NotePlan vs Octarine

NotePlan

• Apple users who plan their day in notes next to calendar and reminders
• People who time-block tasks around their meetings
• Markdown fans who want plain-text files they control

Octarine

• Writers who want Markdown notes kept as local files
• People who prefer a one-time license to a subscription
• Those who want linking, daily notes and views built in, not added as plugins

NotePlan

• There is no free plan: once a trial or subscription ends, notes become read-only.
• Native apps exist only for Mac, iPhone and iPad; Windows and other systems use the web version.
• Sync runs mainly through Apple's CloudKit and is tied to an Apple ID, which the web version also signs in with.
• The monthly plan's free trial lasts 3 days, compared with 7 days on the annual plan.

Octarine

• Properties, filtered views, note types, focus mode, note sharing and every AI feature need the $79 Pro license.
• There is no public phone app: an iOS beta runs on TestFlight for eligible Pro users, and no Android app is listed.
• AI features need your own API key or a local model, and syncing relies on a file-sync service or the built-in Git sync.
• Pricing is early-access: the docs say the price goes up as Pro features are added, while earlier buyers keep all future Pro features.

NotePlan

Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly notes

Every day gets its own note for tasks and meeting notes, and each week, month and year has one too, for targets, reviews and goals.

Apple Calendar and Reminders

Calendar events and reminders appear beside the daily note. Checking off a reminder in NotePlan also checks it off in Apple Reminders.

Time blocking

Drag a task onto the timeline to turn it into a time block next to your meetings, so you can see what fits in the day.

Project notes and kanban

Project notes hold briefs, decisions and next steps, link to daily work in both directions, and can be grouped into columns as a kanban board.

Plain Markdown files

Notes are plain Markdown files on your device that work offline and can be taken out as one folder. Sync uses your own iCloud account.

Spaces

Shared workspaces for teams or families with shared daily and weekly notes, folders and kanban boards, usable in the apps or in a browser.

Octarine

Markdown files you keep

Notes are plain Markdown files in a workspace folder you pick, and core note-taking works offline. Files sync through any file-sync service or the built-in Git sync to GitHub or GitLab.

Daily Desk

Daily and weekly notes are part of the free plan, and unfinished tasks from yesterday's note can be moved into today's without copying.

Links, backlinks and graph

Wikilinks can point at a note or a single heading and carry an alias. Backlinks and mentions are listed in their own sheet, and a graph view maps the workspace.

Properties and Views

On Pro, Note Types start new notes with a set of properties, and Views filter, sort and group notes by any property in a table or kanban layout.

Quick Capture and Inbox

A Spotlight-style window opens over any app to take down a thought, which lands in an Inbox to be sorted into notes later.

Ask Octarine and Writing Assistant

On Pro, a chat over your notes can create, update and move notes, and an assistant rewrites text inline. Both need your own API key or a local LLM.

NotePlan

• Individual$8.33

  per month, billed annually ($99); $12 billed monthly

  Full access on Mac, iPad, iPhone and the web, with calendar and reminders, iCloud sync, Spaces, plugins, themes and templates.

• Small Team$19.99

  per month, for up to 5 members

  One shared subscription and a single invoice for up to 5 members. Guests invited to a Space are not billed.

• Business Team$69.99

  per month, for up to 25 members

  The same shared subscription and single invoice for up to 25 members.

Octarine

• Personal$0

  WYSIWYG editor, unlimited workspaces, daily and weekly notes, graph view, full-text search, templates, Mermaid diagrams, 4 themes and txt export.

• Pro$79

  one-time purchase

  Adds properties, filtered views, note types, focus mode, note sharing, AI tools, 30+ themes and PDF, HTML and DOCX export. One key works on 3 devices at a time.

NotePlan

• Annual discount

  Save 31% with annual billing

  The annual plan is $99 a year, which works out to $8.33 a month against $12 on the monthly plan. NotePlan labels this a 31% saving.

• Other savings

  Team subscriptions for 5 or 25 members

  A shared subscription covers up to 5 members for $19.99 a month or up to 25 for $69.99, which NotePlan says is cheaper than separate individual subscriptions.

Octarine

No public discounts listed.