Comparison

openote vs MDflow

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

Head to head
About

openote

This app offers a free and private way to manage your notes using standard Markdown files. It syncs across your Apple devices via iCloud Drive without requiring an account or subscription. Features include live diagram rendering, on-device AI capabilities, and robust editing tools.

Highlights
  • Free iCloud sync
  • Plain Markdown files
  • Live Mermaid diagram rendering
  • On-device AI features
  • Rich Markdown editor
  • Folder and tag organization
  • Full-text search
Features
Read full description

openote โ€” Markdown notes with free sync. No account. No subscription. Other note apps charge a yearly fee just to sync your own devices. openote syncs iPhone, iPad and Mac through your iCloud Drive โ€” free, with no account to create. Your notes stay plain .md files. Open them in the Files app or any Markdown editor, and take them anywhere. No proprietary format, no lock-in. --- WHY OPENOTE Free iCloud sync Notes sync through iCloud Drive on your own Apple account. No sign-up, no subscription. Plain Markdown files Every note is a standard .md file. Front matter, checklists and [[wiki links]] are kept exactly as you wrote them. Safe across devices If a note changes on another device while you're editing, openote keeps both versions instead of silently overwriting one. Your last words are saved even if you switch apps or quit right away. Mermaid diagrams Flowcharts, sequence diagrams and more render live from Markdown. Start from a template, pinch to zoom, tap to edit the code. Rendering works offline. On-device AI On devices with Apple Intelligence, summarize a note, get tag suggestions, or turn a sentence into a diagram. It runs entirely on your device โ€” nothing is sent to a server. --- FEATURES Editor - Rich Markdown editing, with a source mode when you want the raw text - Checklists, tables and code blocks - Auto-save - Word and character count Organize - Folders and #tags with autocomplete - [[Wiki links]] between notes - Full-text search in English, Korean and Japanese Sync & files - iPhone, iPad and Mac via iCloud Drive - Browse your notes in the Files app - Export a note as PDF Shortcuts & Siri - Create, open and search notes from Shortcuts and Siri - Notes appear in Spotlight search --- PRIVACY - No account, no email - No tracking - Your notes stay in your iCloud and on your devices - AI runs on your device Everything is free. openote has no in-app purchases. openote โ€” Your notes, your files.

About

MDflow

Features
Read full description

MDflow is an online markdown workspace for writing in a clean, portable format and keeping your knowledge organized. This is the official iOS companion โ€” your whole workspace, ready on iPhone and iPad. Sign in and pick up exactly where you left off on the web. Browse your folders and favorites, search across your entire workspace, and edit any document with autosave so your work is always kept. WHAT YOU CAN DO โ€ข Sign in securely with Apple, Google, GitHub, or Microsoft โ€ข Browse folders, subfolders, and your favorite documents โ€ข Search across your whole workspace and jump straight to a match โ€ข Write and edit in clean Markdown with a live rendered preview โ€ข Autosave keeps your changes without a manual save โ€ข Create new documents and folders on the go โ€ข Rename, move, favorite, and delete documents โ€ข Unlock password-protected documents, encrypted on your device with Face ID โ€ข Adjust text size for comfortable reading and writing โ€ข Pull to refresh to sync the latest changes YOUR CONTENT, YOUR FORMAT Everything you write stays as plain Markdown โ€” portable, future-proof, and never locked into a proprietary format. Sensitive documents are encrypted with a password directly on your device, so their contents are never visible to the server. EVEN MORE ON THE WEB MDflow on the web adds side-by-side editing and preview, version history, collections, public and private sharing, import and export, and a full API and MCP server for scripts and AI agents. The iOS app keeps that same workspace in your pocket. Learn more at mdflow.cz Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

Screenshots

openote4 screens
MDflow4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: MDflow at every 2 days against openote's every 5 weeks. openote's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

openote ships an update every 5 weeks, MDflow every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 6 level
openote versus MDflow: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameteropenoteMDflow
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 2 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better26.5
Further details โ€” not scored
Size8 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWooyoung KimDataOps, s.r.o.

In-app purchases

None

openote

No in-app purchases

None

MDflow

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is openote free?
openote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MDflow free?
MDflow is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do openote or MDflow have ads?
Neither openote nor MDflow shows ads.
Which is updated more often, openote or MDflow?
openote ships an update every 5 weeks, and MDflow every 2 days. Most recently, openote was updated on November 6, 2026 and MDflow on November 11, 2026.

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