Dnote vs Notenik (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Dnote and Notenik share a 2.6 GPA, both are free, so the choice depends on whether you care more about platforms, where Dnote grades higher, or ease of use, where Notenik does.
Checked Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Dnote if
- Fits if you spend your day in a terminal and want to save commands you'll need again
- Works for people who are happy to host their own sync server
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a window to click in, as it is command line only
- Skip it if you need hosted sync: the vendor lists none
- Too light for long documents, links or images, as it is built for short notes
- Watch out: there is no mobile or web app on its site
Pick Notenik if
- Fits if you want notes as plain text files that any text editor can open
- Works for structured lists like quotations, bookmarks or tasks with a status, or a website built from a folder
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want the app on your iPhone, iPad or PC, as it's Mac only
- Not for you if you want sync built in, because that's left to iCloud Drive or Dropbox
- Skip it if you just want to jot things down, since the fields and templates are the point
- Watch out: one developer writes and supports it, with help only on a Discourse forum
- Tight if your Mac runs anything older than macOS 13.5, which the store listing requires
How we grade them
| 2.6GPADnoteGood | 2.6GPANotenikGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree and open source, with no paid plan; the program is a single binary. | AFree and open source under the MIT license, in a category whose middle plan is $6 a month. The site says no upfront cost, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions and no advertising. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree outright. Syncing across devices needs a server you run yourself. | AThe whole app is free from the Mac App Store with every feature on from the first launch, and there's no paid tier anywhere to run into. |
| Features | CFull-text search, your own editor, one SQLite file, a REST API and self-hosted sync. The listing's gaps: no hosted sync, no phone or web app. | CEach collection picks its own fields, such as Tags, Link, Date, Status and Seq, and sorts by any of them, with Markdown that does footnotes, citations, MathJax and wiki links, plus merge templates and scripts that write a whole website out. The gap the listing names is sync: there is none. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. It runs in a terminal, and sync means running your own server. | CPlain notes are plain enough, but the fields, merge templates and scripts take real reading, and support is one developer on a Discourse forum. No App Store rating is on record to go by. |
| Platforms and integrations | CmacOS, Linux and Windows programs only. The REST API needs your own server. | DThe Mac alone, on macOS 13.5 or later, and only through the Mac App Store. No iPhone, iPad, Windows or web version. On the Mac it has a URL scheme, Shortcuts actions and Hookmark support; anywhere else your notes are just text files. |
| Best for | command-line notes with self-hosted sync | plain-text notes with your own fields, on a Mac |
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: Dnote and Notenik. How we grade
Price against what you get
Dnote has no paid plan and scores 1.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Notenik has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
On this chart the two sit in the same place: the same score for the same starting price. Of the other note-taking apps on the chart, none scores higher than Dnote for less, and none scores higher than Notenik for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Dnote is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Notenik also covers Markdown, linked notes and tasks.
In commonFree planmacOSOpen sourceLocal-firstNotes
At a glance
| Dnote | Notenik | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | The vendor says Dnote is free and open source and will always be free. | The whole app is free and open source under the MIT license. The site says there is no upfront cost and there are no in-app purchases, subscriptions or advertising. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Dnote | Herb Bowie |
| Price read from | getdnote.com | notenik.app |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Dnote
- Sync between devices requires running your own server; the vendor lists no hosted service.
- It is a command-line tool with no mobile or web app listed on its site.
- Binaries are listed for macOS, Linux, FreeBSD and Windows; FreeBSD is not a platform on this site.
Notenik
- Mac only: the developer says Notenik runs solely on the Mac and is available exclusively through the Mac App Store.
- There is no iPhone, iPad, Windows or web version. On other devices the notes are plain text files to open in another editor.
- The app has no sync service of its own. The store listing suggests keeping collections in iCloud Drive or a Dropbox folder.
- Notenik is written and supported by a single developer, with questions and requests handled on a Discourse forum.
Key features
Dnote
- Full-text search
- Search every saved note from the terminal to find a command or snippet without scrolling shell history.
- Bring your own editor
- Notes can be written in any text editor, in a terminal or as a GUI.
- Single SQLite file
- All data is in one file that can be backed up to any storage, queried with standard tools or migrated.
- Self-hosted sync server
- An optional single-binary server with SQLite syncs data between devices and can be deployed with Docker or run directly.
- REST API
- The server exposes notes over a REST API for integrations or any HTTP client.
Notenik
- Plain text notes in collections
- Each note is its own plain text file and a folder of notes is a collection. Collections can be stored anywhere, including iCloud Drive or a Dropbox folder, and open in any text editor.
- Custom fields per collection
- Beyond a Title and a Body, a collection can add fields such as Tags, Link, Date, Status, Seq and Author, each with its own type, and notes can be sorted by any of them.
- Markdown with extras
- The body is formatted in Markdown with footnotes, citations, definition lists and MathJax. Double-bracket wiki links connect notes, and a table of contents can be generated.
- To-do lists, outlines and bookmarks
- Date, Status and Recurs fields turn a collection into a to-do list, Seq and Level fields make it an outline, and a Link field makes it a set of bookmarks.
- Merge templates and scripts
- Merge templates write note fields out as HTML, XML, JSON or other text. Script files select, sort and filter the notes first, which lets Notenik act as a static website generator.
- Hooks for other Mac apps
- A custom URL scheme, custom actions for Apple's Shortcuts app and APIs for Hookmark let other apps link to notes, add notes from text and run script files.
Plans
Dnote
Dnote$0
Free and open source (Apache-2.0 per its GitHub page). Sync needs a server you run yourself.
Notenik
Notenik$0
The full app with all features enabled, downloaded from the Mac App Store. The store listing requires macOS 13.5 or later.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Dnote or Notenik?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Dnote and Notenik are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Dnote or Notenik?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Dnote and Notenik have a free plan.
Which platforms do Dnote and Notenik run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Dnote lists Windows and Linux apps. Both list a macOS app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.