Comparison

Study Hours vs ZenNotes

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

Head to head
About

Study Hours

Features
Read full description

Study Hours is a focused study tracker for students who want a calm, serious system for logging study time and staying consistent. Track your daily study sessions, build streaks, review history, and understand where your hours are actually going. Whether you are preparing for school exams, college coursework, certifications, entrance tests, or simply building a long-term study habit, Study Hours helps you turn scattered effort into visible preparation. Use Study Hours to: Start distraction-free focus sessions Track total study hours and daily progress Organize time by subject with a clean per-subject color system Review recent sessions in a calm timeline See weekly trends and subject balance Set target hours and daily study goals Get a daily reminder at your time, on your days Build a steady routine without overwhelming dashboards Designed for students who prefer clarity over clutter, Study Hours keeps the experience simple: One clear timer One clean dashboard Useful insights Honest progress tracking Each subject gets its own quiet color, visible across your timer, history, and focus mix — so a glance is enough to see where your hours went. Subjects can include: Math Physics Chemistry Biology English Economics Computer Science Revision Mock Test Notes & Summary Or any custom subject you add Study Hours is ideal for: School and college study planning Exam and certification preparation Daily revision tracking Self-paced learners building a long-term study habit Daily reminders are fully customizable — pick the exact time, the minutes, and the specific days of the week you want to be nudged. No noise on the days you don't need it. Privacy first. No sign-ups, no cloud, no analytics, no ads. Your data stays on your device, and you can export it any time. If you want your study routine to feel calmer, clearer, and more measurable, Study Hours gives you a better way to show up every day.

About

ZenNotes

This app allows you to create and manage notes using plain Markdown files. It offers flexible storage options, rich text formatting with live previews, and powerful organization tools like task management and note linking. Designed for both phone and tablet, it prioritizes user privacy with no accounts or tracking.

Highlights
  • Plain Markdown file storage
  • Live rich text previews
  • Wikilinks and #tags
  • Vault-wide task management
  • Table databases as CSV
  • Excalidraw drawing support
  • Share extension for quick capture
Features
Read full description

ZenNotes is a local-first markdown notes app for writing, organizing, and connecting ideas without giving up ownership of your files. YOUR NOTES, YOUR FILES Every note is a plain .md file in a vault you control. Start with storage on your iPhone or iPad, use iCloud Drive, or open a folder through the system document picker. Local and iCloud vaults work without an account. ZENNOTES CLOUD Connect an optional ZenNotes Cloud plan to: • Sync a vault across ZenNotes desktop and mobile • Sync notes and attachments • Create manual and automatic daily backups • Restore a full vault or a single note from a backup • Publish notes to the web and manage their public links Cloud never replaces the free local-first workflow. Use it only when you want hosted sync, backup, or publishing. WRITE IN MARKDOWN Use a focused editor with headings, lists, tasks, tables, code, links, wikilinks, tags, callouts, footnotes, and frontmatter. A mobile formatting bar keeps common actions close to the keyboard, and a pinch resizes the text to your eyes. RICH, OFFLINE PREVIEW Render KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, JSXGraph, function plots, tables, callouts, and more directly on your device. ORGANIZE YOUR WAY Pin your go-to notes and folders to the top, swipe rows to act on them, create and rename nested folders, browse tags, search the full vault, manage tasks, create periodic notes, and work with table databases stored as CSV. CAPTURE QUICKLY Create a quick note from the app or send text and links to ZenNotes from the iOS share sheet. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS Start a note, open a recent one, or check today's tasks without opening the app. New Note also lives on the Lock Screen, and the widgets wear your theme. PRIVACY BY DEFAULT ZenNotes has no advertising or tracking. Local and iCloud notes stay in the storage you choose. When you enable ZenNotes Cloud, the account identity, connected-device information, and vault content needed for the Cloud features you use are sent to the ZenNotes service. Payment details are handled by Stripe. ZenNotes is open source. Your vault remains useful outside the app because it is made of ordinary files.

Screenshots

Study Hours4 screens
ZenNotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: ZenNotes at Free against Study Hours's $0.99. ZenNotes also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 5 weeks). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

ZenNotes is free to download; Study Hours costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Study Hours ships an update every 5 weeks, ZenNotes every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Study Hours versus ZenNotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStudy HoursZenNotes
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating—5.0 (9 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—9 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB80 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAniket MishraLumary Labs LLC

In-app purchases

None

Study Hours

No in-app purchases

None

ZenNotes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Study Hours free?
Study Hours costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ZenNotes free?
ZenNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Study Hours or ZenNotes have ads?
Neither Study Hours nor ZenNotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Study Hours or ZenNotes?
Study Hours ships an update every 5 weeks, and ZenNotes every 3 days. Most recently, Study Hours was updated on September 29, 2026 and ZenNotes on September 23, 2026.

Other comparisons