Comparison

Simple Text Notes vs Harbor Notes

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

Head to head
About

Simple Text Notes

Features
Read full description

Tired of note apps that make you jump through hoops just to write something down? Simple Text Notes strips everything back to what matters: a title, your words, and the save button. Write a quick idea. Paste in a recipe. Draft a message. Save a code snippet. Whatever's on your mind — Simple Text Notes captures it instantly and syncs it to all your devices via iCloud, so you never lose a thought. What makes it simple: - Open the app → create a note → done - Powerful search across all your notes - Automatic iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad & Mac - One-tap copy/paste from the clipboard - Your data, stored privately and securely on your devices and iCloud Simple by design. Powerful where it counts.

About

Harbor Notes

Capture, organize, and secure all your thoughts, tasks, and files in one private space. This app offers rich note-taking features, robust organization, and instant search, even within images and scanned documents. Your data is yours, with optional end-to-end encryption and no ads or data selling.

Highlights
  • Rich notes with checklists, tables, and highlights
  • Notebooks, stacks, and tags for organization
  • Task management with due dates
  • Document scanning and sketching
  • Voice memos and file attachments
  • Instant search with OCR
  • Offline-first native apps
Features
Read full description

Harbor is your private second brain — a fast, native notes app for people who want to remember everything and own it for life. Capture notes, organize them into notebooks, tag anything, attach photos and files, scan paper documents, sketch ideas, and record voice memos. Then find any of it in seconds — Harbor's search even reads the text inside your images and scans. REMEMBER EVERYTHING • Rich notes with checklists, tables, images, links, and highlights • Notebooks and stacks that keep every part of your life organized • Tags that cut across notebooks • Tasks with due dates, right beside your notes • Scan documents with your camera; sketch with your finger or Apple Pencil • Voice memos and file attachments of every kind • Instant search across everything — including the text inside images and scans (OCR) YOURS, EVERYWHERE • Truly native apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac — no web wrapper • Offline-first: your notes live on your device and sync automatically • The full web app at app.harbor.my from any browser • A web clipper that saves articles and pages straight into your notebooks PRIVATE BY DESIGN • No ads. No selling your data. No training AI on your notes. Ever. • Optional end-to-end encryption locks down your most sensitive notes so that no one — not even us — can read them • Export everything anytime in open formats. You are never locked in. SWITCHING FROM ANOTHER NOTES APP? Import your Evernote notebooks (.enex files) with the Mac or web app — your notebooks, tags, and attachments sync straight to your iPhone and iPad. SIMPLE, HONEST PRICING Harbor is free for up to 50 notes, 3 notebooks, and 20 tags — no credit card required. When you outgrow the free plan, Harbor Unlimited removes every limit: • $9.99/month or $99/year • Unlimited notes, notebooks, tags, tasks, and files • A written price-lock promise in our terms: your price won't go up for at least 3 years Subscriptions are billed to your Apple ID and renew automatically until cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. And even if you stop paying, you can always read and export your notes — Harbor never holds your data hostage. Privacy Policy: https://harbor.my/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://harbor.my/terms/ Questions? A real person answers: help@harbor.my

Screenshots

Simple Text Notes2 screens
Harbor Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Simple Text Notes at none against Harbor Notes's 2. Harbor Notes's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 weeks) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Harbor Notes sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Simple Text Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Simple Text Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, Harbor Notes every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 14, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Simple Text Notes versus Harbor Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSimple Text NotesHarbor Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
Monetization—Freemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS26.018.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB35 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFutural UG (Haftungsbeschraenkt)Cloudmanic Labs, LLC

In-app purchases

None

Simple Text Notes

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Harbor Notes

Subscriptions2
  • Unlimited — Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Unlimited — Yearly$99.001 Year

Questions

Is Simple Text Notes free?
Simple Text Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Harbor Notes free?
Harbor Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Simple Text Notes or Harbor Notes have ads?
Neither Simple Text Notes nor Harbor Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Simple Text Notes or Harbor Notes?
Simple Text Notes ships an update every 2 weeks, and Harbor Notes every 4 days. Most recently, Simple Text Notes was updated on September 14, 2026 and Harbor Notes on September 25, 2026.

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