Comparison

neboola vs Cairn

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

Head to head
About

neboola

Read full description

Having the idea was never the hard part. neboola is the easiest place to catch a thought — and the only one you'll actually want to look at. Catch ideas the moment they land, shape them at your own pace, and turn the ones worth keeping into a real project. CAPTURE NOW Get it down in one tap. No folder to choose, no fields to fill. Catch the thought now; make sense of it later. SHAPE IT LATER Your raw thoughts wait in your orbit — out of your head and out of your way. When you're ready, shape the ones that matter into groups and give the idea its form. Capturing and organizing are two different moments; neboola never makes you do both at once. WATCH IT BECOME A PROJECT Break an idea into notes, gather them into groups, and turn the ones you need to act on into tasks. Flag the thoughts worth remembering as highlights. A fuzzy idea becomes something with edges — something you can actually start. GIVE IT STAGES Big ideas don't finish in one list. Gather notes into a milestone and give your idea its stages: each one fills as you finish what's inside it, then moves to your Archive when it's done. What's in front of you is always what's still ahead. SEE YOUR IDEAS MOVE Open neboola and your ideas are right there. The ones you're working glow bright and sit close at hand; the ones you've drifted from dim to quiet embers. Your whole mind at a glance — what's burning, what's resting, nothing lost. SAFE IN ICLOUD Your ideas are backed up to your private iCloud account and sync across your devices. Nothing to set up. — neboola is free for 14 days, then continues as a monthly or annual auto-renewable subscription. It renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends — manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://neboola.app/en/terms/

About

Cairn

Manage tasks and notes directly within your existing Markdown files. This app offers focused views, quick capture, and robust task management features, all while keeping your data private and locally stored. It integrates seamlessly with Obsidian and other file sync services.

Highlights
  • Native Markdown task and note management
  • Works with Obsidian vaults or any folder
  • Quick capture with date, tag, and priority parsing
  • Multiple task views (Today, Upcoming, Inbox, Pool)
  • Full support for sub-tasks and recurring tasks
  • Local reminders and Live Activity integration
  • Data stays local, no cloud sync required
Read full description

Cairn is a fast, native task and note companion that lives on top of the Markdown files you already own. Point it at your Obsidian vault — or any folder of Markdown notes — and your tasks and notes appear in clean, focused views. Everything you do in Cairn is written straight back to your files as plain text, in the Obsidian Tasks format. YOUR NOTES STAY YOURS • No account, no sign-up, no Cairn cloud database — your tasks live in your own files • Cairn does not send your notes or tasks to the developer • Careful, patch-based edits change only the content you touched, preserving the rest of your note • Works alongside Obsidian, iCloud Drive, Git, or any sync you already use CAPTURE, BROWSE, AND PLAN • Browse and edit Markdown notes directly in your vault • Quick capture into your daily note, with date, tag, and priority tokens parsed as you type • Choose where longer captures are saved • Today, Upcoming, Inbox, and Pool views, plus a global filter for folders, tags, dates, priority, and status • Full support for sub-tasks and task hierarchies • Recurring tasks in Obsidian Tasks format, with safe completion handling • Convert upcoming calendar events into tasks, or mirror your dated tasks into a calendar you choose (optional) STAY ON TRACK • Local reminders for due tasks — including sunrise-relative reminders computed entirely on your device • A Live Activity keeps today's progress on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island • Home Screen widgets and a Control Center quick-capture control • Search across every task in your vault MADE FOR OBSIDIAN — NOT ONLY OBSIDIAN Cairn reads and writes the Obsidian Tasks plugin format (due, scheduled, start, and done dates, priorities, recurrence, tags), so your vault stays fully compatible with your desktop setup. Don't use Obsidian? Create a plain task folder in the Files app and Cairn works as a stand-alone Markdown to-do app. Cairn asks for access only to the folder you pick. Calendar access and location (used to compute local sunrise times) are optional and processed on your device. If you choose iCloud Drive or another Files or calendar provider, that provider's own sync and privacy terms apply.

Screenshots

neboola4 screens
Cairn4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cairn at none against neboola's 2. Cairn also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads 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. neboola sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Cairn asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

neboola ships an update every 2 months, Cairn every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
neboola versus Cairn: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterneboolaCairn
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSuperPug 3000 LLCYoung Hun JEONG

In-app purchases

2 purchases

neboola

Subscriptions2
  • Neboola Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Neboola Yearly$9.991 Year
None

Cairn

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is neboola free?
neboola is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cairn free?
Cairn is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do neboola or Cairn have ads?
Neither neboola nor Cairn shows ads.
Which is updated more often, neboola or Cairn?
neboola ships an update every 2 months, and Cairn every 6 days. Most recently, neboola was updated on October 16, 2026 and Cairn on October 17, 2026.

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