline PDF and image support
  • Reusable prompt vault
  • Daily notes, folders, and tags
  • Instant search functionality
  • Private iCloud sync
  • Share Extension
Features
Read full description

Your notes should feel like home. Ember is a warm, fast place to think — Markdown notes, PDFs, diagrams, voice memos, and a vault of reusable prompts, all in one calm workspace that syncs across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. WRITE IN RICH MARKDOWN A live editor with real formatting: headings, tables, task lists, links, highlights, footnotes, and code — rendered as you type, never in your way. Bullets, numbers, and checkboxes feel native and effortless. MORE THAN TEXT Drop PDFs, images, diagrams, and voice notes right inline. Your references live beside your writing, so everything about a thought stays in one place. A VAULT FOR YOUR PROMPTS Keep the prompts you reuse for writing, research, and planning in a dedicated Prompt Vault — organized, searchable, and a tap away when you need them. STAY ORGANIZED, STAY FAST Daily notes, folders, tags, smart filters, and pinned notes keep things tidy, and instant search finds anything the moment you look for it. YOURS EVERYWHERE Ember runs natively on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with optional private iCloud sync, widgets, and a Share Extension for capturing from anywhere. FREE TO START Capture notes, PDFs, prompts, and attachments with the full editor — free, no account required. EMBER PRO Unlock advanced themes and alternate icons, premium writing and organization workflows, and deeper Prompt Vault tools, as a subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts. No ads. No selling your words. Your notes stay on your device and your own iCloud. Make a home for your thinking. Download Ember Notes. TERMS & PRIVACY Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://embernotes.app/privacy

Screenshots

Magpie4 screens
Ember4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Magpie at 16.0 against Ember's 26.0. On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Magpie sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $7.99 per month and Ember sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Magpie against 5.0 for Ember. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 3 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Magpie versus Ember: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMagpieEmber
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings)
Number of ratings23 — better
Update frequency—Every 10 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB70 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRebecca SpitzerRene DeAnda

Customer experience

Magpie

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Ember

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Magpie

Subscriptions1
  • Magpie Unlimited$7.991 Month
3 purchases

Ember

Subscriptions2
  • Ember Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Ember Pro Annual$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • Ember Pro Lifetime$99.99

Questions

Is Magpie free?
Magpie is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ember free?
Ember is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Magpie or Ember?
Magpie and Ember are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 2 and 3 ratings respectively.
Do Magpie or Ember have ads?
Neither Magpie nor Ember shows ads.

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