Comparison

Note Town vs Smolpad

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

Head to head
About

Note Town

A collaborative tool for families and friends to plan and share together. Organize tasks, track habits, journal, and share files in a central, accessible location for everyone.

Highlights
  • Collaborative note-taking
  • Task management
  • Habit tracking
  • Journaling
  • File sharing
  • Family access
Features
Read full description

Note Town is a collaborative note taking and planning tools where families and friends plan and share together. Organize your life with beautiful note — add tasks, track habits, keep a journal, and share files, all in one place that everyone in the family can access.

About

Smolpad

A minimalist Markdown editor that stores your notes as plain .md files, accessible across all your devices via iCloud. Offers beautiful writing tools and robust file management without bloat.

Highlights
  • Plain .md file storage
  • iCloud sync
  • Markdown syntax highlighting
  • Task list checkboxes
  • Folder organization and search
  • File version history
  • Menu bar app on Mac
Features
Read full description

Smolpad is a smol Markdown editor with respect for your files. Every note is a plain .md file you can open with any app, on any device, forever. Your files are your own. No database. No lock-in. No bloat. Just a tiny, fast home for your notes on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. WRITE IN MARKDOWN, BEAUTIFULLY • Syntax dims as you type, or hides away entirely with one tap • Task lists become real checkboxes. Checkboxes that check. • Headings, bold, italic, code, quotes, and tables, styled as you write • A formatting bar for common touches, plus full keyboard shortcuts • Pictures too: drag or paste one in, resize it by its corner, and it lives as a plain file beside the note YOUR FILES, ANYWHERE • Notes sync through your own iCloud Drive, included free • Open your notes folder in Finder or Files any time • Organize with folders, pins, and instant search • A Trash for deleted notes, and a history of every note's earlier versions • Find notes in Spotlight, and open them with Siri or Shortcuts • Your notes never leave your devices except to your own cloud SMOL ON PURPOSE • On the Mac, Smolpad lives in your menu bar, one hotkey away • Tear off a note into its own window when you want to stay a while • On iPhone and iPad, it opens fast and stays out of your way • Eight hand-picked fonts and a clean, quiet interface MAKE IT YOURS WITH SMOLPAD PRO • Unlimited notes (the free tier includes ten) • Dropbox, pCloud, or Google Drive sync, in a folder that belongs to you • Notepads: open any folder of Markdown files as its own notepad, an Obsidian vault or a Bear export among them • Export to PDF, HTML, or rich text, and print • Widgets on the Mac, iPhone and iPad, Lock Screen widgets on iPhone, and Smolpad on Apple Watch • Twenty-nine editor themes, from Tokyo Night to Catppuccin • Seventeen app icons and the full menu bar icon set Smolpad Pro is available as a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. The free tier is a real notes app, not a trial. Made by a smol team that believes plain text outlives everything. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://smolpad.com/privacy

Screenshots

Note Town4 screens
Smolpad4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Note Town at none against Smolpad's 3. Smolpad's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 weeks). 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. Smolpad sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.49 per month. Note Town asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Note Town against 5.0 for Smolpad. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Note Town ships an update every 3 weeks, Smolpad every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Note Town versus Smolpad: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNote TownSmolpad
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB76 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStanislav PanferovBaconWorks, LLC

Customer experience

Note Town

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Smolpad

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Note Town

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Smolpad

Subscriptions2
  • Smolpad Pro$1.491 Month
  • Smolpad Pro7 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Smolpad Pro Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is Note Town free?
Note Town is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Smolpad free?
Smolpad is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Note Town or Smolpad?
Note Town and Smolpad are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Note Town or Smolpad have ads?
Neither Note Town nor Smolpad shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Note Town or Smolpad?
Note Town ships an update every 3 weeks, and Smolpad every 10 days. Most recently, Note Town was updated on November 7, 2026 and Smolpad on November 6, 2026.

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