CogniLog vs ZenNotes

CogniLog is a work log for anything worth remembering. It captures the story behind your work: the decisions, the dead ends, and the reasoning you would otherwise forget. Whether your days are made of code, meetings, deliverables, chapters, or experiments, you write it down once and get it back whenever you need it. The work log your AI can read. CogniLog's macOS version comes with a built-in connection (an MCP server) that lets an AI assistant you already use, like Claude, read your log and answer questions about your own work, even entries authored in the iOS version. Ask what you were doing last week, or why you made a call three months ago. Your assistant can even add entries of its own, so the two of you share one space that you both write to and read from. Write the way you already write. Entries are plain text with light Markdown, and they format as you type. Headings become headings, code becomes code. Drop in a #tag and CogniLog files it for you, and channels keep each project or context separate. No forms, no fields, just the log. See the year, drill to the moment. Capture is only half the job. The Almanac turns your log into a map. Scan whole months at a glance, hover any day for a summary of what happened, and drill from the year down to a single entry. Come back from a busy week, or a week away, and pick the thread back up. Built native, and it feels it. A real Mac app and a real iPhone app, not a website in a wrapper. Log from your Mac while you work, or catch a thought on your phone while you wait in line. Capture meets you where you are, from the menu bar to the lock screen widget, with optional daily and streak reminders. Yours, and only yours. No new accounts and no servers of ours. Your log stays on your devices and syncs through your own iCloud when you want it everywhere. Using the macOS version bring your history in from apps like Apple Notes, Day One, Obsidian, and Bear, or any Markdown files, viewing it on your iOS device; and take it all back out as plain Markdown any time. No lock-in, no ads, no tracking. Currently free. Everything in the app is free right now. If that ever changes, it won't change for the people already here. CogniLog is made by Rivet and Rune, a small studio building native tools and experiences.

ZenNotes is a local-first markdown notes app for writing, organizing, and connecting ideas without giving up ownership of your files. YOUR NOTES, YOUR FILES Every note is a plain .md file in a vault you control. Start with storage on your iPhone or iPad, use iCloud Drive, or open a folder through the system document picker. Local and iCloud vaults work without an account. ZENNOTES CLOUD Connect an optional ZenNotes Cloud plan to: • Sync a vault across ZenNotes desktop and mobile • Sync notes and attachments • Create manual and automatic daily backups • Restore a full vault or a single note from a backup • Publish notes to the web and manage their public links Cloud never replaces the free local-first workflow. Use it only when you want hosted sync, backup, or publishing. WRITE IN MARKDOWN Use a focused editor with headings, lists, tasks, tables, code, links, wikilinks, tags, callouts, footnotes, and frontmatter. A mobile formatting bar keeps common actions close to the keyboard, and a pinch resizes the text to your eyes. RICH, OFFLINE PREVIEW Render KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, JSXGraph, function plots, tables, callouts, and more directly on your device. ORGANIZE YOUR WAY Pin your go-to notes and folders to the top, swipe rows to act on them, create and rename nested folders, browse tags, search the full vault, manage tasks, create periodic notes, and work with table databases stored as CSV. CAPTURE QUICKLY Create a quick note from the app or send text and links to ZenNotes from the iOS share sheet. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS Start a note, open a recent one, or check today's tasks without opening the app. New Note also lives on the Lock Screen, and the widgets wear your theme. PRIVACY BY DEFAULT ZenNotes has no advertising or tracking. Local and iCloud notes stay in the storage you choose. When you enable ZenNotes Cloud, the account identity, connected-device information, and vault content needed for the Cloud features you use are sent to the ZenNotes service. Payment details are handled by Stripe. ZenNotes is open source. Your vault remains useful outside the app because it is made of ordinary files.