Comparison

Vault Notes vs Mena

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

Head to head
About

Vault Notes

Features
Read full description

Vault Notes is a private notes app built on plain Markdown. Your notes are real .md files stored locally, (and with Pro, in your own Google Drive), not rows in a database we control. We run no servers and never see what you write. WRITE WITHOUT FRICTION Live Markdown editing. Headings, bold, and checklists render as you type. Daily notes are one tap away, so journaling and quick capture stay fast. Banners, callouts, code blocks, footnotes, highlights, and LaTeX math. Paste a link and get a clean preview card. Rename the title to whatever you want. Attach images, PDFs, and GIFs. Read PDFs a page at a time. YOURS, ORGANIZED Folders and subfolders, pinned notes, instant search. Connect notes with [[wikilinks]], or embed one note inside another. Chain notes like chapters with Previous / Next follow-ups. Canvas boards when you need to think spatially. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Public View hides your private notes and images, either on a schedule or with one tap. Hand your phone to someone and don't worry about it. Mark any note or folder Private. Blur the images you'd rather not show. No analytics. No tracking. Nothing phones home. MAKE IT YOURS Features are plugins, so toggle math, callouts, timelines, and image styling as you like. Accent colors that follow you across devices. Apple Pencil sketch notes on iPad. VAULT PRO (optional subscription) Two-way sync between iPhone, iPad, and desktop, all through your own Google Drive. Version history and attachment sync included. Your notes move through your cloud. We never host or read them. Vault Notes is built by one person who uses it every day, and it shows. Download it, write something in it, see if it fits.

About

Mena

Features
Read full description

Private visual notes for iPad. Build mind maps on an infinite canvas, study with FSRS flashcards, and sync through your private iCloud storage โ€” no account required. Mena is an infinite canvas and visual second brain for iPad. Sketch ideas, build mind maps, embed media, and turn any board into spaced-repetition flashcards you actually review โ€” no account required. INFINITE CANVAS Pan, zoom, and draw with no page limits. Pastel sticky notes, shapes and connectors for mind maps and flowcharts, frames, tables, and 19 polygon shapes. Apple Pencil support with Draw to Shape โ€” sketch a rough shape and Mena snaps it perfect. EVERY KIND OF CONTENT Drop anything onto your board: sticky notes, rich text and Markdown, code blocks with syntax highlighting, images, PDFs with full page navigation, video, audio files, and live maps. Record voice memos directly on the canvas โ€” ink drawn during recording is seekable by playback time. Web embeds and URL preview cards keep sources right where you need them. PAPER TEMPLATES Note pages come in blank, lined, dotted, and grid. Change one page or every blank page at once, and choose auto, light, or dark paper independently of your system theme. The same page renders identically in the reader, sidebar, overview grid, library thumbnail, and exported PDF. STUDY WITH FSRS Turn any deck board into spaced-repetition flashcards. Mena uses FSRS โ€” the most accurate scheduling algorithm available โ€” to surface cards exactly when you need them. Again / Hard / Good / Easy grading with interval preview. Cloze deletion with one tap. Auto-generate flashcards from your notes on-device, no network needed. STUDY DASHBOARD Track your streak, retention rate, and 14-day due forecast. See today's review count at a glance. ANKI COMPATIBLE Import any .apkg file directly. Mena imports your cards, scheduling data, embedded images, and cloze deletions. Export any deck back as .apkg and study it in Anki on any device. SLIDES & PRESENTATION Draw a frame around anything and it becomes a slide. Open the filmstrip panel, jump to any slide, present full-screen, or export the whole deck as a crisp PDF. 6 BOARD TYPES Board โ€” infinite whiteboard. Note โ€” vertical scroll page. Journal โ€” one auto-created page per day. Atlas โ€” a spatial map of all your boards. Collection โ€” a live saved query across all boards. Deck โ€” FSRS study deck with review session. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS 4 widget types for home screen and lock screen: New Board (one-tap creation), Board Preview (live thumbnail of any board), Today's Study (due count, streak, retention), and Deck (per-deck stats). All fully configurable. SHARE FROM ANYWHERE A share extension catches text, links, images, PDFs, and videos from any other app โ€” tap Share โ†’ Mena, pick a board, done. PRIVATE iCLOUD SYNC Every board, element, and attachment syncs across your Apple devices through your private iCloud CloudKit database. No Mena account. No third-party cloud server stores your Mena content. Flashcard generation runs on-device. Optional web embeds and Unsplash search connect only when you choose to use them. Mena fits how your brain actually works โ€” capture, connect, and remember. FREE & PRO Free covers 3 boards, 3 notes, 3 documents and 5 decks; journals and system boards are never limited. Mena Pro lifts every limit โ€” Pro Monthly and Pro Yearly renew automatically, Pro Lifetime is a one-time purchase. Prices appear in the app before you buy, and you can restore purchases at any time. Privacy Policy: https://apps.cihat.dev/mena/privacy-policy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Vault Notes4 screens
Mena4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Mena at every 3 days against Vault Notes's every 6 days. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Vault Notes sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Mena sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Vault Notes ships an update every 6 days, Mena every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
Vault Notes versus Mena: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVault NotesMena
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysEvery 3 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.0 โ€” better18.6
Further details โ€” not scored
Size17 MB48 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAndre SchoolmanCihat Salik

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Vault Notes

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Yearly$49.991 Year
3 purchases

Mena

Subscriptions2
  • Mena Pro - Monthly$3.991 Month
  • Mena Pro - Yearly$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Mena Pro - Lifetime$79.99

Questions

Is Vault Notes free?
Vault Notes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mena free?
Mena is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Vault Notes or Mena have ads?
Neither Vault Notes nor Mena shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Vault Notes or Mena?
Vault Notes ships an update every 6 days, and Mena every 3 days. Most recently, Vault Notes was updated on October 6, 2026 and Mena on September 28, 2026.

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