Comparison

Ember vs DashboardToday

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

Head to head
About

Ember

A fast and organized workspace for writing Markdown notes, storing PDFs, diagrams, and voice memos. It offers a vault for reusable prompts and syncs across Apple devices. Start for free with full editor access.

Highlights
  • Rich Markdown editor
  • Inline PDF and image support
  • Reusable prompt vault
  • Daily notes, folders, and tags
  • Instant search functionality
  • Private iCloud sync
  • Share Extension
Features
Read full description

Your notes should feel like home. Ember is a warm, fast place to think — Markdown notes, PDFs, diagrams, voice memos, and a vault of reusable prompts, all in one calm workspace that syncs across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. WRITE IN RICH MARKDOWN A live editor with real formatting: headings, tables, task lists, links, highlights, footnotes, and code — rendered as you type, never in your way. Bullets, numbers, and checkboxes feel native and effortless. MORE THAN TEXT Drop PDFs, images, diagrams, and voice notes right inline. Your references live beside your writing, so everything about a thought stays in one place. A VAULT FOR YOUR PROMPTS Keep the prompts you reuse for writing, research, and planning in a dedicated Prompt Vault — organized, searchable, and a tap away when you need them. STAY ORGANIZED, STAY FAST Daily notes, folders, tags, smart filters, and pinned notes keep things tidy, and instant search finds anything the moment you look for it. YOURS EVERYWHERE Ember runs natively on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with optional private iCloud sync, widgets, and a Share Extension for capturing from anywhere. FREE TO START Capture notes, PDFs, prompts, and attachments with the full editor — free, no account required. EMBER PRO Unlock advanced themes and alternate icons, premium writing and organization workflows, and deeper Prompt Vault tools, as a subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts. No ads. No selling your words. Your notes stay on your device and your own iCloud. Make a home for your thinking. Download Ember Notes. TERMS & PRIVACY Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://embernotes.app/privacy

About

DashboardToday

Features
Read full description

What if your whole day fitted on a single page? DashboardToday brings together the essentials of your day at a glance: the date and the weather, your appointments and reminders, your notes, your habits and even your photo of the day. No more juggling ten apps — it's all here, clear and elegant. YOUR DAY AT A GLANCE - The date, the time and the weather where you are - Your appointments, from your Apple and Google calendars - Your reminders, with urgent tasks always on top - Tick reminders off right inside the app - A notes area, by keyboard or with the Apple Pencil - A space to draw - Your photo of the day WIDGETS ON YOUR HOME SCREEN - How many appointments you have today - How many reminders are still waiting - How far along your habits are Free, and without even opening the app. KEEP THE MEMORY OF YOUR DAYS - A complete history, day after day - Habit tracking with a weekly goal - A weekly summary you can export as a PDF A REAL MAC APP, NOT A BLOWN-UP IPHONE APP Native on iPhone, iPad and Mac, with iCloud sync. One purchase unlocks everything, everywhere. Available in English, French and Spanish. YOUR DATA IS YOURS No account to create, no data collected. No ads, no trackers, no usage analytics. Your content stays on your device and, if you turn it on, in your own iCloud — I have no access to it. Only the weather queries a third party, Open-Meteo, with an approximate location and no identifier. FREE AND PRO The essentials are free: today's page, the weather, your calendar, your reminders, notes, drawing, photo and the widgets. DashboardToday Pro, a one-time €9.99 purchase that lasts for life, adds the full history, unlimited habits and the weekly PDF summary. Never a subscription. Simple, beautiful, distraction-free: DashboardToday helps you start every day on the right foot.

Screenshots

Ember4 screens
DashboardToday4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: DashboardToday at 17.0 against Ember's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Ember sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and DashboardToday sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ember ships an update every 2 weeks, DashboardToday fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Ember versus DashboardToday: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEmberDashboardToday
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size76 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRene DeAndaCharles De ribas

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Ember

Subscriptions2
  • Ember Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Ember Pro Annual$34.991 Year
One-time1
  • Ember Pro Lifetime$99.99
1 purchases

DashboardToday

One-time1
  • DashboardToday Pro$8.99

Questions

Is Ember free?
Ember is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DashboardToday free?
DashboardToday is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Ember or DashboardToday have ads?
Neither Ember nor DashboardToday shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ember or DashboardToday?
Ember ships an update every 2 weeks, and DashboardToday fortnightly. Most recently, Ember was updated on October 31, 2026 and DashboardToday on October 31, 2026.

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