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DIRECTORY

Best Journal Writing Apps in 2025

Showing 49 writing apps that match your search.

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

Ignite your creativity. Coach your brain to think creatively & spark brilliant ideas at work and in life.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad

Best for: Outlining, Journal, and Free

Website: https://brainsparker.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Creative card decks

Templates

Creative workouts

★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★ Accessibility

★★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.7 on the App Store

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

Elevate your writing, create beautiful documents, and collaborate with others—anywhere, anytime.

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

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

Website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/word

Base price:

$6.99 monthly

Premium price:

$9.99 monthly

Sharing and real-time collaboration

Premium templates and stickers

Dictation and transcription

★★★★ Performance

★★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.5 on TechRadar

Get organized. Stay creative. Milanote is an easy-to-use tool to organize your ideas and projects into visual boards.

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

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

Website: https://milanote.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$9.99 monthly

Boards for notes and to-dos

Web clipper

Collaborative functionalities

Integration across platforms

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 3.0 on PC Magazine

Ideas, stories, and life’s events. Capture them in a journal that’s easy to carry and offers more than bound sheets. Chronicle for iPad is about you and your words. Write comfortably and benefit from being able to find anything you wrote with built-in search.

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Mac

Best for: Note-taking and Journal

Website: http://slidetorock.com/apps/Chronicle-for-iPad-journal.html

Base price:

$2.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

Distraction-free writing

Password protect journal entries

Built-in search

★★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.5 on the App Store

Notes are just the beginning. Create and annotate anything, from study guides to storyboards. We've got an intuitive, minimal interface for you to start in seconds.

Platforms: Mac, iPhone, iPad

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

Website: https://notability.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$8.99 one-time payment

Presentation mode

PDF import and annotation

Multimedia notes

Custom stickers

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.7 on the App Store

With Scrittor store all your ideas, thoughts and whatever your mind tells you.

Platforms: Android, Chrome

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

Website: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shahid.nid

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Search notes

Password protection

Arrange notes by categories

Dark and light mode

★★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.4 on Google Play

Mind mapping starts with a main idea in the center of your mind map. As your map takes shape, add context to topics with attachments, embedded media and more. MindMeister’s features guide you through your first mind maps onto maximum creativity.

Platforms: Online, iPhone, iPad, Android

Best for: Outlining, Journal, Poetry, and Free

Website: https://www.mindmeister.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$8.25 monthly

Outline mode & focus mode

Comments and notifications

Collaboration

★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★ Value

Also rated 4.7 on Capterra

FreeOffice 2021 is a complete Office suite with a word processor, a spreadsheet application and a presentation program – all seamlessly compatible with their counterparts in Microsoft Office.

Platforms: Mac, PC, Windows

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

Website: https://www.freeoffice.com/en/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

Full feature word processor

Create and open PDFs

Track changes

★★★★ Performance

★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.0 on TechRadar

From boardroom to lecture hall, project plan to daily diary, Nebo makes note-taking smarter, more efficient and more enjoyable.

Platforms: Android, iPhone, iPad

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, Poetry, and Blog

Website: https://www.nebo.app/

Base price:

$9.99 one-time payment

Premium price:

Write-to-text

Copy-paste to Notes

Mix handwriting with text

★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.3 on the App Store

Apple’s App of the Year with over 15 million downloads and 200,000 5-star ratings globally, Day One has reinvented journaling, letting you record your life as you live it. Securely save audio, video, photos, notes, and more wherever you are, whenever you want.

Platforms: iPad, Mac, iPhone, Android

Best for: Note-taking, Journal, and Free

Website: https://dayoneapp.com/

Base price:

Free

Premium price:

$2.92 monthly

An award-winning interface

Syncs across devices

Automatic backups

Password secured

★★★★★ Performance

★★★★ Features

★★★ Accessibility

★★★★ Value

Also rated 4.8 on the App Store

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