Curio vs Tinderbox

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

Tinderbox

• Writers, researchers and analysts working through large sets of notes
• People who want several visual views of the same material
• Mac users who prefer files kept on their own computer

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.

Tinderbox

• Mac only: it requires macOS 12 or later, and iPhone and iPad use relies on sharing notes with other apps.
• The license includes one year of free updates; upgrading later from any previous version is listed at $98 and adds another year.
• The free demo does everything the full version does but can only make about thirty notes.

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.

Tinderbox

Maps, outlines, timelines and charts

The same notes can be shown as a spatial map, an outline, a timeline or a chart, so structure emerges as notes are arranged, colored and linked.

Agents

Agents scan the document continuously and collect notes that meet your criteria, such as overdue tasks or a topic, and can feed project dashboards.

Prototypes and the attribute browser

A note inherits from its prototype unless you say otherwise, so one change updates every note based on it. The attribute browser breaks notes down by a chosen category.

AI connections

Built-in recognition finds addresses, names and organizations in notes, and a bridge to AI models can supply them with resources and prompts kept in a Hints folder.

Open files and flexible export

Documents are XML files stored on your Mac rather than on a server, and export produces HTML, XML, RSS, OPML and other formats.

Works with other note apps

Notes can be shared with Apple Notes, Simplenote, Evernote and DEVONthink for use on iPhone and iPad, and files sync through Dropbox or iCloud Drive.

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.

Tinderbox

• Tinderbox$289

  one-time license, with a year of free updates

  Tinderbox 11.8 for Mac. The order page also showed a $217 SummerFest sale price, but the checkout listed no discount when checked.

• Household$325

  one-time license for up to five people

  Family pack for up to five people living in the same household, for use on any of their computers.

• Ten Pack$645

  one-time ten-user license

  Aimed at schools, libraries and work teams. 50- and 100-workstation licenses are listed at $1,595 and $2,695.

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.

Tinderbox

• Other savings

  Household and multi-user licenses

  A Household license covers up to five people living together for $325, and a ten-user license costs $645, against $289 for a single license.

• Other savings

  Update subscription with a cheaper first year

  An update subscription renews the yearly updates automatically. Its first year is listed at $83, with later years at the regular upgrade price, currently $98.