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DIRECTORY

Best Journal Writing Apps in 2025

Showing 49 writing apps that match your search.

Zoho Writer is a fully-featured word processor on the cloud, designed for collaborative work that gives you everything you need to create powerful documents. With a clean UI, intuitive interface and document modes, it introduces you to a new way of writing.

Platforms: Android, Windows, PC, iPad, iPhone

Best for: Drafting, Book, Essay, Journal, Poetry, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.zoho.com/writer/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Focus mode & Night mode

Auto save

An AI-powered writing assistant

Hundreds of templates

★★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 3.4 on Google Play

A minimalist writing zone, where you can block out all distractions and get to what's important. The writing! To get started, all you need to do is delete this text (seriously, just highlight it and hit delete), and fill the page with your own fantastic words. You can even change the title!

Platforms: Online, Chrome

Best for: Drafting, Book, Story, Poetry, Journal, Essay, and Free

Website: https://zenpen.io/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Minimalist interface

Full screen

Dark mode

★★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Diarly is built for the best journaling experience. With every feature you will need and a beautiful interface, starting a journal has never been so simple.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: https://diarly.app/

Base price:

$2.00 monthly

Premium price:

Built-in gallery and maps

Timeline

Notes

Custom fonts and templates

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.8 on the App Store

The human brain is non-linear: we jump from idea to idea, all the time. Your second brain should work the same. In Obsidian, making and following connections is frictionless. Tend to your notes like a gardener; at the end of the day, sit back and marvel at your own knowledge graph.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, PC

Best for: Note-taking, Outlining, Journal, Book, Story, Essay, Poetry, Blog, and Free

Website: https://obsidian.md/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$5.00 one-time payment

Link pages

Graph view

Customizable with backlinked notes

Performance

Features

Accessibility

Value

Also rated 4.0 on TechRadar

Pages is a powerful word processor that lets you create stunning documents, and comes included with most Apple devices. And with real-time collaboration, your team can work together from anywhere, whether they’re on Mac, iPad, iPhone, or a PC.

Platforms: iPad, Mac, iPhone

Best for: Drafting, Book, Essay, Journal, Poetry, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.apple.com/pages/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Full feature word processor

Track changes

Syncs across devices

Offline collaberation

★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 3.6 on the App Store

Black Note is the black theme's notepad. It's the simple notes app.

Platforms: Android

Best for: Note-taking, Story, Book, Blog, Journal, Poetry, and Free

Website: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=notepad.not...

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Dark mode only

Sticky notes

★★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.8 on Google Play

Freedom blocks distractions across all your Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and Chrome devices so you don’t have to fight off the temptation of distracting pings, notifications, headlines, and emails.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad, Chrome, Online, PC

Best for: Productivity, Journal, Book, Story, Essay, Poetry, Blog, and Free

Website: https://freedom.to/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$2.50 monthly

Block the entire Internet

See the time you spend on sites

Set your daily limits on sites

★★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.4 on Google Play

Note down, shape, & share your ideas with the world's best loved digital paper. Fall in love with handwriting all over again with Goodnotes’ digital ink.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Drafting, Book, Story, Journal, and Poetry

Website: https://www.goodnotes.com/

Base price:

$8.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

Search your handwriting

Annotate PDFs

Organize with folders and subfolders

Personlize notebooks

★★★★ Performance

★★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.8 on the App Store

Notes is the best place to jot down quick thoughts or to save longer notes filled with checklists, images, web links, scanned documents, handwritten notes, or sketches. And with iCloud, it's easy to keep all your devices in sync, so you’ll always have your notes with you.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, Book, Story, Essay, Poetry, Blog, and Free

Website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notes/id1110145109

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Create checklists

Add tables

Search in texts and scanned documents

★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

Also rated 3.3 on the App Store

LibreOffice is a free and powerful office suite, and a successor to OpenOffice.org (commonly known as OpenOffice). Its clean interface and feature-rich tools help you unleash your creativity and enhance your productivity.

Platforms: Mac, Windows, PC

Best for: Drafting, Book, Essay, Journal, Poetry, Story, Blog, and Free

Website: https://www.libreoffice.org/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Full-feature word processor

Customizable fonts and other styles

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on TechRadar

Chapters lets you manage multiple notebooks, each fully searchable and with its own settings. Keep a personal journal, a photo diary, notes about that project at work, and a travel journal in a single app.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: http://slidetorock.com/apps/Chapters-iPad-notebooks.html

Base price:

$1.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

Password protected

Color code

Fast search

Create backup files

★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on the App Store

Simple. Effective. Personal. Keep life moments and ideas always with you. Diaro is here to help.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, and Free

Website: https://diaroapp.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Search entires by tags or location

Sync across devices

Multi window mode

★★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.6 on Google Play

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