Comparison

Folio vs Branchnote

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

Head to head
About

Folio

Features
Read full description

Folio brings your calendar and your meeting notes together in one app. Open Folio and you see your day: your meetings, synced from your calendar, each one ready for notes. Tap a meeting, start writing. No folders to organise, no hunting for that thing you wrote three Tuesdays ago — every note lives with the meeting it came from. TYPE OR DRAW • Type your notes, or draw and handwrite them — beautifully at home with Apple Pencil on iPad • Choose paper styles that suit the way you take notes • Organise notes into notebooks when you want structure LET AI DO THE BORING PART Powered by Apple Intelligence, entirely on your device: • Summaries — the TL;DR of any meeting in seconds • Meeting minutes — decisions and actions, properly formatted • Follow-up emails — a ready-to-send recap drafted from your notes • Action items — captured automatically the moment you stop writing YOUR NOTES FOLLOW YOU • iCloud sync keeps iPhone and iPad in step — through your own private iCloud, never our servers • Export action items to Apple Reminders • Search everything, instantly PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your notes never leave your devices. AI runs on-device with Apple Intelligence — nothing is sent to the cloud for processing, and we collect no data at all. ONE PRICE, NO SUBSCRIPTION Try everything free for 14 days, then a single one-time purchase of $5.99 unlocks Folio forever. No subscription, ever. AI features require Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro or later, or iPad with M1 or later). Note-taking works on any supported device.

About

Branchnote

Organize your thoughts with a unique branching system, where each topic has its own container. Write and format notes using Markdown, with a convenient toolbar for easy styling. Secure your notes with a passcode or biometrics, and easily back them up.

Highlights
  • Organize notes by topic branches
  • Markdown formatting with toolbar
  • Full-text search with highlighted excerpts
  • Passcode and biometric lock
  • Notes backup and restore functionality
Features
Read full description

Branchnote is a notes app organized around branches — named containers, one per topic, with every note living in exactly one of them. Branches can hold sub-branches, as many levels deep as you like. Every branch is its own feed. Type at the top to add a note, and pin one to keep it at the top of the branch. No account needed. Open the app and start writing. ORGANIZE BY TOPIC Make a branch for work, recipes, reading, half-formed ideas — whatever you actually keep notes about. Add sub-branches to any branch, like Recipes/Desserts/Cookies. Move a note, or a whole branch with everything in it, whenever something ends up in the wrong place. WRITE IN MARKDOWN Headings, bold, italics, and links that render as cards. Bullet, numbered, and checkbox lists, nested up to four levels, with checkboxes you can tick right in the note. Formatting renders as you type, and a toolbar above the keyboard applies any of it without having to remember the syntax. FIND ANYTHING Full-text search across every note, ranked by relevance, with matching excerpts pulled out and your search terms highlighted in the results. LOCK IT Set a passcode and Branchnote locks every time you return to it. Unlock with your passcode, or with biometrics if your device supports it. Your notes stay covered in the app switcher. BACK IT UP Copy your notes into a single file and save it wherever you like, then restore it whenever you need to.

Screenshots

Folio4 screens
Branchnote4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Branchnote at none against Folio's 1. Branchnote also leads on iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.2). Folio's advantage is update cadence (daily vs weekly). 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. Folio sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Branchnote asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Folio ships an update daily, Branchnote weekly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 6 level
Folio versus Branchnote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFolioBranchnote
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—4 — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.216.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB39 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperARUBAI ARAINBranchnote LLC

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Folio

One-time1
  • Folio Full Access$5.99
None

Branchnote

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Folio free?
Folio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Branchnote free?
Branchnote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Folio or Branchnote have ads?
Neither Folio nor Branchnote shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Folio or Branchnote?
Folio ships an update daily, and Branchnote weekly. Most recently, Folio was updated on October 24, 2026 and Branchnote on October 24, 2026.

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