Comparison

Routine vs Inkwell Notes

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

Head to head
About

Routine

This app offers a fluid calendar, planner, and to-do list on a single canvas. Zoom from your year down to your day with ease, plan multi-day events, and track habits. It provides insights into your time usage and syncs privately across devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Fluid calendar canvas
  • Zoomable daily to yearly view
  • Block planning for tasks and habits
  • Multi-day event planning
  • Customizable color-coded tags
  • Automatic carry-forward of unfinished tasks
  • Location-based reminders
  • Meeting link integration
Read full description

Build the day you want to repeat, and stop rebuilding it every morning. Most days are not new. They have a shape, and your phone should already know it. Welcome to your Routine. No onboarding questionnaire, no streaks to protect, and no collecting of your data. Download it, write out a day once, choose which days it runs, and it fills those days in for you. That's it. Today is the screen you live in. No week strip, no month grid, nothing to navigate. What is happening is in front of you, and anything else that comes up goes straight onto the day. Tomorrow holds every day ahead for a year, already filled in by your routines. Add to any of them. Lift a routine off a single day when life happens, and the rest of the week stays where it is. Someday is for the things with no date yet. Park them, and give them a day when you are ready. Give a block a time, a tag, a reminder, and a place. Name and color your own tags. Ask Siri to run a routine, add a block, or read your day back to you (coming in iOS 27). Put it on your Home Screen and Lock Screen, and open it on iPad and Mac. Your day stays yours. Everything syncs privately through your own iCloud, with no account to create and no one watching. You decide what your days look like, not an algorithm. Build it once, and let it carry you. Download Routine today and see the difference it will make in your life! Terms of ​Use (​EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Inkwell Notes

Features
Read full description

Inkwell is a quiet, distraction-free markdown notes app for people who actually write. A cream paper canvas, a serif body type, and the tools writers actually use — focus mode, daily word goals, tag chips, and a one-tap markdown preview. No clutter, no popups, no upsells. KEY FEATURES • Markdown editor with live word, character, and reading-time stats • One-tap markdown preview for **bold**, *italic*, `code`, headings, and lists • Focus mode dims everything except the paragraph you are writing • Daily word goal per note with a quiet progress arc in the toolbar • Tag chips to organize journals, drafts, field notes, and reading lists • Full-text search across titles, bodies, and tags • Cream paper light theme tuned for long writing sessions • Autosave on every keystroke — nothing is ever lost DESIGNED FOR WRITERS Whether you are keeping morning pages, drafting a chapter, taking field notes on a train, or pulling together a reading list, Inkwell stays out of the way and just keeps writing. PRIVACY No tracking. No accounts. No network calls. Your notes live on your device.

Screenshots

Routine4 screens
Inkwell Notes3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Inkwell Notes at none against Routine's 2. On price, ads, 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

Both are free to download. Routine sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Inkwell Notes asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Routine versus Inkwell Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRoutineInkwell Notes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews33.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.617.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB1 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperTD Studios, LLCLinh Phan Nhat Khanh

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Routine

Subscriptions1
  • Routine Pro Monthly Subscription$0.991 Month
One-time1
  • Routine Pro Lifetime Subscription$9.99
None

Inkwell Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Routine free?
Routine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Inkwell Notes free?
Inkwell Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Routine or Inkwell Notes have ads?
Neither Routine nor Inkwell Notes shows ads.

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