xotes vs Day One: a diary of your life, or a book of your ideas
A diary of your life, or a book of your ideas.
Day One is one of the best-known journaling apps there is. It has been around for over a decade, and it does one thing very well: it records your life as it happens.
xotes is a journal too, with a different center of gravity. It is a modern commonplace book, a place for the quotes, ideas, and observations worth returning to.
The difference sounds small, but it changes what each app is good at.
The short version
- Choose Day One if you want a rich diary: photos, video, audio, places, and a look back at what you did on this day years ago.
- Choose xotes if you want a book of ideas: the line from a book, the thought it sparked, and a way to find both again.
At a glance
| xotes | Day One | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, unlimited journaling on any device with a browser | Yes, unlimited entries and journals on one device, one photo per entry |
| Paid plans | Core $7/month, Pro $10/month | Silver $49.99/year, Gold $74.99/year |
| Built for | Quotes, ideas, and notes worth keeping | Daily life, moments, and memories |
| Media | Text and photos | Photos, video, audio, and drawings on Silver and Gold |
| Looking back | revisit, one of your entries a day, with on this day first | On This Day memories |
| AI | Sort and Scan on every plan, metered | Daily Chat, summaries, and title suggestions on Gold |
| Apps | Web app that installs to your phone; native iOS and Android coming | Native apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Windows, and web |
Where Day One is stronger
Memories. On This Day, plus calendar, map, and media views, make Day One a rich record of where you were and what you did. xotes has an on this day too, inside revisit, but Day One's is built around photos, places, and events.
Media. Silver and Gold hold up to 30 photos or videos per entry, plus audio recordings with transcription. xotes is built around text, with photos attached.
Native apps everywhere. Day One runs natively on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Android, and Windows. xotes runs in any browser and installs to your home screen, with native apps still coming.
Encryption and print. Day One offers end-to-end encryption on every plan, and it can turn a journal into a printed book.
Where xotes is stronger
Ideas over events. Every xotes entry has room for a source, so a quote stays tied to who said it. Entries are sorted by category and tags, so a line from Seneca and a thought you had on a walk can sit side by side under the same theme.
One tap to organize. Tap Sort and xotes suggests a title, category, and tags for the entry. Day One offers title suggestions on Gold, its $74.99-a-year plan. In xotes, Sort works on every plan, including Free.
Pages from books. Day One can scan text on every plan too. xotes adds Split on Core and Pro: one photographed page with three quotes becomes three separate entries, each sorted on its own.
Every device on Free. Day One Basic works on one device. xotes Free works anywhere you can open a browser.
Your ideas come back. Once a day, revisit shows you one of your own entries again, on every plan. When you wrote something on this date in a past year, it shows that first. Add a note under it, and your second thought sits right next to your first.
Reading mode. xotes lays your entries out like one long article, so your book reads like a book.
Price, side by side
Day One Basic is free. Silver is $49.99 a year and Gold is $74.99 a year.
xotes Free is free with unlimited journaling, 15 Sorts, and 2 Scans a month. Core is $7 a month and Pro is $10 a month. The pricing page has the details.
Can you use both?
Yes, and they split the work cleanly. Day One for the vacation photos and the record of an ordinary Tuesday. xotes for what you learned along the way.
Which one
If you want to remember what happened, Day One is hard to beat. If you want to remember what you thought, start with xotes.
Prices checked October 2026. Check each app's pricing page for current details.