Structured Outliner vs Thoughtree
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
Structured Outliner
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Keep your entire outline in a single portable file you control. No account, no server, no lock-in, future-proof. ORGANIZE IN UNLIMITED DEPTH Build trees as deep as you need. Expand, collapse, and reorder topics with just a few taps. Every topic can have its own notes. Write as much or as little as you like. SEARCH EVERYTHING Search titles or note content at once. The tree expands automatically to show every match in context, so you always know where a result lives in your outline. CROSS-LINK TOPICS Link any note to another topic using the outlook: link format. Tap to jump directly there. Tap the back arrow to return where you came from. OPEN FILES AND URLS Tap any file path or URL inside a note to open it. Connect your outline to existing documents in the folder: PDFs, photos, or anything else you reference. COLOR LABELS Assign a background color to any topic: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, or Purple. The color flows down to all child topics that don't have their own. Use it to visually separate sections at a glance. AUTOMATIC BACKUPS The app writes a .bak backup before every save. Restore at any time from the menu. SYNC YOUR WAY Store your file in iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or any Files-compatible provider. Open it from there on each device. No special sync setup required. MEMPAD COMPATIBLE Structured Outliner uses the same .lst format as MemPad for Windows, a portable outliner that has been around since the early 2000s. Open existing MemPad files directly, no conversion needed. FREE VERSION Structured Outliner is free to use. Development is supported by a small banner ad shown at the bottom of the screen. PRO VERSION Upgrade to Pro to remove the banner ad, unlock Color Labels and Topic + Note Search and future planned features. One-time purchase. Restore on any device from the menu.
Thoughtree
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A mind map for brainstorming, planning, and organizing your thoughts on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It opens your .itmz files as they are. Thoughtree is built in Swift for Apple devices. Get your thoughts out, shape them into branches, and pick up the same map on any device. CAPTURE Add child and sibling topics in a keystroke and keep typing. Start a title with an emoji and it becomes the topic's icon. ORGANIZE Drag branches into place, reorder in the outline, and collapse a whole map to a display level (1โ9). Add Markdown notes, relationship lines, boundaries, callouts, images, and tasks. BRING YOUR MAPS WITH YOU Open your .itmz files and keep working on them, topics, notes, and images included. Also imports OPML, Markdown, FreeMind, XMind, CSV, plain text, and browser bookmarks. ANY DEVICE Maps sync through your own iCloud Drive across Mac, iPhone, and iPad. No account, no sign-in. SHARE Export PNG, PDF, and plain text, or print (with a small watermark in Lite). FREE IN THOUGHTREE LITE Unlimited maps, all editing, iCloud sync, every import format, the built-in library of 313 images, two themes (Sapling and Aurora), and the "Create Mind Map" and "Open Mind Map" shortcuts. MORE WITH THOUGHTREE PRO - All 12 themes - Search across every map, plus Spotlight and the "Search Mind Maps" shortcut - Watermark-free PNG / PDF export and printing, plus Markdown and OPML export - Quick Entry: paste an outline and expand it into branches in one step - Edit task attributes and conditional formatting - Home Screen widgets for your recent maps (iPhone and iPad) PURCHASING Choose a one-time Lifetime purchase or an auto-renewing yearly plan. There's no monthly plan. One purchase works on every iPhone, iPad, and Mac signed in with the same Apple ID. The yearly plan renews automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and payment is charged to your Apple ID. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. REQUIREMENTS - Mac: macOS 13 or later - iPhone / iPad: iOS 16 or later Terms of Use: https://thoughtree.nijizo.dev/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://thoughtree.nijizo.dev/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Thoughtree at none against Structured Outliner's shown. Thoughtree also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 9 days). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Structured Outliner sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Thoughtree sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Structured Outliner ships an update every 9 days, Thoughtree every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Structured Outliner | Thoughtree |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days | Every 3 days โ better |
| Ads | Yes | No โ better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Mac โ better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 โ better |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Felipe Carraro | NIJIZO |
In-app purchases
Structured Outliner
- Pro Version$7.99
Thoughtree
- Pro Yearly$19.991 Year
- Thoughtree Pro (Lifetime)$29.99
Questions
Is Structured Outliner free?
Is Thoughtree free?
Do Structured Outliner or Thoughtree have ads?
Which is updated more often, Structured Outliner or Thoughtree?
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