FSNotes vs Notenik
We give FSNotes a 3.4 GPA and Notenik a 3.2, out of 4.0. FSNotes grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
FSNotes
Open-source Markdown notes app for Mac and iPhone
Free plan · from $4.99 one-time
How we grade them
| 3.4GPAFSNotesVery good | 3.2GPANotenikVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | A$8.99 once for the Mac app and $4.99 once for iPhone and iPad, with no subscription. Both together cost about what a typical notes app here charges for a couple of months. They are separate purchases, mind. | AFree and open source under the MIT licence. The site says no upfront cost, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions and no advertising. Nothing to compare with the $5.99 a month that's typical here. |
| Free plan and trial | AThe code is free under the MIT licence, and every release on GitHub includes a free build of the full Mac app, which Homebrew can install too. You miss out on App Store automatic updates. The iPhone and iPad app is the one part with no free route. | AThe whole app is free from the Mac App Store, with all features enabled from the first launch. There's no paid tier anywhere. |
| Features | AMarkdown files any editor can read, instant search built for more than 10,000 files, links in double brackets, tags, AES-256 encryption for notes or whole folders, optional Git history and backups, plus Mermaid and MathJax. That's the whole job for personal notes. | AEach collection picks its own fields, such as Tags, Link, Date, Status and Seq, and you can sort by any of them. Markdown comes with footnotes, citations, MathJax and wiki links. Merge templates and scripts write notes out as HTML or JSON, enough to build a whole website. Sync is left to iCloud Drive or Dropbox. |
| Ease of use | BNo account to make: point it at a folder and type. It's built around keyboard shortcuts in the Notational Velocity style, which is quick once your fingers know them. No App Store rating is on record to go by, so a B is as high as we go. | BWe have no App Store rating on record for it, so a B is our ceiling. Installing is one click from the Mac App Store. Plain notes are simple, but fields, templates and scripts take some reading, and support is one developer on a Discourse forum. |
| Platforms and integrations | CMac and iPhone, synced through iCloud Drive, with Git if you want it. All Apple, though. There's no Windows, Android or web version, Dropbox and Google Drive sync aren't available on iOS, and the iPad build lacks full keyboard shortcuts and multiple windows. | DMac only, on macOS 13.5 or later, and only through the Mac App Store. On the Mac it has a URL scheme, Shortcuts actions and Hookmark support. On anything else your notes are just text files to open in another editor. |
| Best for | fast Markdown notes as plain files on a Mac | 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: FSNotes and Notenik. How we grade
Where they differ
- FSNotes starts at $4.99 one-time for iPhone and iPad; $8.99 one-time for Mac. Notenik is free.
- Only FSNotes lists an iOS app.
- FSNotes can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Notenik also covers linked notes and tasks.
In commonFree planmacOSOpen sourceLocal-firstNotesMarkdown
At a glance
| FSNotes | Notenik | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $4.99 one-time for iPhone and iPad; $8.99 one-time for Mac | Free |
| Free plan | The source code is free under the MIT license, and each release on GitHub includes a free build of the Mac app. The iPhone and iPad app is sold only through the App Store. | 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 | ||
| iOS | ||
| Made by | Oleksandr Hlushchenko | Herb Bowie |
| Price read from | apps.apple.com | notenik.app |
| Checked | Oct 6, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
FSNotes
- Mac and iPhone users who want notes kept as plain Markdown files
- Keyboard-driven note-takers used to Notational Velocity-style apps
- People who want an open-source app with no account or subscription
Notenik
- Mac users who want notes kept as plain text files they control
- Structured collections such as quotations, bookmarks or to-do lists
- Publishing a website or web book from a folder of notes
Worth knowing
FSNotes
- It runs on Apple platforms only, and the Mac and iPhone apps are separate purchases on the App Store.
- The iOS app syncs through iCloud Drive only; Dropbox, WebDAV and Google Drive sync are not available.
- The iPad build lacks dedicated iPad features such as full keyboard shortcuts and multiple windows; development focuses on macOS and iPhone.
- The free Mac build comes from GitHub releases or Homebrew; the site names the App Store apps as the official stable releases with automatic updates.
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
FSNotes
- Plain Markdown files
- Notes are GitHub Flavored Markdown or plain text files in folders you choose, readable in any other editor. Images and attachments can sit in TextBundle containers.
- Keyboard-centric and fast
- Notational Velocity-inspired controls and shortcuts, instant search and a two-pane view, built to stay smooth with more than 10,000 files.
- iCloud Drive sync
- The same folders and notes, including pinned notes, stay available on a Mac and an iPhone through iCloud Drive.
- Git versioning and backups
- Optional Git integration makes scheduled commits, shows note history and can push to or pull from a remote repository.
- Encrypted notes and folders
- Individual notes or whole folders can be protected with AES-256 encryption and unlocked with Touch ID.
- Links, tags and rich Markdown
- Cross-note links in double brackets, tags, syntax highlighting for more than 30 programming languages, and Mermaid and MathJax rendering.
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
FSNotes
GitHub release$0
A zip of the Mac app posted with each release on GitHub, also installable through Homebrew. The site points to the App Store for automatic updates.
FSNotes for iOS$4.99
one-time purchase (US App Store)
The iPhone and iPad app, with iCloud Drive sync, encrypted notes and folders, tags and Git integration. Requires iOS 18.0 or later.
FSNotes for Mac$8.99
one-time purchase (US Mac App Store)
The Mac app, updated automatically through the Mac App Store. Requires macOS 12.4 or later.
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.
