Comparison

Menu Bar Notes vs Recto Notes

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

Head to head
About

Menu Bar Notes

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Easily reach into your menubar to quickly jot down a thought or reference, edit it on your synced iPhone and iPad app with your private iCloud keeping every device in step. No accounts or signups are needed and no data is collected. I always wanted a simple tool like this and I hope someone else finds it useful. On Mac, it sits in your menu bar. Click the icon or press ⌄⌘N from any app to open your notes, and click the icon again or press Esc to put them away. On iPhone and iPad, it's a clean, touch-first editor that stays out of your way. Markdown Style Blocks Every note is built from blocks: text, headings, collapsible toggles, to-dos with checkboxes, and code. Type shortcuts like "# ", "> ", or "[] " at the start of a line and the block transforms as you write. Toggles nest without limit, so a quick list can grow into a real outline. Browser Style Tabs Notes are tabs. Switch with ⌘1ā€“āŒ˜9, open a new note with ⌘T, close one with ⌘W. Privately Sync over iCloud- No Account Needed iCloud sync keeps iPhone, iPad, and Mac in step automatically. No account to create, no subscription — your notes live in your personal, private iCloud. Forgiving By Design Deleted notes and blocks go to the Trash, where they can be restored for 30 days. FEATURES • Block editor: text, Heading 1 and 2, toggles, to-dos, and code • Markdown-style shortcuts for instant block transforms • Collapsible toggle blocks with unlimited nesting • Duplicate any block along with its children • Menu bar quick capture on Mac, with a global ⌄⌘N (Option-Command-N) hotkey • Tabbed notes with full keyboard navigation on Mac • iCloud sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac • 30-day Trash with restore • No accounts, no tracking, no data collection Menu Notes stores your notes on your device and syncs them through your own private iCloud database. We can't read them, and we wouldn't want to.

About

Recto Notes

Features
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For years I kept separate apps: one for writing, one for reminders and to-do's. They never talked to each other. The idea lived in the notes app, the deadline in the to-do app, and I lived somewhere in between. So I built Recto. All on the same page. You just write a note and if you give a task a date with '@', that task automatically becomes part of your neatly organised Task Center. You work inside a note, focused on a single project. As ideas turn into things that need doing, you capture them right there and give them a date, without breaking your train of thought. The plan grows out of the writing instead of living apart from it. Recto - Inline tasks with dates, captured without leaving the note - Task Center: overdue, today, tomorrow, this week, next week - Native iOS, fast and quiet Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internetservices/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Menu Bar Notes4 screens
Recto Notes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Recto Notes at every 11 days against Menu Bar Notes's monthly. Menu Bar Notes's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 27.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Menu Bar Notes ships an update monthly, Recto Notes every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on September 15, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
Menu Bar Notes versus Recto Notes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMenu Bar NotesRecto Notes
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 11 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, Mac, Apple Watch
Requires iOS17.0 — better27.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB5 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperOlamide OjumuThijs Kremers

In-app purchases

None

Menu Bar Notes

No in-app purchases

None

Recto Notes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Menu Bar Notes free?
Menu Bar Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Recto Notes free?
Recto Notes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Menu Bar Notes or Recto Notes have ads?
Neither Menu Bar Notes nor Recto Notes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Menu Bar Notes or Recto Notes?
Menu Bar Notes ships an update monthly, and Recto Notes every 11 days. Most recently, Menu Bar Notes was updated on September 15, 2026 and Recto Notes on September 19, 2026.

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