Inkpad Notepad vs Basic Journal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Inkpad Notepad
Effortlessly capture thoughts, to-do lists, and shopping lists with this intuitive note-taking app. Sync your notes online for access from any device, and easily search, share, or delete them. It's the digital notepad you'll always have with you.
- Create notes and lists
- Auto-save functionality
- Online syncing and web access
- Search notes and lists
- Share notes via email/SMS
- Delete notes easily
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InkPad Notepad is the simple, elegant, easy way to keep notes on your phone, or on the web. Once upon a time, you had to write down notes in a paper notepad and carry it around with you. If you wrote a shopping list or to do list, you might go to the store and discover you had forgotten your notepad. But how often do you forget to bring your mobile phone with you? Introducing InkPad, the notepad you’ll only forget as often as your phone! Inkpad Notepad let's you access your notes online on our website. You can create or edit notes from the convenience of your computer's web browser, and always have access to your notes from your phone when you're offline too. CREATE NOTES InkPad is designed to look like a paper notepad, and is just as simple to use. When you open InkPad, you’ll see a list of all notes you’ve created. To add a new note, tap on the “+” button at the bottom of the screen. CREATE TO DO LIST Create a note as usual, then select the "to do list" button at the top of the note screen. CREATE SHOPPING LIST Create a note as usual, then select the "shopping list" button at the top of the note. EDIT NOTE OR TO DO LIST Now you can write your note. Just like a paper notepad, you don’t have to do anything special to save your notes, they are auto-saved for you. SAVE As mentioned above, notes are auto-saved. You don’t have to do anything special to save them. SYNC NOTES ONLINE Inkpad Notepad lets you sync/backup notes online. You can access your online notes on our website by signing in with the same account you selected in the mobile app. SEARCH YOUR NOTES OR TO DO LISTS Inkpad Notepad now gives you an option to search your notes or to do lists. From the home screen, tap on the search icon, then begin writing. As you write, the list of notes will be filtered to only display notes containing the search keyword. Press the "X" button to clear the note search, and view all notes as usual. SHARE NOTES At the bottom of each note is a “share” button. Tapping it brings up all the ways to share. Typical ways include email, SMS, etc. CHANGE NOTE’S TITLE To change a notes title, tap on the title area at the top of that note. DELETE NOTE If you don’t want a note any longer, you can delete it in several ways: 1) Open the note, tap the “delete” button at the bottom of the page. 2) From the main notes screen, swipe-left the title of a note, then tap on “delete”. BACKUP NOTES To backup a note, press the share button and email to yourself the note you want to backup. TYPICAL USES Write To do lists, shopping lists, addresses, email, SMS, Twitter updates*, write lyrics, poems, or even a novel if you feel like it! The uses are limited only by your imagination. Follow @InkpadNotes on twitter and facebook to receive updates about InkPad Note pad. *Assumes separate Twitter client is installed, Twitter cannot post note pad content longer than 140 characters. Privacy Policy: https://www.inkpadnotepad.com/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.inkpadnotepad.com/terms
Basic Journal
A fast and simple journal app designed for busy individuals to quickly jot down notes on daily activities. It offers an elegant, chronological display of entries with easy editing and export options.
- Quick note-taking
- Chronological note display
- Summary and detail views
- Edit and delete notes easily
- Recently edited notes highlighted
- iCloud syncing
- Text export option
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Waste less time fiddling with your phone, and spend more time learning, working, or training! If you are an active or busy person, you need to take notes quickly, easily, on whatever device you have with you. This app is a fast and simple journal/diary for your daily activities. This app is ideal for fitness enthusiasts, gym users, dancers who need to make notes on choreography, or anyone who needs fast and simple note-taking. Why this app? Other note-taking apps are complicated and difficult to navigate, and your notes are quickly buried. They are just not practical for quickly noting down or recalling corrections and notes during a class, lecture or workshop. This app keeps all your notes on display in a large, friendly format, in chronological order. • Elegant and simple layout of notes by date. • Summary view for a quick overview. • Detail view to browse all notes at once. • Edit or delete notes quickly from any screen. • Recently edited notes are highlighted. Data storage: • Your notes are synced across all your iOS devices. It doesn't matter if you delete the app or lose your device; your notes are stored with Apple's iCloud (subject to iCloud availability, and it being enabled on your device). • Text export option: you can get all your notes out of the software any time you want, to keep your own backups, share, or use elsewhere. NOTES Accidents happen, so it is recommended that you make regular backups with the export function. You are responsible for maintaining your own backups in case of data loss. It may take a while to sync your existing notes when you first install the app on an extra device: be patient! Make sure iCloud is enabled on your device to use the syncing feature.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Inkpad Notepad at 4.6 against Basic Journal's 3.3. Inkpad Notepad also leads on review sentiment (80% vs 40%) and ratings volume (8.6K vs 4). Basic Journal's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, 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. Inkpad Notepad sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Basic Journal sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Inkpad Notepad holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Inkpad Notepad has 8.6K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 80% of Inkpad Notepad's written reviews are positive against 40% of Basic Journal's.
Inkpad Notepad ships an update every 9 days, Basic Journal every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Inkpad Notepad | Basic Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (8.6K ratings) — better | 3.3 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better | 40.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 8.6K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 68 MB | 14 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | Workpail, LLC | James Hudson |
Customer experience
Inkpad Notepad
Basic Journal
Bugs and requests
Inkpad Notepad
Reported bugs
4 issues- Notes sometimes disappear after updates
- Cursor positioning issues when editing
- Syncing problems leading to data loss
- App crashes or becomes unresponsive
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to password protect notes
- Improve note editing functionality
- Provide more font and formatting options
- Implement a multi-select/delete feature for notes
- Add reminders and alarm functionality
Basic Journal
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Inkpad Notepad
- Inkpad Basic Monthly$1.991 Month
- Inkpad Lite Monthly$5.991 Month
- Inkpad Standard Monthly$14.991 Month
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- Inkpad Basic Yearly$19.991 Year
- Inkpad Plus Monthly$24.991 Month
- Inkpad Lite Yearly$59.991 Year
- Inkpad Standard Yearly$149.991 Year
- Inkpad Plus Yearly$239.991 Year
Basic Journal
- Remove Ads$0.99









