A5 Journal vs Papyr
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
A5 Journal
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A5 JOURNAL Your Records. Your Proof. Your Story. Your life deserves more than another notes app. A5 Journal combines the warmth of traditional journaling with powerful digital documentation tools. Build your own beautiful library, create notebooks, and capture everything from everyday memories to important professional records. YOUR HISTORY, PRESERVED Every entry is timestamped and permanently recorded. Once saved, it cannot be edited or rewritten, helping you preserve an authentic history of what happened and when. EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE Create notebooks for personal journaling, work documentation, project tracking, incident reports, memories, and more. FEATURES YOU'LL LOVE • Beautiful digital libraries and notebooks • Permanent, timestamped entries • Photos and supporting attachments • Customizable forms and reports • Offline mobile journaling with automatic synchronization • Shared journals for families and teams • A5 Mailroom for sharing letters and records • Search, starred entries, and reminders • Export your records whenever you need them • Memberships for individuals, families, and businesses BUILT FOR LIFE AND WORK Whether you're preserving memories, tracking personal goals, documenting workplace events, or collaborating with your team, A5 Journal keeps your records organized and accessible. Start building your library today. A5 Journal — Your Records. Your Proof. Your Story. Important Notice: A5 Journal is a documentation and organizational tool, not a legal service. Records are not guaranteed to be legally admissible. A 7-day free trial is available for eligible individual subscriptions. An active subscription is required after the trial. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Papyr
A private journaling app designed to feel like a real notebook, offering rich text formatting and individual journal locking. It syncs privately via iCloud and allows exporting entries. Enjoy a clutter-free writing experience with no ads or data selling.
- Multiple private journals
- Face ID/Touch ID/Passcode lock
- Rich text formatting
- Cross-journal search
- PDF and Word export
- iCloud sync across devices
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Papyr is a quiet place to write — a journal that looks and feels like paper, without the clutter of a productivity app pretending to be one. Keep separate journals for separate parts of your life: daily thoughts, gratitude, recipes, travel, ideas, whatever you need. Lock the private ones behind Face ID, Touch ID or passcode. Write in rich text — bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, blockquotes, and links — on a ruled page that feels like a real notebook. Everything stays on your device and syncs privately through your own iCloud account. Papyr never sees your entries, never sells your data, and has no ads — there's nothing to sell when the entries never leave your iCloud. FEATURES - Multiple journals, each with its own mood tracking, on or off - Lock any journal individually with Face ID, Touch ID or passcode - Rich text formatting: bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, blockquotes, links - Search across every journal at once - Export any journal as a typeset PDF or an editable Word document - Full iCloud sync — write on your iPhone, pick up on your Mac - One-time purchase for full history and unlimited journals — no subscription, ever. PRIVACY, PLAINLY Your entries live on your device, always. Sync happens through your own private iCloud database, the same one Apple uses for your Photos and Notes. Papyr has no analytics, no tracking, and no way to read what you write. Try Papyr free for 7 days. After that, one modest one-time payment unlocks it for good — full history, unlimited journals, and exports, yours forever. No subscription, no recurring charge, no expiration.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: A5 Journal at weekly against Papyr's every 2 weeks. A5 Journal also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, 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. A5 Journal sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Papyr sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
A5 Journal ships an update weekly, Papyr every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | A5 Journal | Papyr |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 95 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | ThinkFULL Holdings Inc. | Brandon Duncan |
In-app purchases
A5 Journal
- A5 Journal Monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- A5 Journal Members - Monthly7 Days trial4 variants$2.991 Month
- A5 Journal Family Plan$10.991 Month
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- A5 Journal Business Plan Monthly$25.991 Month
- A5 Journal Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
- A5 Journal Members - Yearly7 Days trial4 variants$29.991 Year
- A5 Journal Business+ Plan Monthly$49.991 Month
- A5 Journal Family Plan Yearly$109.991 Year
- A5 Journal Business Plan Yearly$259.991 Year
- A5 Journal Business+ Plan Yearly$499.991 Year
Papyr
- Papyr Plus$4.99









