Cleft vs Letterly
We give Cleft a 3.2 GPA and Letterly a 3.4, out of 4.0. Cleft grades higher on value for money and the free plan. Letterly grades higher on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Cleft
Voice notes turned into structured notes on Apple devices
Letterly
Voice notes and dictation that rewrite speech into finished text
How we grade them
| 3.2GPACleftVery good | 3.4GPALetterlyVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | ACleft Plus is $39.99 a year, well under what a typical notes subscription here costs, and Family Sharing covers up to 5 people. Pay monthly and it's $6.99, which is a much worse deal. The pricing page calls the yearly plan a 52% saving. | BOn the US App Store PRO is $19.99 a month, or somewhere from $69.99 to $99.99 a year, and the listing can't say which yearly price a new subscriber gets. At the yearly rate it's around what dictation apps usually cost. Monthly is dear. Lifetime is $199.99 or $249.99. |
| Free plan and trial | ABasic is free and has the main event: on-device transcription, structured notes, 3 built-in styles, tags, search, export and Local Sync. The limit is 5 minutes a recording. For quick thoughts, most people could stay here. | CNo real free plan. New users get a 7-day free trial, and the listing doesn't say whether it wants a card. The free version is a taster: 10 recordings of up to 3 minutes each. |
| Features | BIt does one job and does it fully: transcription in 99 languages, notes shaped by AI, recording from the Watch, CarPlay, the Lock Screen or Siri, and a Markdown editor with tags and search. It's about capture more than filing, and appending, attachments and custom styles are Plus only. | ADictation into any text field, voice notes rewritten in 25+ premade styles or your own, meeting and lecture recaps split by speaker, 90+ languages with translation, audio upload and offline recording. That's the whole job. One oddity: Letterly's own pages disagree on recording length, 15 minutes or 90. |
| Ease of use | BPress record and talk, from the Lock Screen or the Action Button if you like. You do have to sign in, and a note is only finished once the device is back online. There's no App Store rating on record to go by, so a B. | A4.7 from about 1,100 App Store ratings. You talk, it hands back tidy text, and the spoken language is detected automatically, even when you switch mid-sentence. Not much to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | CiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and CarPlay. Notes can go on to Notion and Zapier with Plus, or to Obsidian and Apple Notes through the share sheet and Local Sync. All Apple, though. No Android, Windows or web version is listed. | AiPhone, Android, Mac, Windows and the web, with notes synced between them. Zapier and webhooks send notes to other apps, and Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor can connect over MCP. |
| Best for | talking a thought into a tidy note on Apple gear | voice notes rewritten into finished text |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Cleft and Letterly. How we grade
Where they differ
- Cleft starts at $39.99 per year (or $6.99 billed monthly). Letterly starts at $19.99 per month, or from $69.99 per year, as listed on the US App Store.
- Cleft has a free plan. Letterly does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Letterly lists a web app.
- Only Letterly lists Windows and Android apps.
- Cleft also covers Markdown.
- Letterly also covers meeting notes, dictation and text expansion.
At a glance
| Cleft | Letterly | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $39.99 per year (or $6.99 billed monthly) | $19.99 per month, or from $69.99 per year, as listed on the US App Store |
| Free plan | Basic plan: recordings up to 5 minutes with on-device transcription, structured notes, 3 built-in output styles, tags, search, export, Local Sync, widgets and Siri Shortcuts. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial for new users. The free version is limited to 10 recordings of up to 3 minutes each. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Cleft AI Limited | Letterly |
| Price read from | cleftnotes.com | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Cleft
- People who think out loud and want the ramble turned into a tidy note
- Apple users capturing ideas from a Watch, a car or the Lock Screen
- Passing voice notes on to Notion, Obsidian or Apple Notes
Letterly
- One voice-notes app across phone, desktop and web
- Turning spoken ideas into emails, posts and journal entries
- Recording meetings or lectures for a transcript and summary
Worth knowing
Cleft
- Apple only: the apps are for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and CarPlay, with no Android, Windows or web version listed.
