# Curio

> Freeform Mac notebook with mind maps, lists and Kanban

Curio is a Mac notebook app from Zengobi for gathering notes, documents and research on freeform pages called idea spaces. Its built-in collections include mind maps, lists, tables, index cards, pinboards and Kanban boards, with tags, dates and priorities for tracking tasks. Each project is a single local file on your Mac. After a 2-week trial it continues in a free mode limited to 5 idea spaces per project, with paid Standard and Professional editions above that.

- **Category:** Note-Taking Apps
- **Made by:** Zengobi, Inc.
- **Website:** https://www.zengobi.com/curio/
- **Runs on:** macOS
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 6, 2026

## Pricing

Curio has a free plan. Paid plans start at $5 per month, billed yearly ($60), or $99.99 one-time license.

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Free mode after the 2-week trial: Standard features with projects limited to 5 idea spaces. Larger projects open read-only for viewing, exporting and printing.
- **Free trial:** 2-week free trial with all Professional features, no purchase required.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | Standard features for small projects, restricted to 5 idea spaces per project. Larger projects open read-only. |
| Standard subscription | $5 per month, billed yearly ($60); $6 billed monthly | Mac App Store subscription. Everything in Free with an unlimited number of idea spaces. |
| Professional subscription | $6 per month, billed yearly ($72); $8 billed monthly | Mac App Store subscription. Adds Curio CLI and MCP, smart Kanban, table formulas, synced figures, Mermaid diagrams and presentation mode. |
| Standard license key | $99.99 one-time, includes 1 year of updates | Bought from Zengobi's website. The license does not expire, and renewals for another year of updates start at $59.99. |
| Professional license key | $119.99 one-time, includes 1 year of updates | The Professional edition as a one-time purchase. Renewals for another year of updates start at $79.99. |

Read from https://www.zengobi.com/curio/ on Oct 6, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Curio before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Academic pricing on license keys** (Education): Qualifying students, faculty and staff pay $79.99 for a Standard license key or $99.99 for Professional after academic verification. Subscriptions are excluded. Source: https://www.zengobi.com/curio/
- **Two or three months free with yearly billing** (Annual discount): Billed yearly, Standard works out to $5 a month instead of $6 and Professional to $6 instead of $8, which Zengobi describes as 2 and 3 months free. Source: https://www.zengobi.com/curio/
- **20% volume discount for 20 or more licenses** (Other savings): Quantity purchases of 20 or more license keys receive an automatic 20% volume discount at checkout. Source: https://www.zengobi.com/curio/
- **Discounted license renewals** (Other savings): Renewing a license key for another year of updates costs $59.99 to $69.99 for Standard and $79.99 to $89.99 for Professional, depending on the version owned. Source: https://www.zengobi.com/curio/

## Mac App Store prices by country

"Curio Professional", as each country's Mac App Store showed it on Oct 9, 2026. These are the app's prices, not the website's.

| Country | Price | In US dollars |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | $8.00 | |
| United Kingdom | £8.00 | about $10.58 (32% more) |
| Germany | 9,00 € | about $10.09 (26% more) |
| Canada | $10.00 | about $7.03 (12% less) |
| Australia | $12.00 | about $8.38 (about the same) |
| India | ₹ 799 | about $8.26 (about the same) |
| Mexico | $179.00 | about $9.84 (23% more) |
| Turkey | ₺399,99 | about $8.13 (about the same) |
| Indonesia | Rp 129ribu | about $7.21 (10% less) |
| South Africa | R149.99 | about $9.07 (13% more) |

## Key features

- **Freeform idea spaces:** Place text, Markdown, images, PDFs, documents, web links and media anywhere on a page, and divide larger projects into Organizer sections.
- **Integrated collections:** Mind maps, lists, tables, index cards, albums, pinboards, stacks and Kanban boards sit on the same pages and can be nested inside compositions.
- **Task and project metadata:** Items carry checkmarks, percent complete, tags, start and due dates, priorities, ratings and resources, all searchable with queries and filters.
- **Markdown, wikilinks and backlinks:** Markdown text supports equations, tables, checklists and callouts, and wikilinks, backlinks and jump actions connect items across a project.
- **Local project files:** Each project is one local file on your Mac that works offline, with automatic backups and export to PDF, Markdown, HTML, OPML and other formats.
- **AI services and Curio CLI:** The Sleuth research window reaches chat services such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and Professional adds a command line tool with an MCP server for AI agents.

## Good for

- Visual thinkers who plan projects on freeform pages
- Students, writers and researchers collecting notes and documents
- Mac users who want project files stored locally and usable offline

## Worth knowing

- Mac only: Curio 34 runs on macOS 15 Sequoia or later, and the site lists no iPhone, iPad, Windows or web version.
- Free mode restricts a project to 5 idea spaces; larger projects open read-only.
- License keys work only with the website download and subscriptions only with the Mac App Store download.
- A license key includes one year of major updates; later updates need a paid renewal, and academic and volume discounts do not apply to subscriptions.

## Works with

Apple Shortcuts, Apple Calendar, Apple Reminders, DEVONthink, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini

**Tags:** One-time purchase, Local-first, Works offline, Notes, Markdown, Mind mapping, Kanban boards

## Alternatives

- [Heptabase](https://toolgpa.com/tools/heptabase): Visual notes app that arranges linked cards on whiteboards. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/curio-vs-heptabase)
- [Scrintal](https://toolgpa.com/tools/scrintal): Visual note-taking on an infinite canvas of linked docs. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/curio-vs-scrintal)
- [Tinderbox](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tinderbox): Mac tool for mapping, analyzing and sharing notes. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/curio-vs-tinderbox)
- [Milanote](https://toolgpa.com/tools/milanote): Visual boards for organizing creative projects. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/curio-vs-milanote)
- [Obsidian](https://toolgpa.com/tools/obsidian): Markdown note-taking app that keeps your files on your device. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/curio-vs-obsidian)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 6, 2026:

- https://www.zengobi.com/curio/
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/curio-notes-mind-map-kanban/id1475550603?mt=12

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