Transom Note vs Minimal | Notes
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Transom Note
Capture, tag, and organize your writing ideas effortlessly. This app helps writers keep track of every thought, project, and tag, making it easy to retrieve them when inspiration strikes. Export your notes in various formats for seamless integration into your writing workflow.
- Capture and tag ideas
- Organize thoughts by project
- Search by tag or project
- Archive or delete notes
- Export notes as PDF, CSV, or rich-text
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Made for writers, by writers, Transom lets you capture and tag every little scrap of an idea so that you can easily find it whenever you're ready to write — without having to fumble through emails-to-self, messy notebooks, and clunky multi-purpose apps. How it works: create a Thought to add it to your Transom notes. Easily add Tags and file it under a Project. When it's time to sit down and write, all those brilliant little gems will be right at your fingertips (and not buried in that old notebook — no, the other one. Or was it in an email?). Search by Tag, Project name, or use simple keyword search. Once you've used a Thought, archive or delete it to declutter your list. And if you want to copy your Thoughts to something long-form, export a custom list of Thoughts as PDF, CSV, rich-text file. Questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you: help@wearetransom.com.
Minimal | Notes
This app offers a distraction-free writing environment inspired by meditation. It features collaborative writing, note expiration, and the ability to publish notes as websites. Organize tasks with integrated to-do lists and sync across all your Apple devices.
- Note Lifetime reminders
- Collaborative writing
- Publish notes as websites
- Todo lists sync with Calendar
- Beautiful formatting
- Sync across Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
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Write with focus. Open your mind with Minimal, a meditation-inspired notes and writing app. Minimal combines thoughtful, modern design with powerful features to deliver a spacious, beautiful writing environment. • Note Lifetime • Collaborative writing • Publish notes as websites • Add Todos to the Calendar app • Beautiful formatting • Sync everywhere: Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch Minimal is a simple yet powerful notes app. Inspired by meditation, nature, and architectural design, Minimal provides a beautiful space to think, write, and organize projects. NOTE LIFETIME The Note Lifetime keeps your notebook fresh and reflective of the present moment. When a note goes unedited for a duration you choose in settings, you’ll be gently notified. This is an opportunity to review the note, act on it, or let it go. COLLABORATIVE WRITING Share notes with friends, family, and teammates. With a gentle design, writing remains focused and tranquil, even as thoughts merge and ideas multiply. Everyone receives changes as notes evolve, and multiple people can make edits at the same time without conflict. FOCUSED + SPACIOUS DESIGN Minimal is designed so only one element is ever in focus. We love the beauty of a blank page – abundant empty space allows for an ease of creative expression. PUBLISH AS WEBSITE Transform notes into beautifully-formatted websites in microseconds. TODO LISTS Todo lists are an effective way to organize projects and complete tasks. Sync with the Calendar app, get things done, and check everything off. BEAUTIFUL FORMATTING Minimal combines Markdown-style formatting with elegant typography. The result is simple, expressive notes that make it easy to think and write. SYNC EVERYWHERE Bring focus to your favorite devices. Minimal is designed for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Cloud Sync is fast, reliable, and invisible. SHARE, EXPORT, IMPORT You’re in control of your notes. Share directly in iMessage, export as PDF or HTML, and use the system share mechanism to take notes anywhere. Importing links + prose into Minimal is just as easy. CUSTOMIZE EVERYTHING The best notebook is personal. We made everything in Minimal customizable, from fonts + themes to sorting notes + note actions. You can also build custom workflows using the Shortcuts app. A LITTLE GIFT Wow, thanks for reading. As a little gift for tuning in, these are our favorite musicians -> Somi, Snarky Puppy, and London Grammar. They’re jazzy and introspective, just how we like it. Enjoy. —— For help, write us at team@minimal.app or on Twitter at @minimalnotesapp. To learn about our terms + approach to privacy, visit https://minimal.app/terms. We offer a long free trial and make cancellation easy. After that, Minimal costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. These prices are in USD and may vary by region. Cancel in your iTunes account settings at least 24 hours before renewal.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Transom Note at free with in-app purchases against Minimal | Notes's subscription. Transom Note also leads on iOS requirement (12.1 vs 17.0). Minimal | Notes's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (81% vs 70%). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Transom Note sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Minimal | Notes sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Transom Note against 4.7 for Minimal | Notes. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 82 and 296 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Transom Note's written reviews are positive against 81% of Minimal | Notes's.
Transom Note ships an update every 3 months, Minimal | Notes monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Transom Note | Minimal | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (82 ratings) | 4.7 (296 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 69.8% of reviews | 81.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 82 | 296 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 59 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | VoidMedia | Timeless |
Customer experience
Transom Note
Minimal | Notes
User reviews
Transom Note
From 82 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Beautifully simple interface
- ✍️ Indispensable for writers
- 💡 Great for organizing thoughts
- 🚀 Easy to use and capture ideas
- ✅ Helpful for multiple projects
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 📉 Data loss after updates
- 🔒 Login required for data access
- 🗄️ Older versions preferred by some
- 🚫 Lacks export options
Minimal | Notes
From 296 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent note-taking app
- 👍 Beautiful and simple design
- 🚀 Seamless syncing across devices
- 👍 Customizable appearance and formatting
- 🚀 Responsive and helpful developer
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
- 🔒 Lack of password protection or locking for notes
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
Bugs and requests
Transom Note
Reported bugs
12 issues- App crashes while writing
- App crashes when holding on a tag
- App crashes when adding emojis
- App crashes upon opening after updates
- Notes doubled up after login
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- Unable to change associated email/password
- Notes not saving
- App crashes immediately on startup
- All notes disappeared
- New update made app inaccessible
- App crashes on 9.3.2
- App won't open, flashes back to home screen
Requested features
16 requests- Add image support
- Word count per day display
- More font choices
- Emoji support
- Assign tags to projects
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- Set category for tags
- Dark mode
- Filter by multiple tags
- Export in text/document format
- Add photos to places and pin to map
- Change work title
- Group notes/books
- Add 'Idea' section within projects
- Add new categories of notes to a project
- Settings menu functionality
- Working feedback link
Minimal | Notes
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when using certain formatting or pasting content
- Syncing issues between iOS and macOS versions
- Incompatibility with older macOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Add ability to insert images or attachments
- Improve iCloud sync reliability
- Implement a folder-based organization system
- Add a word/character count feature
In-app purchases
Transom Note
- Prompt Credit$0.99
Minimal | Notes
- Minimal Monthly14 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Minimal Annual14 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Minimal Family Plan14 Days trial$79.991 Year
Questions
Is Transom Note free?
Is Minimal | Notes free?
Which has better reviews, Transom Note or Minimal | Notes?
Do Transom Note or Minimal | Notes have ads?
Which is updated more often, Transom Note or Minimal | Notes?
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