Comparison

Minus 5 vs Collection Monster

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

Head to head
About

Minus 5

This app limits your daily tasks to five slots, encouraging completion. Unfinished items carry over with visual cues to track their age. It offers recurring tasks, customizable levels, and weekly reviews to boost productivity.

Highlights
  • Five daily task slots
  • Age badges for overdue tasks
  • Recurring task setup
  • Level-based slot increases
  • Weekly review charts
  • Markdown export
  • Widgets and Siri integration
Features
Read full description

Minus 5 is a daily to-do list with one rule: five things. That's it. Every other task app gives you infinite room, and infinite room is how you end up with a 40-item list you're too tired to look at. Minus 5 gives you five slots. Most to-do lists count up forever. This one counts down to zero. If you open your task manager, feel your stomach drop, and close it again — this is built for you. — THE RING — One neon progress ring is the entire interface. The big number in the middle is what's LEFT, not what you've done. When it hits zero: "you've earned the day." Close the app. Go outside. — FIVE SLOTS, ON PURPOSE — The cap isn't a limitation, it's the product. Five is roughly what a person actually finishes in a day. Everything beyond five is a wish list pretending to be a plan. — STREAKS THAT DON'T PUNISH YOU — Finish at least one thing a day and your streak grows. Miss a day and a Streak Freeze covers you automatically — you earn one every 10 days and can bank two. No shattered-streak animation, no guilt trip, nothing to buy back. A day off isn't a character flaw, it's a Tuesday. An optional evening nudge (off by default, at a time you pick) tells you what's still open before midnight. — AGE BADGES — Anything you don't finish carries into tomorrow with a small 1d / 4d / 2w tag, warming from grey to red the longer it sits. A nudge, not a punishment — delete what's not going to happen. You'll feel better. — LEVELS — Consistency unlocks capacity. Start at 5 slots. Clear your whole list seven days in a row and the next level opens: 7 slots at Level 2, 11 at Level 3, and up. The app rewards follow-through, not list-making. — RECURRING THINGS — Daily, weekly, monthly, or custom-day things that appear on schedule, with reminders that say exactly what — no generic "tackle your things." Stretch every morning. Pay rent on the 1st. Gym Mon/Wed/Fri. — PROGRESS — A 30-day curve, your weekly rhythm, and a consistency grid where each square is one week of the year. Best streak, active days, and how many days you cleared all five. Honest numbers, no dashboards. — RANKINGS (optional) — See how your streak stands against everyone else's, worldwide and in your own country. Free, and off until you switch it on. You get a made-up name like "Bright Otter" plus a few digits of your own — no real names, no accounts, no email. — WIDGETS & LOCK SCREEN — Home Screen (small and medium), and all three Lock Screen styles — circular, rectangular, and inline. Your ring, glanceable, without opening anything. — SIRI & SHORTCUTS — "Hey Siri, add a thing to Minus 5." Works from the Lock Screen, AirPods, CarPlay, anywhere Siri lives. — APPLE WATCH — A real Watch app and complication. Check things off from your wrist. — EXPORT — Copy your list as Markdown, share it, or send things straight to Things 3 or Reminders. Your data is portable. — CALENDAR MIRROR (optional) — Pull today's events in as read-only one-liners ("Meeting · 6–8pm"). They don't count toward your five and don't carry over — just context. — iCLOUD SYNC — Your things sync privately across your devices through your own iCloud account. No accounts, no tracking, no telemetry, no analytics. The only thing that ever leaves your iCloud is a streak number — and only if you turn on Rankings. — THEME & ACCESSIBILITY — Light, Dark, or System. Nine neon accent colors with automatic contrast. Text size override (Default / Large / Larger / Huge). Full VoiceOver support. — MINUS 5 PRO — The five things stay free, forever. Pro is a one-time unlock — bought once, not rented — adding progress stats and streak history, the Apple Watch app and complication, the calendar mirror, unlimited recurring templates, and custom reminder times. Widgets, Siri, export, Rankings and iCloud sync stay free for everyone. No ads. No subscription. No analytics. No tags. No projects. Just five things.

About

Collection Monster

This app helps you save and organize various digital content, including links, text, and images. It uses AI to automatically generate titles, summaries, and tags, making your saved items searchable and actionable. You can also listen to your saved content or organize it into project folders.

Highlights
  • Fast content capture
  • AI-generated organization
  • Smart recommendations
  • Audio playback of saved items
  • Project-based organization
  • Local-first storage
  • Configurable AI services
Features
Read full description

Saved a lot, but never opened it again? Collection Monster brings links, WeChat articles, images, screenshots, text, and files into one clean library, then uses the AI model you choose to turn them into readable, searchable, and actionable knowledge. CAPTURE WITHOUT INTERRUPTING YOUR FLOW Save from the Share Sheet, Quick Add, Photos, or Files. Your item is stored first, so you can move on without waiting for AI processing. SHARE AND REVISIT Create revocable links to saved items. Preview the title, summary, and source before sharing; long-press a card to move it to a library or set a reminder. READ THE SUMMARY, THEN THE FULL ARTICLE AI can create an introduction, key takeaways, tags, a value score, and suggested next actions. The original article and AI guide live on the same page, and web links open directly in your browser. CLEANER WEB READING Collection Monster extracts the main text and useful images while reducing avatars, QR codes, ads, and decorative graphics. ONE PLACE FOR EVERY IMAGE Browse saved images in a masonry gallery. Swipe through originals, select and delete multiple images, or save images to Photos. REDISCOVER WHAT MATTERS Recommendations surface valuable and actionable saves. Monster Radio can read the original text or the AI-organized version aloud. YOUR MODEL, YOUR CHOICE Use supported compatible model providers. API keys are kept in the device Keychain. Without AI configuration, Collection Monster still works as a local-first reading and collection library. Also includes duplicate-link detection, Trash, iPad layouts, native experiences for Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, plus optional iCloud sync. Saving is only the beginning. Make every item easy to revisit and ready for your next action. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Minus 54 screens
Collection Monster4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Minus 5 at 5.0 against Collection Monster's 4.3. Minus 5 also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3). Collection Monster's advantage is ratings volume (9 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Collection Monster sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Minus 5 asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Minus 5 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Collection Monster has 9 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Minus 5 ships an update every 6 days, Collection Monster every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Minus 5 versus Collection Monster: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMinus 5Collection Monster
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.3 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews—92.6% of reviews
Number of ratings19 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVictor Florian鑫 宋

Customer experience

Minus 5

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Collection Monster

All ratings9 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews27 reviews
Positive92.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.4%

In-app purchases

None

Minus 5

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Collection Monster

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly PRO$0.991 Month
  • Annual PRO$4.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime PRO$19.99

Questions

Is Minus 5 free?
Minus 5 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Collection Monster free?
Collection Monster is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Minus 5 or Collection Monster?
Minus 5 is rated higher. Minus 5 averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Collection Monster averages 4.3 from 9 ratings.
Do Minus 5 or Collection Monster have ads?
Neither Minus 5 nor Collection Monster shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Minus 5 or Collection Monster?
Minus 5 ships an update every 6 days, and Collection Monster every 5 days. Most recently, Minus 5 was updated on October 9, 2026 and Collection Monster on October 20, 2026.

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