NoteBox vs Zavala
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NoteBox
This app offers a streamlined note-taking experience with quick input, powerful text editing, and seamless syncing across devices. Easily organize, search, and share your notes with extensive integration options.
- Quick note input from various sources
- Disturbance-free text editing with advanced formatting
- Fast iCloud syncing across iOS devices
- Extensive sharing options to numerous apps
- In-note text search and Google/Wikipedia integration
- Support for external keyboards and VoiceOver
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NoteBox is a superb productivity-boosting tool with compact design, fast input, smooth experience, ease to share, fast syncing, and excellent extensions and widgets with full support for VoiceOver. You will definitely love this note-taking app. Download now! NoteBox can help you: Quick Input - Type immediately after starting the app to jot down your inspirations -Quickly add new notes with handy drop-down feature or universal “+”button - Swiftly save notes from Notification Center or Share Sheet - Long press on “add” button to import text files from all cloud drive storage as notes - Easy input with an external keyboard and shortcut keys Text Editing - Focused and swift note-taking with disturbance-free interface - Swipe side-to-side to move screen cursor when typing - Pinch to zoom and adjust the font size - Convert selected texts into numbered or bulleted lists - Type “-,” “+,”“*,”or numbers and “.” with space key before each line for automatic list creation of the next line - iPhone’s horizontal typing mode available - Scroll down the textbox to display character count Saving, Syncing and Searching - Virtually unlimited storage capacity for text-based notes - Quick syncing with other iOS devices through iCloud - Remember keywords you have searched for notes before - In-note text search - Google or Wikipedia searching with selected note text Easy to Share - Effortless note delivery to dozens of apps or services* - Customizable shortcuts: one touch for note delivery or double-tap for sharing of listed notes - Select multiple notes to bulk process, e.g. changing folders, merging, and exporting to Evernote - Share partially selected texts - Customize the apps of your choice to use for URLs, dates, and addresses in the notes More -Single-handed use, e.g. side-to-side swiping in the tool bar to change the folder - Managing notes with Getting Things Done (GTD) system or to-do list - Automatic switch to night mode in dim environment to reduce eye strain --- Please support indie developers and decide what you want to pay. Pay What You Want Pricing for the first time! We have spent hundreds of hours developing NoteBox, which has become an indispensable tool for many users. We believe you will also find it useful. Instead of asking for the money, we prefer letting you download and use the full version for free (with the only restriction on note-saving capacity). You can decide what you want to pay with your own judgment. --- * Apps and services NoteBox supports: - Tightly integrated with Dropbox, Evernote - Note-taking apps: 1Writer, Bear, ByWord, Day One, Drafts, Simplenote, Ulysses, UpWord, Write ... - To-do list or calendar apps: reminders, Clear, Due, Fantastical, OmniFocus, The Hit List, Things, Todoist -Social media apps: Buffer, Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Tumblr, LINE, Whatsapp, WordPress, SinaWeibo, TencentWeibo More app news and information: http://twitter.com/getnotebox If you like NoteBox, we appreciate your comments and ratings. We also welcome your feedback. Please write to: elaborapp@gmail.com, and follow us on Twitter @getnotebox --- An Elaborated App, Made with Love in Taipei by Elaborapp
Zavala
This app offers a modern approach to outlining, providing a full suite of features. It supports gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and multiple windows for efficient organization and content creation. Easily import and export in various formats, sync across devices, and customize your outlining experience.
- OPML Import & Export
- Markdown Export
- iCloud Syncing & Sharing
- Nested Tags
- Image Embedding
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Drag and Drop
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Zavala is a modern take on a traditional outliner. It is a full featured app. It takes full advantage of your device by leveraging gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and multiple windows. Other features: * OPML import & export * Markdown import & export * HTML import & export * iCloud syncing * iCloud sharing with other iCloud users * Encrypted outlines and encrypted iCloud sync * Nested Tags for organizing Outlines * Support for embedding images * Print support * Drag and drop * Text formatting * Links * Completed items * Notes * Customizable fonts and sizes * Backlinks * Shortcuts support * Web clipper share extension * Typewriter scrolling * Automatic row numbering including Decimal and Legal numbering
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Zavala at none against NoteBox's 10. Zavala also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and ratings volume (67 vs 10). NoteBox's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.0). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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
Both are free to download. NoteBox sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Zavala asks for nothing beyond the download.
Zavala holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zavala has 67 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 90% of NoteBox's written reviews are positive against 88% of Zavala's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
NoteBox ships an update monthly, Zavala every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on June 10, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NoteBox | Zavala |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (10 ratings) | 4.8 (67 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 89.8% of reviews — better | 87.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 10 | 67 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 25 MB | 18 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Elaborapp | Vincode, Inc |
Customer experience
NoteBox
Zavala
In-app purchases
NoteBox
- Tip$0.99
- Unlock note capacity limit$1.99
- Tip$1.99
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- Unlock note capacity limit$2.99
- Unlock note capacity limit$3.99
- Unlock note capacity limit$4.99
- Tip$4.99
- Unlock note capacity limit$5.99
- Unlock note capacity limit$6.99
- Unlock note capacity limit$7.99
Zavala
No in-app purchases








