Comparison

NoteGarden vs FiveLeaf

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

Head to head
About

NoteGarden

Easily capture your day with mood icons, photos, and short notes. Revisit past moments through a calendar view, photo timeline, and "On This Day" memories. Secure your entries with app lock and sync across devices via iCloud.

Highlights
  • Mood tracking with icons
  • Photo and short note entries
  • Calendar and timeline views
  • Search and favorites
  • iCloud sync
  • App lock security
  • 30-day trash recovery
Features
Read full description

NoteGarden is a gentle journaling app that lets you quickly save today’s mood, photos, and notes, then look back on them later. It is designed to feel lighter than a traditional diary, while keeping your records safely stored. Choose your mood, add photos, and write a short note — your entry is saved automatically. [ Key Features of NoteGarden ] Record today in under a minute • Quickly choose today’s mood with 10 mood icons • Add photos and notes to simply capture your day • Write notes neatly line by line with bullet lists • Organize entries more easily with tags • Keep your writing safe with automatic saving Look back with calendar and timeline views • Review past entries with daily moods and previews • Browse older records more easily with monthly section headers • Jump quickly to a specific year when you have entries across multiple years • See the time written and whether an entry was edited • Find the records you need with favorites and search • Revisit memories from the same date with the “On This Day” card Photo timeline • View photos added to your entries by date • Look back on past moments in chronological order from the Photos tab • Keep photos safely stored together with your records Reflect on your records with statistics • View your records by This Month, Last Month, This Year, Last Year, or All Time • Check record count, photo count, character count, and average character count • See your mood distribution at a glance with a donut chart • Track your journaling habit with your writing streak Safe backup and sync • Continue viewing your records and photos across devices with iCloud sync • Keep a single backup file with file export and import • Protect your private records with app lock • Restore deleted entries from the 30-day trash NoteGarden is made for people who find it hard to write a long diary every day. A mood, a photo, and a short note can be enough to remember your day. Save today in a small way, and quietly return to it later.

About

FiveLeaf

Capture your day in just five letters and a single photo or short video. This app offers a unique way to journal, with entries that can be edited until noon the next day. It prioritizes privacy with no accounts, ads, or social features, allowing you to send messages to your future self.

Highlights
  • Daily entries limited to five letters
  • Add one photo or 5-second video per day
  • Edit entries until noon the next day
  • Entries locked after noon
  • Optional Face ID lock for entries
  • Send messages to your future self
  • No account or sign-in required
Features
Read full description

Keep your day in five letters. You do not have to write much. Five letters are enough to hold on to today. It takes five seconds, and those five seconds become the most precious thing five years from now. ■ Five letters · One entry a day, five letters only · Written late at night? You can still fix it until noon the next day · After that it stays as the words of that day ■ One frame of today · Add a single photo or a five-second video · The original stays untouched — film filters are laid on when you look · The color of the day, the place and the weather are quietly noted with it ■ It changes as it piles up · A month flows down the screen like a strip of film · Locked entries — cover a day you would rather not show with Face ID · Send a day to your future self and let it come back later ■ Quiet principles · No account. There is no sign-in screen · Entries stay on this device, and you export a backup whenever you want · No ads, no friends, no likes FiveLeaf Plus Unlocks every film filter, the widgets, icon and paper choices, the yearly Mood palette, Years — the same date across many years in one column, Monthly Film, and letters you write to your future self. Choose monthly, yearly, or a one-time lifetime purchase. The yearly plan starts with a 14-day free trial. Subscriptions are charged to your App Store account and renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. You can cancel any time in Settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://letsean.dev/fiveleaf/privacy/

Screenshots

NoteGarden4 screens
FiveLeaf4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: NoteGarden at free against FiveLeaf's freemium. NoteGarden also leads on iOS requirement (16.1 vs 26.0). FiveLeaf's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 8 days). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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. NoteGarden sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and FiveLeaf sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

NoteGarden ships an update every 8 days, FiveLeaf every 2 days. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 5 level
NoteGarden versus FiveLeaf: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNoteGardenFiveLeaf
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Update frequencyEvery 8 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChanGyu KangSUNHO CHOI

Customer experience

NoteGarden

Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

FiveLeaf

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

NoteGarden

One-time1
  • NoteGarden Pro Lifetime$1.99
3 purchases

FiveLeaf

Subscriptions2
  • Plus Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Plus Yearly7 Days trial$12.991 Year
One-time1
  • Plus Lifetime$59.99

Questions

Is NoteGarden free?
NoteGarden is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is FiveLeaf free?
FiveLeaf is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do NoteGarden or FiveLeaf have ads?
Neither NoteGarden nor FiveLeaf shows ads.
Which is updated more often, NoteGarden or FiveLeaf?
NoteGarden ships an update every 8 days, and FiveLeaf every 2 days. Most recently, NoteGarden was updated on October 31, 2026 and FiveLeaf on October 31, 2026.

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