Five Minute Journal vs Grid Diary

Five Minute Journal

• People who want a short guided gratitude routine each morning and evening
• Users of the paper Five Minute Journal who want the same format on a phone
• Beginners who prefer answering set prompts to free writing

Grid Diary

• People who find a blank page hard and prefer answering prompts
• Weekly, monthly and yearly reviews alongside a daily diary
• Building a custom journal or planner from templates

Five Minute Journal

• Listed for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Android in English, French, German and Spanish; no web or desktop version is offered.
• Photos and video, custom questions, the notes section, the mood tracker and the widget need Premium.
• The vendor's site shows no prices; the US App Store lists several monthly and annual price points, some marked for existing users.
• The privacy policy says journal entries are stored on the vendor's servers, and that AI features send your messages to Anthropic's Claude once you consent in the app.

Grid Diary

• Sync between devices, the passcode lock and extra color themes require the paid membership.
• The vendor's site quotes $2.99 monthly and $22.99 annual, while the US App Store lists $4.99 and $29.99.
• Apps are listed for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android; no Windows app is offered.
• The App Store version requires iOS 26, iPadOS 26 or macOS 26 or later.

Five Minute Journal

Guided morning and evening entries

A guided flow takes you through gratitude prompts at the start and end of the day, in a format modeled on the paper Five Minute Journal.

Timeline and calendar

Past entries appear as short daily excerpts on a timeline, and tapping a date in the calendar view opens that day's full entry.

Eva AI coach and voice memos

The App Store version notes introduce Eva, an AI coach that reflects on a finished entry with you, and voice memos that are transcribed. They do not say which plan each needs.

Quotes, challenges and streaks

The app delivers a daily quote and a weekly challenge, sends optional daily reminders and tracks your journaling streak.

Lock and export

Entries can be protected with a passcode, Face ID or Touch ID, and backed up or exported to PDF, HTML or Dropbox for a chosen date range.

Premium extras

Premium adds a daily photo or video on any prompt, a photo timeline, a notes section, custom questions, a mood check-in, On this Day reminders and a home screen widget.

Grid Diary

Grid format with prompts

An entry is a customizable grid of prompted boxes on a single page. Prompts come from a built-in library, or you can write your own.

Day, week, month and year entries

Separate daily, weekly, monthly and yearly entries let you plan and review at each time scale within the same journal.

Templates

Customizable templates cover a gratitude journal, a goal tracker, a weekly planner and more, so the app can double as a planner.

Mandala layout

A 9-grid layout inspired by the mandala keeps a fixed center cell, which the vendor compares to journaling as a mind map.

Markdown editor and attachments

The editor supports Markdown with rich preview, inline images and to-dos, and photos can be attached to entries.

Multiple journals, tags and export

Keep dedicated journals for areas such as family, work and travel, organize entries with tags, and export in PDF, Markdown, JPG and other formats.

Five Minute Journal

• Free$0

  Guided morning and evening entries, timeline and calendar views, reminders, quotes, challenges, streaks, passcode lock and export.

• Premium (monthly)$4.99 to $9.99

  per month

  Adds photos and video, custom questions, notes, mood tracker and On this Day. The US App Store lists $9.99 for Journaling Premium and $4.99 monthly items.

• Premium (yearly)$19.99 to $39.99

  per year

  The same Premium features billed yearly. The US App Store lists $39.99 for Annual Journaling Premium, plus $24.99 and $19.99 annual items.

Grid Diary

• Free$0

  Many of the app's features without a subscription. Sync between devices, the passcode lock and extra color themes are excluded.

• Membership$4.99

  per month, or $29.99 per year (US App Store)

  One in-app subscription covering all your devices: sync, passcode lock, more color themes and future member-only features.

Five Minute Journal

• Annual discount

  About 67% less with the annual plan

  The US App Store lists Journaling Premium at $9.99 for one month and $39.99 for a year, about 67% less than twelve monthly payments.

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime plan as an alternative to subscribing

  Intelligent Change's help center says Premium is sold under monthly, yearly and lifetime plans. The lifetime price is not published on its site.

Grid Diary

• Annual discount

  About 50% less with the annual membership

  The US App Store lists the membership at $4.99 monthly or $29.99 annual, which is about 50% less than twelve monthly payments.