FlatNote vs Quirepad
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
FlatNote
This app allows you to create and organize notes using markdown formatting. It offers live formatting, image support, and robust organization features. Your notes are stored as plain files and sync via iCloud across your Apple devices.
- Live markdown formatting
- Image embedding in notes
- Folder organization and pinning
- Real checkboxes
- In-note search
- Cross-device iCloud sync
- Plain .md file export
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FlatNote is a markdown notes app for people who want their writing to stay plain, portable, and theirs. It runs on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and your notes sync across all of them through your own iCloud, or stay in a folder you choose. Type markdown and watch it format as you go. Headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, links, quotes, bullet lists, and tappable checkboxes all render while you write. The raw symbols stay out of your way and reappear only on the line you are editing, so you always know exactly what you typed. WHAT YOU GET - Live formatting. See the result as you type, with a one minute reference note included. - Photos in your notes. Paste an image or attach one; it is saved next to the note as an ordinary file, not in a database. - Folders, pins, and sorting. Organize notes into real directories and keep the ones you use on top. - Real checkboxes. Tap to check things off, right in the note. - Find in a note. Search the open note and jump between highlighted matches. - Quick formatting. A formatting bar above the keyboard on iPhone and iPad, and standard shortcuts on Mac. - Find your notes fast. Search the whole library by title or content. YOUR WORDS BELONG TO YOU - Every note is a plain .md file. No proprietary format, no lock-in, readable in any app, on any device, years from now. - Your notes live in your iCloud and sync across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac automatically, signed in with your Apple ID. No separate account to make. - Export carries everything. Share any note as markdown, with its pictures included, or export your whole library as one zip of ordinary files. The files are also right there in the Files app on iOS and Finder on Mac. - Delete is honest. Deleted notes go to Trash, where they can be recovered. QUIET BY DESIGN - No ads. No tracking. No analytics. Nothing about you leaves your devices and your iCloud. - Works on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, in light and dark. FlatNote keeps the format simple so you can keep your thinking clear.
Quirepad
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Quirepad is a small, focused tool for anyone who copies text from the web more than once at a time, built specifically for how you actually read on iPhone and iPad. The problem it solves: you are reading a long article, a research paper, or documentation, and you need three or four separate pieces of text, not the whole page. Selecting with your finger cannot skip the lines in between. And copying one piece, pasting it, then scrolling back for the next one breaks your reading flow every single time, especially on a smaller screen. Quirepad fixes this. Turn it on, and every piece of text you select gets added to a small floating box right on the page. Keep reading. Switch tabs. Select more. When you are done, tap Copy All and everything you gathered is merged into your clipboard, ready to paste anywhere, grouped by the page it came from. HOW IT WORKS -Tap the Quirepad icon in Safari to arm it. A small badge confirms it is active. -Select any text on any page. A small + button appears, tap it, and the text is added to the box. -Switch tabs or pages freely. Quirepad keeps collecting across all of them, and groups snippets by source with a clear divider. -Made a mistake? Delete any single snippet, or copy just one, right from the box. Nothing is final until you say so. -Tap Copy All to merge everything into your clipboard as one clean block of text, ready to paste into your notes, your document, or an email. BUILT FOR HOW YOU ACTUALLY READ Quirepad works the same way on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so the habit carries over wherever you are reading. Most tools like this only exist on Chrome and only on desktop. Quirepad was built Safari first, with real support for how much harder it is to copy multiple pieces of text on a phone. Turn on Keep Formatting to preserve bold, italics, and links when you paste into a rich text document. Turn on Include Sources to automatically add the page title and link above each group of snippets, useful for citations and research notes. PRIVACY Everything Quirepad collects stays on your device. There is no account, no analytics, no tracking, and nothing is ever sent anywhere. Your reading and your notes are yours. Quirepad is a quiet, purpose-built tool. It does one thing, and it tries to do it well.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Quirepad at every 9 days against FlatNote's every 2 months. Quirepad also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
FlatNote ships an update every 2 months, Quirepad every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | FlatNote | Quirepad |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kate Benediktsson | Saurabh Mishra |
In-app purchases
FlatNote
No in-app purchases
Quirepad
No in-app purchases









