SecondBrain vs YostNotes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SecondBrain
This app automatically transcribes, titles, and files your spoken thoughts, creating a self-organizing note system. It can convert voice notes into calendar events, provide daily summaries, and allow you to chat with your saved information.
- Automatic transcription and titling
- AI-powered self-organizing notes
- Voice to calendar event creation
- Daily morning briefing summaries
- Chat with your notes for answers
- 3D brain graph visualization
- Full-text search
- Cross-app sharing
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Most of what you hear, think and plan today is gone by tomorrow. Speak your mind. SecondBrain writes it down, gives it a title, and files it for you. No folders to manage. No typing. Just talk, and your thoughts organize themselves. The AI note app for people who think out loud. WHY SECONDBRAIN • Capture in seconds: speak, type, or share a thought and it is saved instantly • Zero organizing: AI transcribes, titles, and files every note into a self-building folder tree • Voice to schedule: say "dentist Tuesday 4pm" and it creates real events in Calendar and Reminders • Morning briefing: wake up to a daily summary of your day and what matters • Ask your brain: chat with your notes and get answers from everything you have saved • Brain graph: explore your ideas as a living 3D map of connected notes • Search everything: full-text search finds any note in an instant • Share from anywhere: send text, links, images, or audio from any app into SecondBrain • 20+ languages: speak in your language and get replies in your language BUILT FOR BUSY MINDS Founder juggling clients, student capturing lectures, or just someone with too many thoughts to hold? SecondBrain is the frictionless place to put them all. Brain-dump on the go and let the AI do the filing. WORKS WHERE YOU DO Your notes sync to the web at app.secondbrain.icu. Pro users can connect SecondBrain as memory for AI assistants through the MCP connector. SECONDBRAIN PRO Go unlimited: unlimited notes, unlimited AI capture and answers, plus the AI assistant connector. Start with a free trial, then subscribe yearly or monthly. Cancel anytime. Payment is charged to your Apple ID. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://secondbrain.icu/privacy
YostNotes
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Record the lecture. Get the notes. YostNotes records your classes, meetings, and calls, then writes them up for you: a full transcript, a summary of what actually mattered, and flashcards to study from. You listen. It writes. HOW IT WORKS 1. Tap record, then put your phone down and pay attention. 2. YostNotes transcribes every word, with speakers labelled. 3. You get a summary, the key terms, and a set of flashcards. Or skip the recording entirely. Paste or type any text and get the same summary back. WHAT YOU GET Full transcripts Every word, timestamped. Tap any line to jump straight to that moment in the audio. Long-press a line to fix it, and name a speaker once to update every line they said. Summaries that hold up An overview, the decisions, the action items, and the key terms. The parts you would have written down yourself if you had not been busy listening. Flashcards, generated One conversation becomes a study set. Review what was said instead of rereading it. A library you can search Folders, filters, and search across every note you have made. Find the meeting from three weeks ago without remembering when it happened. Photos alongside your notes Capture the whiteboard or the slide. It stays with the note it belongs to, and it travels with the summary when you share or export. Finishes without you Stop a recording and lock your phone. Transcribing and summarising carry on in the background, and YostNotes tells you when the note is ready. BUILT FOR Students recording lectures who would rather listen than type Professionals in back-to-back meetings who need the decisions and the action items Researchers running interviews who need an accurate record Anyone who thinks out loud and wants it written down PRIVACY CloudSync is end-to-end encrypted with a passphrase only you know. Your notes are encrypted on your device before they leave it, so we can never read them. We do not train on your data. POWERED BY CLAUDE Summaries, key terms, and flashcards are generated using Anthropic's Claude models. You stay the author and you stay in control. ALSO INCLUDED Markdown formatting, PDF export, sharing, and dark mode throughout. WHAT USERS SAY "I finally have one place for everything. My second brain feels real now." "Voice capture during walks changed how I work. Ideas land in YostNotes before I forget them." "Search alone is worth the price. I find old notes in seconds." PRICING Free to try. A subscription adds recording minutes, advanced AI features, and encrypted CloudSync. Monthly or yearly billing. Questions or feedback? We read everything and ship fast. Reach us at info@yost.group. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: YostNotes at none against SecondBrain's shown. SecondBrain's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 weeks) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.6). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. SecondBrain sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month and YostNotes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
SecondBrain ships an update every 3 days, YostNotes every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SecondBrain | YostNotes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (6 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 73 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Federico Cesarini | Rick Yost |
In-app purchases
SecondBrain
- SecondBrain Pro$8.991 Month
- SecondBrain Pro Yearly3 Days trial$34.991 Year
- SecondBrain Pro Yearly3 Days trial$44.991 Year
YostNotes
- Monthly14 Days trial$14.991 Month
- Annual14 Days trial$169.991 Year
- 100 Minute Top-Up$6.99









