Comparison

Notebook vs Private Notes.

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

Head to head
About

Notebook

Capture your thoughts, ideas, and tasks with a versatile digital notebook. Create rich notes with text, files, audio, and video. Organize content visually, collaborate in real-time, and access everything across your devices.

Highlights
  • Rich note creation with text, files, audio, and video
  • Checklist creation for task management
  • Bookmark collection and offline reading
  • Kanban-style note organization
  • Real-time collaboration and sharing
  • AI-powered journaling suggestions
  • Cross-device and cloud synchronization
Features
Read full description

Zoho Notebook is a free, ad-free note-taking app for students, teams and researchers: capture, find and reuse what you write down — typed notes, Apple Pencil handwriting, voice recordings with AI transcription, checklists, files and document scans in one note. Syncs across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and other devices. WHAT PEOPLE USE NOTEBOOK FOR 1. MEETING AND LECTURE NOTES Record with audio or video cards; Notebook AI turns it into searchable text with timestamps, so you jump straight to the decision instead of replaying it. Structured minutes with title, participants, decisions and action points sit in the note beside your highlights. Record screen and self at once; longer videos get chapters. 2. STUDY AND RESEARCH Record lectures and search the transcript weeks later. Scan textbooks and business cards, handwrite and sketch with Apple Pencil, use OCR to find text inside photos and handwritten notes, so nothing you captured becomes unfindable. A long note becomes an AI mind map before an exam. 3. DAILY TO-DOS AND JOURNALING Dedicated checklist cards keep tasks beside your notes, and recurring reminders keep them on schedule. Journaling prompts come from your own activity, easier to keep than a blank page. 4. FILES, SCANS, AND SAVED READING Add PDFs, Word docs and spreadsheets with file cards. Articles, videos, recipes and how-tos become Smart Cards, formatted automatically, readable offline and ad-free. Group it all into nested collections. QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK Is it free? Yes, with 2GB of free storage and no ads. Notebook Pro adds more storage, longer notes, larger attachments, Email-In to save emails as notes, premium covers, and custom recurring reminders. Can I move my notes from Evernote, Google Keep, or OneNote? Yes, with dedicated migration tools; it arrives organized. Is my data private? Notes are encrypted in transit and at rest. We never sell your data and never show ads. Lock notes or notebooks with a password, Touch ID or Face ID; previews stay hidden until unlocked. Does it work offline? Yes. Create, edit and read offline, then pick up on another device once it syncs to the cloud. What can Notebook AI do? Transcribe audio and video, build mind maps, summarize and simplify, fix grammar, set tone (casual, professional, friendly, direct, or confident), translate into any language, draft notes, checklists, tables, code or a template from a prompt, and suggest tags. Notebook AI is a separate add-on. Does it use on-device AI and Siri? Yes. An on-device Knowledge Graph links ideas across notebooks and answers questions from your own notes. Siri creates and updates notes by voice with the app closed, and On-Screen Awareness summarizes what's on screen without switching apps. Can I share with non-users? Yes. @mention people to collaborate in real time, or publish a public note or video by link. MORE INSIDE - Search by title, content, tag, collaborator, or notebook; filter by any card type, contact, or link; search within one note; sort by date or relevance, with auto-suggestions and recent searches, offline and across languages - iPhone: text-search audio notes, share via iMessage, dictate with Siri, recent notes from the Notification Bar, SharePlay in calls - iPad: drag and drop, split view, slide over, multiple windows, Stage Manager - Apple Watch: record audio, scribble notes, check off lists, add photo notes, record in one tap from a watch face complication - VoiceOver and a dark interface - Roll back to any of a note's last 10 versions Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled and are charged to your Apple Account. Prices vary by location. Manage in your account settings. Privacy - https://www.zoho.com/privacy.html Terms - https://www.zoho.com/terms.html

About

Private Notes.

Securely store your personal thoughts, ideas, and text with a passcode or biometric authentication. This app offers intuitive text editing tools and a straightforward interface for organizing timestamped notes.

Highlights
  • Biometric and passcode security
  • Intuitive copy/paste/cut
  • Text formatting (underline, bold, italic)
  • Timestamped notes
  • Straightforward user interface
Features
Read full description

Have personal notes you would like to keep secret? Look no further. With this app you can safely secure personal thoughts, ideas or any text with with Apple’s touch/Face ID or a passcode. FEATURES: -Intuitive copy/paste/cut functions are at your disposal. -Underline, embolden or change any word in italic. -Straight forward user interface allows you to quickly organize your timestamped notes.

Screenshots

Notebook4 screens
Private Notes.3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Notebook at 65% against Private Notes.'s 14%. Notebook also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 2 months). Private Notes.'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 8) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). On price and device support 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. Notebook sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month. Private Notes. asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Notebook ships an update every 6 days, Private Notes. every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and August 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Notebook versus Private Notes.: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotebookPrivate Notes.
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (24K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews64.6% of reviews — better14.3% of reviews
Number of ratings24K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size220 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZoho CorporationWALABOK LLC

Customer experience

Notebook

All ratings23,853 ratings
Positive93.2%
Neutral3.1%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews604 reviews
Positive64.6%
Neutral10.6%
Negative24.8%

Private Notes.

Written reviews7 reviews
Positive14.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative85.7%

Bugs and requests

Notebook

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Notes disappearing or getting corrupted
  • Freezing and crashing issues
  • Inconsistent behavior when editing notes
  • Syncing problems across devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved sorting and reordering options for notes
  • Enhanced search capabilities
  • Ability to export notes in various formats
  • More customization options for notebook covers
  • Integration with other productivity apps

Private Notes.

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Notebook

Subscriptions7
  • Notebook Pro$2.491 Month
  • Notebook Pro Plus$3.991 Month
  • Notebook AI$4.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • Notebook Personal$14.991 Year
  • Notebook Pro2 variants$24.991 Year
  • Notebook Pro Plus$39.991 Year
  • Notebook AI$49.991 Year
None

Private Notes.

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Notebook free?
Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Private Notes. free?
Private Notes. is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Notebook or Private Notes. have ads?
Private Notes. shows ads; Notebook does not.
Which is updated more often, Notebook or Private Notes.?
Notebook ships an update every 6 days, and Private Notes. every 2 months. Most recently, Notebook was updated on September 28, 2026 and Private Notes. on August 22, 2026.

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