markru vs Ariv

Markdown notes are easy to write — and easy to forget. markru is built for what comes after writing: shelving, binding, and rereading your own notes like books. (Some features — tag suggestions, summaries — use Apple Intelligence on supported devices.) YOUR NOTES, SHELVED LIKE BOOKS Promote finished notes from drafts to your bookshelf. Browse by shelf, search, and sort by what you read last. BIND NOTES INTO ONE READABLE BOOK Combine related pages into one book. Reorder pages, add new ones, and read them as a single piece — or unbind anytime. WRITE IN CLEAN MARKDOWN A focused editor with live preview and a formatting bar for headings, lists, checklists, tables, code, and more. Some writing helpers — tag suggestions, formatting, and summaries — are partly powered by Apple Intelligence, right on your device. Note: These AI-assisted features require a supported device and OS version. Where Apple Intelligence isn't available, they simply fall back to manual entry — everything else in the app still works, and no note content is ever sent to an external server. CAPTURE IDEAS IN SECONDS Quick Capture works like a paper memo: jot it down, the title can come later. Import .md and .txt files, or send text from any app with the share sheet. KEEP YOUR SHELVES IN ORDER See your note, shelf, and book counts at a glance. Clean up, compress, or bind notes as your library grows. PICK UP RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT OFF markru remembers your reading progress in every book, so returning to your notes feels like reopening one. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account required. Your notes live as plain Markdown files on your device or in iCloud Documents — never on our servers. Write lightly. Reread deeply.

Ariv is a local-first second brain for notes, tasks, journaling, study, projects, and personal knowledge management. Capture ideas, organize work, search your vault, ask questions about your notes, and keep your thinking connected without building a complicated plugin setup. Everything is built in: - Markdown notes and daily writing - Smart dashboard for active work - Tasks and Kanban - Quick capture - Voice memos with transcription - Ask Brain, an AI assistant for your notes - Calendar-aware planning and meeting context - Graph view and visual maps - Templates and presentation mode - Unified search across files, tags, and content Ariv is designed around a simple idea: your notes have a life. New thoughts land in your inbox. Active notes stay visible while you are working on them. Older notes move out of the way but stay searchable, linkable, and ready to resurface when you need them. No manual filing system required. No weekend spent setting up plugins. Open the app and start thinking. Your files stay yours: - Notes are stored as plain Markdown - Works with existing Markdown folders and vaults - No proprietary format - No account required to use the local app - Optional end-to-end encrypted sync is available AI is optional and on your terms. Use your own API key, run supported local models, or use Ariv's managed AI add-on. Ask Brain can answer questions from your vault and point back to the notes it used. Whether you are a student, writer, researcher, developer, founder, or lifelong learner, Ariv gives you one place to capture, connect, and use what you know. Think freely. No setup required.