Comparison

FoldNotes vs NotesMD

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

Head to head
About

FoldNotes

Organize long notes by collapsing completed sections, allowing you to focus on current tasks. This app uses plain Markdown files stored in iCloud Drive or locally, ensuring your data is accessible and future-proof. It offers robust Markdown support, task management, and powerful search capabilities.

Highlights
  • Collapse any heading or list item
  • Hoist sections for focused work
  • Live Markdown styling
  • GFM tables with editor
  • Code blocks with syntax highlighting
  • Wiki-links with previews
  • Task management with four states
  • Search with regular expressions
Features
Read full description

Some notes are short. Others grow into chapters, plans and running logs you scroll past a hundred times. FoldNotes lets you fold the finished parts away, so a long note stays as small as the part you are actually working on. Every note is a plain Markdown file. No database, no proprietary format, no export step. Your notes sit in iCloud Drive or on your device, and any other app can open them, today or in ten years. It is also a real iOS app, written in Swift. Not a web page in a wrapper. It opens instantly, works offline, handles a hardware keyboard properly, and does not sit in the background eating your battery. FOLD ANYTHING • Collapse any heading or list item and everything beneath it folds away • Hoist a section to work on it alone, with everything else out of sight • Task counts stay on the folded heading, so you can see what is left without unfolding WRITTEN FOR MARKDOWN • Live styling as you type — headings, lists, quotes, code, links • Six heading levels, and GFM tables with a real table editor • Code blocks with syntax highlighting • Wiki-links [[like this]], with previews and automatic backlinks • Nested tags TASKS WHERE YOU WROTE THEM • Four states: to do, in progress, done and cancelled • Due dates and priorities written inline, in plain text • Assign them to a project and add context and comments • Counts roll up to the section above them BUILT FOR IPAD • Library, notes and editor side by side • Hardware keyboard shortcuts throughout • An inspector with outline, tasks, references, properties and a note graph • Scan printed text straight into a note with the camera FIND ANYTHING • Search every note, including regular expressions • Saved queries and database views across your whole collection • Daily notes with a calendar COMING FROM ANOTHER APP • Import from Bear or Obsidian in a tap • Or simply point FoldNotes at the Markdown files you already have MAKE IT YOURS • Light and dark themes, including Nord, Dracula and Catppuccin • Choose your body, heading and code fonts • Paragraph focus, sentence focus and typewriter scrolling Folding is not a formatting trick. A long document asks you to hold every section in your head at once; folding lets you put the finished ones down. That is the whole idea, and everything else here is built around it. Your notes will outlive this app, and every app like it. That is rather the point.

About

NotesMD

Features
Read full description

THE PROBLEM Writing notes is easy. Keeping them organized takes work. NotesMD makes your notes available as Markdown (.md) files in a folder you choose on Mac. Use your preferred AI tool to edit and organize those files, or use built-in Apple Intelligence to edit notes and organize them into folders. WHY EXISTING SOLUTIONS FAIL Many note-taking apps keep your notes inside the app instead of giving you a folder of Markdown files to work with. And sync that relies on iCloud Drive can be blocked on company computers. THE SOLUTION NotesMD lets you edit and organize your Markdown notes with an AI tool of your choice or built-in Apple Intelligence. iCloud sync uses CloudKit, without relying on iCloud Drive. It can work on company computers where iCloud Drive is blocked. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

FoldNotes4 screens
NotesMD4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FoldNotes at none against NotesMD's 2. FoldNotes also leads on iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.6). On price, update cadence, 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. NotesMD sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.00 per month. FoldNotes asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
FoldNotes versus NotesMD: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFoldNotesNotesMD
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 daysEvery 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.0 — better26.6
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB12 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFoldsoft Pty LtdSeung-Un Ham

In-app purchases

None

FoldNotes

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

NotesMD

Subscriptions2
  • NotesMD Pro — Monthly1 Month trial$2.001 Month
  • NotesMD Pro — Yearly1 Month trial$20.001 Year

Questions

Is FoldNotes free?
FoldNotes is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is NotesMD free?
NotesMD is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do FoldNotes or NotesMD have ads?
Neither FoldNotes nor NotesMD shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FoldNotes or NotesMD?
FoldNotes ships an update every 3 days, and NotesMD every 3 days. Most recently, FoldNotes was updated on November 10, 2026 and NotesMD on November 6, 2026.

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