ScriptumScriptum vs Day One vs Apple Journal
Scriptum is the only one of the three that never asks for an account and keeps your diary on your phone. Its paid plan, Complete, costs $22.99 a year or $2.99 a month, less than half of Day One's cheapest paid plan at $49.99 a year or $8.99 a month. Day One is the most complete if you also want to write on a computer. Apple Journal is free and built in, but only on Apple devices.
| Scriptum | Day One | Apple Journal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free to downloadComplete, yearly$22.99Complete, monthly$2.99First week free on yearly | Free to downloadSilver, yearly$49.99Silver, monthly$8.99Gold, yearly$74.99 | FreeBuilt into iPhone, iPad and Mac |
| Account | ✓ Never needed | Optional, needed for backup and sync | Uses your Apple Account for iCloud sync |
| Where your entries are kept | On your phone, encrypted. On iPhone, also a copy in your own iCloud Drive | On your device. With an account, also on Day One's servers, end-to-end encrypted by default for new journals | On your device and in your iCloud |
| iPhone | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| iPad | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Mac, Windows or web | ✕ | ✓ Mac, Windows and web | ✓ Mac only |
| Photos per entry, free | 1 (up to 10 with Complete) | 1 (up to 30 with a paid plan) | ✓ |
| Voice notes | ✓ With Complete | ✓ With a paid plan | ✓ |
Which one should you pick?
Scriptum if you want a diary nobody else can read, without making an account, on iPhone or Android. It is free to download, and Complete is $22.99 a year or $2.99 a month: less than half the price of Day One's cheapest paid plan. Scriptum is in 15 languages and can bring over your entries from Day One or Daylio.
Day One if you want to write on your phone and your computer, share journals, or use AI features. You need an account for that, and a paid plan: Silver is $49.99 a year or $8.99 a month, Gold is $74.99 a year.
Apple Journal if you only use Apple devices and want something completely free and built in, with suggestions from your photos and places.
Good to know
Scriptum has no analytics. One optional Complete feature, Clean Up, sends the text of one entry to tidy it, only when you tap it, and nothing is stored. The privacy policy explains it.
Day One and Apple Journal facts come from their own websites and were checked on 4 November 2026. Prices are in US dollars and can differ by country.
Sources: Day One pricing · Day One on the US App Store (monthly price) · Day One privacy FAQ · Day One passcode guide · Apple: protect your journal entries
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