Curio vs Milanote

Curio

• Visual thinkers who plan projects on freeform pages
• Students, writers and researchers collecting notes and documents
• Mac users who want project files stored locally and usable offline

Milanote

• Designers, filmmakers and writers collecting references and ideas
• Building moodboards and storyboards to share with clients
• Teams of 5 to 50 who want one flat annual price
• Trying every feature on a free plan with no time limit

Curio

• Mac only: Curio 34 runs on macOS 15 Sequoia or later, and the site lists no iPhone, iPad, Windows or web version.
• Free mode restricts a project to 5 idea spaces; larger projects open read-only.
• License keys work only with the website download and subscriptions only with the Mac App Store download.
• A license key includes one year of major updates; later updates need a paid renewal, and academic and volume discounts do not apply to subscriptions.

Milanote

• The Free plan stops at 100 notes, images or links and 10 file uploads, with images capped at 10MB each.
• Team plans are billed annually only; monthly billing exists only on the per-person plan at $12.50 a month.
• Teams of more than 50 people need a custom enterprise plan arranged through sales.
• There is no separate Pro trial: the vendor points people to the Free plan to try the product.

Curio

Freeform idea spaces

Place text, Markdown, images, PDFs, documents, web links and media anywhere on a page, and divide larger projects into Organizer sections.

Integrated collections

Mind maps, lists, tables, index cards, albums, pinboards, stacks and Kanban boards sit on the same pages and can be nested inside compositions.

Task and project metadata

Items carry checkmarks, percent complete, tags, start and due dates, priorities, ratings and resources, all searchable with queries and filters.

Markdown, wikilinks and backlinks

Markdown text supports equations, tables, checklists and callouts, and wikilinks, backlinks and jump actions connect items across a project.

Local project files

Each project is one local file on your Mac that works offline, with automatic backups and export to PDF, Markdown, HTML, OPML and other formats.

AI services and Curio CLI

The Sleuth research window reaches chat services such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and Professional adds a command line tool with an MCP server for AI agents.

Milanote

Freeform visual boards

A board combines notes, images, videos, links, files and sketches, arranged freely, so a project's research and plans sit in one view.

Moodboards and storyboards

Templates and guides cover moodboards, storyboards, creative briefs, character profiles, shot lists and other formats used in creative work.

Web clipper

A browser extension saves text, images, links and video from any page to a board. It is offered for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge and Opera.

Sharing and collaboration

Invite clients or teammates to edit, comment on or just view a board, and work together in real time. Shared boards are unlimited on every plan.

Mind maps and whiteboarding

The same boards work as an online whiteboard on an infinite canvas and as a mind mapping tool for brainstorming sessions.

Desktop and mobile apps

Desktop apps for Mac and Windows open Milanote outside the browser with live notifications, and mobile apps cover iPhone, iPad and Android.

Curio

• Free$0

  Standard features for small projects, restricted to 5 idea spaces per project. Larger projects open read-only.

• Standard subscription$5

  per month, billed yearly ($60); $6 billed monthly

  Mac App Store subscription. Everything in Free with an unlimited number of idea spaces.

• Professional subscription$6

  per month, billed yearly ($72); $8 billed monthly

  Mac App Store subscription. Adds Curio CLI and MCP, smart Kanban, table formulas, synced figures, Mermaid diagrams and presentation mode.

• Standard license key$99.99

  one-time, includes 1 year of updates

  Bought from Zengobi's website. The license does not expire, and renewals for another year of updates start at $59.99.

• Professional license key$119.99

  one-time, includes 1 year of updates

  The Professional edition as a one-time purchase. Renewals for another year of updates start at $79.99.

Milanote

• Free$0

  100 notes, images or links, 10 file uploads and unlimited shared boards, with no time limit.

• Pro (pay per person)$9.99

  per person / month, billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly)

  Unlimited notes, images, links and file uploads, with images up to 100MB and other files up to 5GB each.

• Team (up to 10 people)$49

  per month for the team, billed annually

  Unlimited content for up to 10 people under one team admin. Annual billing only.

• Team (up to 50 people)$99

  per month for the team, billed annually

  Unlimited content for up to 50 people under one team admin. Annual billing only; larger teams are quoted an enterprise plan.

Curio

• Education

  Academic pricing on license keys

  Qualifying students, faculty and staff pay $79.99 for a Standard license key or $99.99 for Professional after academic verification. Subscriptions are excluded.

• Annual discount

  Two or three months free with yearly billing

  Billed yearly, Standard works out to $5 a month instead of $6 and Professional to $6 instead of $8, which Zengobi describes as 2 and 3 months free.

• Other savings

  20% volume discount for 20 or more licenses

  Quantity purchases of 20 or more license keys receive an automatic 20% volume discount at checkout.

• Other savings

  Discounted license renewals

  Renewing a license key for another year of updates costs $59.99 to $69.99 for Standard and $79.99 to $89.99 for Professional, depending on the version owned.

Milanote

• Annual discount

  About 20% less with annual billing

  The per-person plan costs $9.99 a month when billed annually against $12.50 billed monthly, a saving of about 20%.

• Other savings

  Flat team price for 5 or more people

  The team plan costs $49 a month for up to 10 people or $99 a month for up to 50, billed annually. The plans page labels the two sizes "Save 50%" and "Save 80%".

• Education

  Student and academic discount

  Milanote's help centre says students and academics get a discount by emailing its education address with details of their institution or course.

• Nonprofit

  Discount for NGOs and not-for-profits

  Milanote says it generally discounts plans for NGOs and not-for-profits, decided case by case after contacting support.