# Mindscope vs Deer

The clearest difference is rating: Deer at 4.8 against Mindscope's 4.0. Deer also leads on review sentiment (89% vs 81%). Mindscope's advantage is ratings volume (46 vs 6). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Mindscope sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Deer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Deer holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mindscope has 46 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 81% of Mindscope's written reviews are positive against 89% of Deer's.

Mindscope ships an update every 2 weeks, Deer every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Mindscope | Deer |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.0 (46 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mindscope-thought-organizer/id901513028/reviews) | **[4.8 (6 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/deer-note-outline-mindmap/id1509262785/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **46** | 6 |
| Positive reviews | 80.7% of reviews | **88.9% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | **Every 9 days** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 27 MB | 11 MB |
| Requires iOS | **14.0** | 15 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [John Goering](https://appshunter.io/developer/507507566) | [佳文 潘](https://appshunter.io/developer/1312631799) |

## What reviewers say

### Mindscope

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/mindscope-thought-organizer/id901513028)

Organize your thoughts and ideas with a powerful yet simple outliner. Create nested boards, sort entries, and export your work. Unlock advanced features like search and cross-linking with an in-app purchase.

**Highlights:** Create and drag text entries, Nested sub-boards, Sort thoughts into categories, Export as bullet list, Import .mindscope files, In-app purchase for advanced features

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Unlock Everything | $3.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Intuitive and easy-to-learn interface
- 💡 Unique hybrid of mind-mapping, outliner, and note-taking
- 🎯 Excellent for organizing thoughts without clutter
- ⚡ Fast and responsive performance
- 💰 Affordable one-time purchase ($5)

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
- 📱 Poor iPad optimization and crashes
- ⚠️ Text overlapping in free version
- 🔄 Sync issues across multiple devices
- 📵 Limited iCloud functionality and hanging

**Reported bugs**

- App crashes when adding entries
- Text input box disappears before typing
- Crashes on iPad with iOS 15 upgrade
- iCloud access causes app to hang indefinitely
- Crashes when exporting to plain text

**Requested features**

- Image and photo insertion capability
- Apple Pencil handwriting support
- Text formatting (bold, colors, font options)
- Infinite or larger canvas with zoom
- iPhone app version


### Deer

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/deer-note-outline-mindmap/id1509262785)

This app offers structured note-taking with features to reorder lines, convert notes to outlines, and generate mind maps. It helps organize complex information and newly learned knowledge points for clearer understanding.

**Highlights:** Freely reorder notes by line, One-click outline conversion, One-click mind map generation, Drag and drop paragraph reordering, Clearer structure visualization

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Subscription Monthly | $0.99 | per month |
| Subscription Yearly | $5.99 | per year |
| Lifetime VIP | $9.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Mindscope free?

Mindscope is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Deer free?

Deer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Mindscope or Deer?

Deer is rated higher. Mindscope averages 4.0 out of 5 from 46 ratings, while Deer averages 4.8 from 6 ratings.

### Do Mindscope or Deer have ads?

Neither Mindscope nor Deer shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Mindscope or Deer?

Mindscope ships an update every 2 weeks, and Deer every 9 days. Most recently, Mindscope was updated on October 6, 2026 and Deer on September 22, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*