Comparison

TheBrain vs Supernotes

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

Head to head
About

TheBrain

This app helps you capture, connect, and visualize all your ideas, notes, and files across devices. It acts as a digital memory, showing related items and allowing for dynamic mind mapping and powerful search to help you recall information instantly.

Highlights
  • Award-winning visualization
  • Networked notes with backlinks
  • Dynamic mind mapping
  • Easy idea capture
  • Cross-device sync
  • Powerful search
  • Visual file management
Features
Read full description

YOUR DIGITAL MEMORY. VISUALIZED. TheBrain is the unique knowledge app that helps you capture everything — ideas, notes, web pages, files, photos — and connect it all the way you naturally think. Stop hunting through folders, tabs, and search bars. Start seeing your knowledge as a living network you can navigate with a tap. Described by the Wall Street Journal as "Software that thinks like you do" and MacLife as "the most compelling mind mapping adaptation we've encountered." Winner of KMWorld's Trendsetting Products award. WHY THEBRAIN? Traditional notes apps trap your ideas in folders, tags, or endless lists. TheBrain lets every piece of information connect to anything else — so the right idea finds you the moment you need it. It's note-taking, mind mapping, file management, and AI rolled into one beautiful experience that works the same on every device. KEY FEATURES CEREBRO — TALK TO YOUR BRAIN WITH AI Our built-in agentic AI assistant. Ask Cerebro anything — and let it create new thoughts and notes, surface exactly what you need, summarize long documents, suggest meaningful links, or just have a conversation about what you know. It can do anything you can do — only faster. DYNAMIC THOUGHT NETWORK Move beyond conventional mind maps and folders. TheBrain's animated visualization shows your ideas, their context, and the relationships between them — at any scale. Tap a thought, and the entire network reorganizes around it. NETWORKED NOTES Rich notes shown in context with automatic backlinks and concept discovery. Hybrid WYSIWYG + Markdown writing, powerful tables, resizable images, math, and folding — all the modern editor essentials. EVERYTHING IN ONE PLACE Attach web pages, PDFs, photos, and documents to any thought. Link people, projects, files, and ideas in a single living workspace. POWERFUL SEARCH Find any note, file, web page, or idea in seconds. Every match appears in the context of your thought network, so you instantly see how it relates to everything else you know. SEAMLESS SYNC ACROSS DEVICES Your brain is always with you. Mobile, Mac, Windows, Linux, and web stay in sync — even with large brains. Smart Sync downloads attachments on demand, keeping your brain fast and lightweight on every device. INFINITE SCALE Effortlessly handles hundreds of thousands of items and many gigabytes of data — without slowing down. COLLABORATE AND SHARE Publish your brain online for the world, or sync thoughts privately with your team. Great for shared knowledge bases, project planning, and team research. ==================================== WAYS TO USE THEBRAIN • Build your second brain — a living reflection of how you think, ready when you need it. • Manage everything in your life: projects, people, goals, files, and ideas in one place. • Capture interesting articles, videos, and references so they're activated when you need them. • Organize trips, travel, and major life events with all the right context at hand. • Power your research — go deeper on any concept and see how it connects to everything else. • Turn goals into action by linking them with the resources needed to achieve them. • Build a knowledge base that sparks new ideas and breakthroughs. • Link people, projects, and information for a smarter view of your business. • Create topic brains around your passions, hobbies, and special interests. • Plan personal projects like home renovations, weddings, or major purchases. GET STARTED IN MINUTES Start with a single thought — your name, a project, an idea you want to explore. Add a few connections. Within minutes you'll understand why people have trusted TheBrain for over two decades. For the best experience, install TheBrain on your phone, tablet, and computer. Our iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, and other mobile clients all sync seamlessly — your best thinking is always with you.

About

Supernotes

Organize your thoughts and ideas with a fast, lightweight note-taking app. Create visually rich notecards with Markdown and LaTeX support, enhanced by AI writing assistance. Build interconnected knowledge networks and share them seamlessly.

Highlights
  • Shareable Markdown notecards
  • AI writing assistance
  • Bi-directional card linking
  • 2D/3D graph visualization
  • Spaced repetition flashcards
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Offline support
Features
Read full description

