Comparison

Bulletlist vs Thoughtree

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

Head to head
About

Bulletlist

Features
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Bulletlist is an outliner. One list, nested as deep as your thinking goes, and nothing else in the way. Every line is a bullet. Press Return for the next one, Tab to move it under the one above, and keep going. Zoom into any bullet to make it the whole screen, then walk back out through the trail at the top โ€” so a long outline is read a room at a time instead of all at once. Built for keyboards Bulletlist takes the shortcuts you already know from the outliners you have used before, without inventing new ones. Move a bullet with Shift-Command-Up. Complete it with Command-Return. Jump to any bullet by name with Command-K. Press Command-/ for the whole list, in the app, grouped by what it applies to. Built for thumbs too Swipe a row to indent it. Long-press to pick it up and drop it anywhere, at any level. The editing bar rides the top of the keyboard instead of hiding under it, and the back gesture goes back through the bullets you zoomed into. Yours, and readable without us Your outline lives in your own storage under your own account. Google Analytics measures how the app is used โ€” screens opened, and counts of bullets added, completed and moved โ€” and never receives a bullet, a note or a search. There is no advertising identifier, nothing sold, and no third party watching you type. Export the whole thing as an OPML file whenever you like, and it opens in any outliner. Works offline The app is on your device, not in a browser tab. Write on a plane and it syncs when you land. Edits made on two devices are merged rather than one overwriting the other. Nine colour schemes Light and dark are separate from which colours those two words mean. Paper is ours; the other eight are Solarized, Gruvbox, Everforest, Stone, Dracula, Catppuccin, Nord and GitHub, each with both of its halves, for people who already know which one they want. Sign in with your email address and a code. There is no password to invent and none to lose.

About

Thoughtree

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A mind map for brainstorming, planning, and organizing your thoughts on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It opens your .itmz files as they are. Thoughtree is built in Swift for Apple devices. Get your thoughts out, shape them into branches, and pick up the same map on any device. CAPTURE Add child and sibling topics in a keystroke and keep typing. Start a title with an emoji and it becomes the topic's icon. ORGANIZE Drag branches into place, reorder in the outline, and collapse a whole map to a display level (1โ€“9). Add Markdown notes, relationship lines, boundaries, callouts, images, and tasks. BRING YOUR MAPS WITH YOU Open your .itmz files and keep working on them, topics, notes, and images included. Also imports OPML, Markdown, FreeMind, XMind, CSV, plain text, and browser bookmarks. ANY DEVICE Maps sync through your own iCloud Drive across Mac, iPhone, and iPad. No account, no sign-in. SHARE Export PNG, PDF, and plain text, or print (with a small watermark in Lite). FREE IN THOUGHTREE LITE Unlimited maps, all editing, iCloud sync, every import format, the built-in library of 313 images, two themes (Sapling and Aurora), and the "Create Mind Map" and "Open Mind Map" shortcuts. MORE WITH THOUGHTREE PRO - All 12 themes - Search across every map, plus Spotlight and the "Search Mind Maps" shortcut - Watermark-free PNG / PDF export and printing, plus Markdown and OPML export - Quick Entry: paste an outline and expand it into branches in one step - Edit task attributes and conditional formatting - Home Screen widgets for your recent maps (iPhone and iPad) PURCHASING Choose a one-time Lifetime purchase or an auto-renewing yearly plan. There's no monthly plan. One purchase works on every iPhone, iPad, and Mac signed in with the same Apple ID. The yearly plan renews automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and payment is charged to your Apple ID. Manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. REQUIREMENTS - Mac: macOS 13 or later - iPhone / iPad: iOS 16 or later Terms of Use: https://thoughtree.nijizo.dev/terms-of-service Privacy Policy: https://thoughtree.nijizo.dev/privacy-policy

Screenshots

Bulletlist4 screens
Thoughtree4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Bulletlist at none against Thoughtree's 2. Bulletlist also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 days). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Thoughtree sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per year. Bulletlist asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bulletlist ships an update every 2 days, Thoughtree every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
Bulletlist versus Thoughtree: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBulletlistThoughtree
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 days โ€” betterEvery 3 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo โ€” betterYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 โ€” better16.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size10 MB66 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNozemans Software PTE LTDNIJIZO

In-app purchases

None

Bulletlist

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Thoughtree

Subscriptions1
  • Pro Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Thoughtree Pro (Lifetime)$29.99

Questions

Is Bulletlist free?
Bulletlist is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Thoughtree free?
Thoughtree is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Bulletlist or Thoughtree have ads?
Neither Bulletlist nor Thoughtree shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bulletlist or Thoughtree?
Bulletlist ships an update every 2 days, and Thoughtree every 3 days. Most recently, Bulletlist was updated on October 25, 2026 and Thoughtree on October 25, 2026.

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