Day One vs Diarium
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Day One
Encrypted journal for text, photos, audio and video across devices
Diarium
Private journal with a one-time Pro purchase and your own cloud sync
Where they differ
- Day One starts at $49.99 per year. Diarium starts at $14.99 one-time purchase per platform.
- Only Day One lists a web app.
- Only Day One lists a browser extension.
- Day One is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Diarium can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Day One also covers transcription and Markdown.
- Diarium also covers mood tracking.
At a glance
| Day One | Diarium | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $49.99 per year | $14.99 one-time purchase per platform |
| Free plan | Basic plan: unlimited text entries and journals, 1 photo per entry, end-to-end encryption, prompts, templates and web access, used from 1 device. | Free to use on Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac, without Pro features such as Cloud Sync, unlimited attachments, Word export, widgets, custom fonts, weather and integrations. Windows is a paid app. |
| Free trial | Free 1-month trial of a paid plan, started inside the app. Eligibility is controlled by the app stores. | 7-day trial of all Pro features on Android, iOS and macOS before buying. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Automattic Inc. | Timo Partl |
| Price read from | dayoneapp.com | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Day One
- People who want one journal across Apple, Android, Windows and the web
- Journals that mix writing with photos, video, audio and drawings
- Writers who want end-to-end encryption without paying
Diarium
- People who want to pay once instead of subscribing
- Journaling across Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac
- Keeping a journal on your own device and cloud storage with no account
- Pulling calendar, fitness and social activity into daily entries
Worth knowing
Day One
- The free Basic plan is limited to 1 device and 1 photo per entry; video, audio, drawings and collections need Silver.
- Paid plans are sold as annual subscriptions only; Day One's help guides say monthly plans are not offered.
- AI features are limited to Gold at $74.99 per year and have daily usage limits.
- Silver and Gold subscriptions cannot be shared through Apple Family Sharing.
Diarium
- Pro is bought separately for each platform, and iOS and macOS count as separate purchases.
- Cloud Sync, unlimited attachments, Word export, widgets and integrations require Pro.
- There is no free version on Windows, where Diarium is a paid app listed at $19.99 in the Microsoft Store.
- By default the journal is stored only on the device, so without Cloud Sync you need to make your own backups.
Key features
Day One
- Multimedia entries
- Entries combine Markdown-formatted text with photos, video, audio recordings, drawings and scanned PDFs. Basic allows 1 photo per entry; Silver and Gold allow 30 media items.
- End-to-end encryption and app lock
- Every plan, including the free one, lists end-to-end encryption, passcode protection, biometric lock and secure cloud backup.
- Prompts, templates and streaks
- A daily prompt, a prompt gallery, journal templates, reminders and journal streaks are included on all three plans.
- On This Day, calendar and map views
- On This Day resurfaces entries from the same date in past years, and entries can also be browsed by calendar, map or media.
- Sync across devices
- Silver and Gold sync a journal across an unlimited number of devices. Basic backs up from one active device, with web access included.
- AI reflection tools
- Gold adds Daily Chat for guided reflection, Go Deeper prompts, entry summaries, title suggestions and image generation, each with daily usage limits.
Diarium
- Rich entries with attachments
- Entries support rich text formatting, tags and locations, plus photos, videos, audio recordings, PDFs and other files. Several entries can be created per day.
- Calendar, timeline and map views
- Look back through a calendar, a scrolling timeline, a map of places visited, an attachments gallery and an On this day page with optional notifications.
- Automatic feeds
- Connected services add context to a day: camera roll photos, calendar events, weather, Strava and Apple Health data, Microsoft To Do tasks and Last.fm scrobbles. Some feeds require Pro.
- Sync through your own cloud
- Pro syncs the journal across platforms using your OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud or WebDAV storage. The uploaded data is compressed and encrypted.
- Import and export
- Migrates journals from Day One, Diaro, Journey, Daylio, Diarly, Daybook, Evernote and Apple Journal, and exports to Word, plain text, HTML or JSON.
- Lock without an account
- No login or sign-up is required and the app carries no ads. The journal can be protected with a password, PIN or biometrics such as Face ID and Windows Hello.
Plans
Day One
Basic$0
Unlimited text entries and journals, 1 photo per entry, end-to-end encryption, prompts and templates, on 1 device.
Silver$49.99
per year (no monthly plan is offered)
30 photos or videos per entry, unlimited devices, audio recording and transcription, drawings, PDF scanning, and Strava, Zapier and IFTTT integrations.
Gold$74.99
per year (no monthly plan is offered)
Everything in Silver, plus Daily Chat, Go Deeper prompts, entry summaries, title suggestions and image generation.
Diarium
Free$0
The app on Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac without Cloud Sync, unlimited attachments, Word export, widgets, custom fonts, weather or integrations.
Pro version (Android, iOS or macOS)$14.99
one-time purchase per platform
Unlocks Cloud Sync, unlimited attachments, Word export, connected feeds, custom fonts, widgets and weather. iOS and macOS count as separate platforms.
Diarium for Windows$19.99
one-time purchase (Microsoft Store)
A paid app that already includes Pro. The same app is also sold as a direct download on Gumroad for $30.
Ways to pay less
Day One
- Education
25% off for students for the first 4 years
Day One's FAQ offers students 25% off paid subscriptions for the first 4 years, after verifying student status with support by student ID or university email.
Diarium
No public discounts listed.