Free your thoughts with Supernotes, the fast, lightweight notes app. Write beautiful notecards that are perfect for personal, work, and educational use – all your ideas, meeting, and lecture notes at your fingertips. CREATE NOTECARDS THAT POP Tired of scrolling up and down long notes? Break down your ideas with Supernotes notecards – keeping you organized. Add colors, tasks, bold, italics, lists, equations, images, code snippets, and more. Want more? Connect a bluetooth keyboard, and harness the full extent of our Markdown and LaTeX editor. POWER UP WITH AI Try our thoughtful approach to AI. We call them Superpowers that help automate arduous tasks, such as tagging your cards, as well as train you to become a better writer, highlighting grammatical errors and offering rewording suggestions. ORGANIZE YOUR KNOWLEDGE Categorize your notecards using tags, reference popular cards with card links, and pop related notecards inside a parent card to build a network of interconnected knowledge. Multi-select, and edit notes in bulk, in the Table layout. Visualize your notes in both 2D and 3D graph layouts, helping you discover existing and new connections. Build your dream Zettelkasten system. REMEMBER WHERE YOU WROTE THEM Only on Supernotes, view all your notecards on a geographic Map. Opt-in to location sharing to automatically assign locations to notes when you create them to see where you had the most inspiring ideas or the most meetings! Or manually assign locations for trips, restaurant recommendations and more. BUILT-IN SPACED REPETITION Jump into Flashcard layout to instantly learn any of your notecards. Using our FSRS algorithm, cram your notes before an exam or learn them at a relaxed pace. We will show which notecards are due at the right times so you can learn as efficiently as possible. SHARE WITH FRIENDS Stop taking screenshots of notes – just share a notecard to generate a secure link. That note will be instantly accessible to anyone (even if they don't have Supernotes)! Add friends, classmates, or teammates on Supernotes to instantly share new notecards with each other, and see each other's cursors editing in real time. ON ALL YOUR DEVICES, OFFLINE OR ONLINE Pick up where you left off with our iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps. Keep taking notes wherever you are, even if your connection drops, with seamless offline support. FEATURE COMPLETE - Universal Search & Filters - Markdown / LaTeX Editor - Bi-directional Card Links - Calendar Heatmap - Assign Dates to Notes - Four Day & Night Themes - Share to Supernotes Extension - Export to Markdown, JSON & PNG - Keyboard Shortcuts - 24/7 Customer Support FREE FOR LIGHTWEIGHT USE Discover everything Supernotes has to offer with our generous free Starter plan; explore all the features and earn 100s cards. Or upgrade to the Unlimited plan for unlimited cards, feature previews, and more. Prices may differ depending on your location, and subscriptions will be charged to your App Store payment method. Your subscription will automatically renew and you may cancel at any time. Privacy Policy: https://supernotes.app/privacy Terms & Conditions: https://supernotes.app/terms

Screenshots

TheBrain4 screens
Supernotes4 screens

Verdict

The call

TheBrain and Supernotes both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 91% of Supernotes's written reviews are positive against 44% of TheBrain's. On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. TheBrain sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $17.99 per month and Supernotes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $11.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for TheBrain against 4.8 for Supernotes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 150 and 122 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 44% of TheBrain's written reviews are positive against 91% of Supernotes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
TheBrain versus Supernotes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTheBrainSupernotes
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (150 ratings)4.8 (122 ratings)
Positive reviews44.0% of reviews90.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings150 — better122
Update frequencyMonthlyMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size240 MB106 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTheBrain Technologies LPSupernotes

Customer experience

TheBrain

All ratings150 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral0.7%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews175 reviews
Positive44.0%
Neutral13.7%
Negative42.3%

Supernotes

All ratings122 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral0.8%
Negative3.3%
Written reviews53 reviews
Positive90.6%
Neutral1.9%
Negative7.5%

User reviews

TheBrain

From 150 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Seamless navigation
  • 🔒 Secure cloud sync
  • 👍 Intuitive interface
  • 🚀 Powerful features
  • 👍 Excellent for knowledge management

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🐛 Buggy on iOS 9
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🐛 Limited functionality on mobile
  • 🐛 Confusing UI and navigation

Supernotes

From 122 App Store ratings

What we love

  • ✨ Beautiful design and UI
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient
  • 👍 Easy to use and intuitive
  • 🧠 Powerful organization system
  • 💡 Unique card-based concept

Room to improve

  • 🤔 Learning curve for some
  • ⚠️ Limited initial note space
  • 🎛️ Lacks advanced features for some users
  • 📱 No iOS widgets
  • 🔄 Cumbersome tagging for some

Bugs and requests

TheBrain

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Crashes on iOS 9
  • Inability to open brains
  • Freezing after each action
  • Login and account issues
  • Sync problems

Requested features

7 requests
  • Offline mode
  • Improved mobile UI and UX
  • Better integration with other apps
  • More affordable pricing options
  • Enhanced search and filtering
Show 2 more
  • Split-screen support on iPad
  • Handwriting and stylus support

Supernotes

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Blank white screen on app/web browser
  • App doesn't work on iOS 15.4.1

Requested features

6 requests
  • iOS widgets for home and lock screens
  • Alert for note space limit and prompt to edit/continue as journal entry
  • Better image and video viewing
  • Control center button
  • Split screen functionality
Show 1 more
  • Ability to create groups or collections of notes

In-app purchases

2 purchases

TheBrain

Subscriptions2
  • TheBrain Pro Monthly$17.991 Month
  • TheBrain Pro Annual$189.991 Year
3 purchases

Supernotes

Subscriptions3
  • Supernotes Unlimited (1 Month)$11.001 Month
  • Supernotes Unlimited (Promo)7 Days trial$69.001 Year
  • Supernotes Unlimited (1 Year)$99.001 Year

Questions

Is TheBrain free?
TheBrain is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Supernotes free?
Supernotes is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, TheBrain or Supernotes?
TheBrain and Supernotes are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 150 and 122 ratings respectively.
Do TheBrain or Supernotes have ads?
Neither TheBrain nor Supernotes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, TheBrain or Supernotes?
TheBrain ships an update monthly, and Supernotes monthly. Most recently, TheBrain was updated on October 13, 2026 and Supernotes on October 14, 2026.

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