# Antinote

> Mac scratchpad for temporary notes, quick math and checklists

Antinote is a Mac scratchpad from Cmd-N Studios for notes that are meant to be thrown away. It opens over any app with a global hotkey, keeps notes as plain text, and turns a note into a calculator, converter, checklist or timer when a keyword is typed on its first line. Notes are stored locally with optional iCloud sync, and can be sent to Apple Notes, Obsidian or Bear. It costs $5 once, with a free trial.

- **Category:** Note-Taking Apps
- **Made by:** Cmd-N Studios Inc.
- **Website:** https://antinote.io
- **Runs on:** macOS
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 9, 2026

## Pricing

Antinote is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $5 one-time purchase.

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** Free trial download with no account needed; the site does not state its length.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Antinote | $5 one-time purchase | A license for the Mac app with lifetime updates and no subscription. Requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. |

Read from https://antinote.io/ on Oct 9, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Antinote before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Free license for charity donors and volunteers** (Other savings): The FAQ says that describing a donation you made or volunteer work you did in the #charity-offer channel on the Antinote Discord earns a free lifetime license. Source: https://antinote.io/

## Key features

- **Swipe-through temporary notes:** A two-finger swipe moves between notes, and swiping past the newest one starts another. Notes can delete themselves, and there are no folders or tags to manage.
- **Plain text with paste cleanup:** Notes are plain text with simple Markdown. Pasting strips formatting, bullets and indentation, pasted links are shortened, and a dropped image becomes text through macOS OCR.
- **Inline math and conversions:** With math on the first line, calculations are worked out as you type beside your own wording. Named variables recalculate, and currencies, crypto, distances and weights convert inline.
- **Checklists, timers and AutoPaste:** Other first-line keywords change what a note does: list makes a checklist, timer runs a stopwatch, countdown or pomodoro, and paste collects everything copied afterwards.
- **Global hotkey and display modes:** Option-A brings the app up from inside any other app. It can live in the Dock, the menu bar or a dropdown, show over full-screen apps and be pinned on top.
- **Export and automation:** A note can be sent to Apple Notes, Obsidian or Bear, or exported as txt, Markdown or PDF. URL schemes, Shortcuts, Raycast, Alfred and JavaScript extensions can drive the app.

## Good for

- Mac users who want a throwaway pad beside their main notes app
- Quick sums, conversions and what-if calculations written in words
- Keyboard-driven users of Raycast or Alfred

## Worth knowing

- It runs on macOS 14 or later only. The vendor plans no Windows or Linux version; an iOS app is in development with an October 2026 release date.
- Notes are plain text with no fonts, colors or styles, and the vendor says very long notes get laggy.
- There are no folders or tags: it is built for short-lived notes that get exported elsewhere when worth keeping.
- iCloud sync, added in version 2.0, is optional and off until switched on; notes otherwise stay in a local SQLite database.

## Works with

Apple Notes, Obsidian, Bear, Raycast, Alfred, Apple Shortcuts, iCloud

**Tags:** Notes, Calculator, Pomodoro timer, One-time purchase, Keyboard-first, Menu bar app, Local-first

## Alternatives

- [Tot](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tot): Seven-note text scratchpad for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/antinote-vs-tot)
- [Heynote](https://toolgpa.com/tools/heynote): Block-based scratchpad for developers on Mac, Windows and Linux. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/antinote-vs-heynote)
- [SideNotes](https://toolgpa.com/tools/sidenotes): Screen-edge notes panel for Mac, with a separate iPhone app. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/antinote-vs-sidenotes)
- [Drafts](https://toolgpa.com/tools/drafts): Quick-capture notes app for Apple devices with text actions. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/antinote-vs-drafts)
- [Strflow](https://toolgpa.com/tools/strflow): Chat-style notes timeline for iPhone, iPad and Mac. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/antinote-vs-strflow)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 9, 2026:

- https://antinote.io/
- https://antinote.io/features
- https://antinote.io/presskit
- https://antinote.io/updates

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/antinote
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).