Comparison

Note vs Alcove

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

Head to head
About

Note

Organize your thoughts and to-dos in one app. Create rich notes with embedded media and tasks, set reminders, and manage projects with flexible layouts. Offers advanced features like AI assistance and privacy controls.

Highlights
  • Rich text editing with media embedding
  • Tasks with due dates and reminders
  • Folders, tags, and smart filters
  • Multiple view layouts (list, agenda, calendar, Kanban)
  • Focus mode for distraction-free work
  • Privacy Vault and note locking
  • AI-powered summarization and task extraction
Features
Read full description

Note-Due brings your notes and tasks together. Write a note, add tasks inside it, set due dates, and get reminded — all without switching apps. NOTES THAT DO MORE Rich text with bold, italic, highlights, checklists, and code blocks. Attach photos, scan documents, record voice memos, and embed video. Draw with Apple Pencil or your finger — handwriting can be recognised and converted to typed text. While you write or scroll, toolbars slide away so your words get the whole screen. TASKS BUILT INTO YOUR NOTES Create tasks inside any note, or add standalone tasks. Set due dates, priorities, and reminders. Quick Add understands natural language — type "call James tomorrow at 9am high priority" and Note-Due does the rest. Block tasks behind other tasks to map real dependencies. POWERFUL ORGANISATION Folders, subfolders, tags, and smart filters keep everything findable. Switch between Today, Upcoming, Overdue, All, and Inbox, and between list, agenda, calendar, and kanban layouts. Snooze tasks, pin notes, and search everything instantly. The Trash keeps deleted items until you're sure. INBOX AND FOCUS MODE Capture first, schedule later: tasks without a date land in your Inbox. When it's time to work, Focus Mode shows only today's tasks in a distraction-free view. SIRI, SHORTCUTS & SPOTLIGHT Add tasks, check what's overdue, or complete something with your voice or the Shortcuts app. Find notes and tasks from Spotlight search. BUILT FOR EVERY SCREEN Designed for iPhone, iPad, and iPhone Duo. On iPad, see your notes list beside the open note, or open any note in its own window with Stage Manager. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Your data lives on your device. No accounts, no servers, no tracking. Optional iCloud sync keeps your Apple devices up to date using your personal iCloud — we never see it. ——— UNLOCK NOTE-DUE PRO — $9.99 ONCE, NO SUBSCRIPTION Apple Intelligence Extract tasks from a note, summarise long notes, and rewrite selected text in any style — all on-device. Your previous version is saved before every AI rewrite. Privacy Vault & Note Locking Hide folders behind Face ID in the Vault, lock individual notes, or require Face ID every time you open the app. Version History Every note is versioned automatically. Browse and restore any earlier draft. Power Tasks Recurring tasks (daily, weekdays, weekly, monthly, yearly), subtasks, dependencies, and Apple Calendar sync. Advanced Notifications Morning daily digest, second reminders, quiet hours, custom lead times, lock-screen snooze, and custom sounds. Export & Import Export notes as PDF or HTML, or your whole library as a Markdown ZIP. Import Markdown and text notes from Bear, Obsidian, or Apple Notes, and tasks from Apple Reminders. Projects & Time Tracking Group notes and tasks into projects with live progress and due dates. Add time estimates to tasks and track real time with a built-in timer. PDF Annotation & Tables Draw on PDF attachments with Apple Pencil, saved per page. Insert editable grid tables into any note. Smart Scheduling Smart Schedule checks your task load and suggests the least-busy day and time. Kanban Board Manage tasks across To Do, In Progress, and Done, and drag cards between columns.

About

Alcove

Features
Read full description

Alcove is a calm to-do list, daily planner and notes app in one place. Capture tasks in plain words, plan your week on a calendar, keep notes that do the maths, and move work along on kanban boards. Tick tasks off from a widget, and find the same lists on your Mac, kept in step by your own iCloud. TYPE IT THE WAY YOU'D SAY IT Write "Call mum Friday 6pm" or "Stand-up every weekday 9:30 15m /Work" and Alcove picks out the day, time, length, repeat, priority, list and tags as you type. On the Mac, press Option-Space from any app to add a task. SPEAK YOUR TASKS Say everything on your mind at once. Alcove turns it into separate tasks, each with its date, time and list. PLAN YOUR DAY AND WEEK • Today, Upcoming and a calendar with an hour grid and an all-day row • Drag a task to a new time or day • Repeating tasks for any rhythm: every few days, weeks, months or years, chosen weekdays, or counted from when you finished REMINDERS AS LOUD AS THE TASK Pick quiet, a notification, or an alarm. On iPhone with iOS 26, an alarm rings through silent mode and Focus, with Stop and Snooze. Mark a task done right from its reminder. NOTES THAT DO THE MATHS Headings, checklists, code, quotes and tables, written with Markdown shortcuts. End a line with = and it's worked out, and tables add up their own totals. Paste a checklist or table from another app and it arrives as one. Turn any checklist line into a task. KANBAN BOARDS Lay tasks out in To do, Doing and Done, or columns of your own. Tasks stay in their lists and in Today, and a card dropped in Done is finished everywhere. WIDGETS, SIRI AND SHORTCUTS • Widgets for the Home Screen, Lock Screen and Mac desktop, with tasks you can tick without opening the app • Controls for Control Center and the Lock Screen • Siri adds tasks, reads out your day and takes notes • Shortcuts actions for your own automations MADE FOR THE MAC A menu bar list with a live count, a main window with a sidebar of every list, board and note, floating windows that stay on top, and keyboard shortcuts throughout. AI assistants can work with your tasks too, but only once you turn them on, only with the permissions you approve, and every call is logged. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account to create, no ads and no tracking. Your tasks and notes sync through your own iCloud. Progress shows what you finished against what you added, worked out on your device, with no streaks and no scores. AND THE DETAILS • 100 steps of undo, and six months of history for every task • Search across tasks, notes, tags and attachments • Lists with colours and icons, folders and tags • Six accents and five papers, in light and dark ONE PURCHASE, NO SUBSCRIPTION Download free and try everything for 14 days, starting whenever you're ready. Then a single purchase unlocks Alcove for good on your Mac, iPhone and iPad, and Family Sharing includes your family. If you don't unlock, your tasks and notes stay readable and exportable, and nothing is deleted. Privacy Policy: https://alcovetasks.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Note4 screens
Alcove4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Alcove at 17.4 against Note's 26.0. On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Note sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Alcove sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Note versus Alcove: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNoteAlcove
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size12 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJames RocheMuhammed Basil E

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Note

One-time1
  • Note-Due Pro$9.99
2 purchases

Alcove

One-time2
  • 14-day TrialFree
  • Alcove Unlock$29.99

Questions

Is Note free?
Note is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Alcove free?
Alcove is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Note or Alcove have ads?
Neither Note nor Alcove shows ads.

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