- Basic recordings stop at 5 minutes; 30-minute recordings need Cleft Plus.
- Notion and Zapier integrations, attachments, custom styles, appending and password-protected links are Plus only.
- Sign-in is required. Recording and transcription work offline, but the note is finished once the device is back online.
Letterly
- Letterly's site has no pricing page; prices here come from its US App Store listing, which shows several price points for yearly and lifetime PRO.
- The support page limits the free version to 10 recordings of up to 3 minutes each.
- Vendor pages disagree on recording length: the support page says 15 minutes on Pro, the homepage and App Store listing say up to 90 minutes.
Key features
Cleft
- On-device transcription
- Recordings are turned into text locally on iPhone, iPad or Mac using Whisper, in 99 languages, including when the speaker switches language mid-sentence.
- Structured notes from rambles
- An AI step pulls out the main points and actions and titles the note. Three built-in styles are Structured, Structured Prose and Clean Transcript; Plus adds custom styles.
- Capture from Watch, CarPlay and Siri
- Recording can start from an Apple Watch, the CarPlay screen, the Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, Control Center, the iPhone Action Button or a Siri request.
- Send notes to other apps
- Notes go to any app through the share sheet. Local Sync writes Markdown and optional audio to a folder, and Plus adds direct Notion and Zapier integrations.
- Markdown editor, tags and search
- Notes can be edited with headings, bold, lists and code blocks, tagged by project or topic, and searched across the whole collection.
- Append and continue
- With Plus, a new recording can be added to an existing note so one topic stays in one place, and recordings can run to 30 minutes.
Letterly
- Dictation in any app
- Speak inside Gmail, Slack, Notion or any other text field on a computer, or use the Letterly keyboard on iPhone, and the text is inserted where you are typing.
- Voice notes with AI rewrites
- Record a thought in the app and get cleaned-up text. Choose from 25+ premade rewrite styles, such as an email, post or summary, or build your own.
- Meeting and lecture recaps
- Long recordings, up to 90 minutes per note, become a transcript split by speaker along with a summary.
- 90+ languages and translation
- The spoken language is detected automatically, including switches mid-sentence, and any note can be translated into 90+ languages.
- Audio upload and offline recording
- Transcribe audio and video recorded outside the app, and record without an internet connection when you are away from one.
- Zapier, webhooks and MCP
- Send notes to other apps through Zapier or webhooks, and connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor over MCP to search, manage or rewrite your notes.
Plans
Cleft
Basic$0
5-minute recordings, on-device transcription, structured notes, 3 built-in output styles, tags, search and export.
Cleft Plus$39.99
per year, or $6.99 per month billed monthly
30-minute recordings, append to existing notes, custom output styles, attachments, Notion and Zapier integrations, and Family Sharing for up to 5.
Letterly
Free version$0
Up to 10 recordings of up to 3 minutes each, according to Letterly's support page.
PRO (1 month)$19.99
per month
Unlimited recordings and AI rewrites. The App Store listing cites notes of up to 90 minutes.
PRO (3 months)$44.90
per 3 months
The same PRO subscription billed every three months, as listed among the App Store in-app purchases.
PRO (1 year)$69.99–$99.99
per year; the listing shows several yearly price points
Yearly PRO. The App Store lists it at $69.99, $79.99, $89.99 and $99.99 without saying which applies to new subscribers.
PRO (Lifetime)$199.99–$249.99
one-time; the listing shows two lifetime price points
A one-time PRO purchase, listed on the App Store at both $199.99 and $249.99.
Ways to pay less
Cleft
- Annual discount
Save 52% with annual billing
Cleft Plus costs $6.99 a month or $39.99 a year. The pricing page labels the annual plan a 52% saving, under $3.50 a month.
Letterly
- Lifetime license
Lifetime PRO listed from $199.99
The US App Store listing includes a PRO Subscription (Lifetime) in-app purchase at $199.99 and at $249.99, alongside the monthly and yearly subscriptions.
