Comparison

Notebook vs Pomodoro Focus Timer

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. TASKS, TO-DOS AND JOURNALING A dedicated To-Do tab sits alongside your notes: break work into subtasks, assign tasks to the right people, set due dates and priorities, and get reminders at the right time. Checklist cards keep shorter lists beside the note they belong to. 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 500MB 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

Pomodoro Focus Timer

Features
Read full description

Zen Bear is a cozy Pomodoro focus timer. Work, study, read or write alongside an animated bear in a warm little room, and block distracting apps while you focus. POMODORO TIMER • Focus sessions from 5 to 180 minutes, breaks from 1 to 60 minutes, long breaks from 5 to 60 minutes • 2 to 8 sessions per cycle, with optional auto-start for breaks and focus • Pause, skip a phase or end a session at any time • Tag sessions as Work, Study, Reading or Writing • Live Activity on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island BLOCK DISTRACTING APPS DURING FOCUS (PREMIUM) Choose apps and categories with Apple's Screen Time. They are blocked only while a focus session is running, and unblocked during breaks, when you pause, or when the session ends. Need something urgently? Tap Emergency Access on the block screen to unblock your apps for 15, 30 or 60 minutes, or to pause or end your session. A COZY ROOM TO FOCUS IN • Scenes: Day and Night are free; Rain, Autumn, Day Snow and Night Snow with Premium • Cat companions: 2 free, 5 more with Premium • Drinks: coffee and herbal tea are free, matcha with Premium • 13 lo-fi, jazz and ambient music tracks (3 free, 10 with Premium) STATS AND STREAKS See this week's focus time compared with last week, your 7-day consistency, completion rate, peak focus window, time per activity and your focus streak. REMINDERS A daily reminder to focus, plus a heads-up one minute before app blocking turns back on after Emergency Access. ZEN BEAR PREMIUM App blocking and the extra scenes, companions, drink and music listed above require Zen Bear Premium, an auto-renewing monthly or yearly subscription. Prices are shown in the app. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel it in your App Store account settings. Privacy Policy: https://dima-mishchenko.github.io/zen-bear/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://dima-mishchenko.github.io/zen-bear/terms.html

Screenshots

Notebook4 screens
Pomodoro Focus Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is device support: Notebook at 3 against Pomodoro Focus Timer's 1. On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement 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 and Pomodoro Focus Timer sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Notebook versus Pomodoro Focus Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNotebookPomodoro Focus Timer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (24K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews72.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings24K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size221 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZoho CorporationDmytro Mishchenko

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

Pomodoro Focus Timer

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 Plus1 Year trial$39.991 Year
  • Notebook AI$49.991 Year
2 purchases

Pomodoro Focus Timer

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly, full access$3.991 Month
  • Full access$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Notebook free?
Notebook is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pomodoro Focus Timer free?
Pomodoro Focus Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Notebook or Pomodoro Focus Timer have ads?
Neither Notebook nor Pomodoro Focus Timer shows ads.

Other comparisons