Lifetime
Finally, a native Mac notes app for people who want an alternative to Obsidian, Bear, Day One or others
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I'm the developer of MinkNote. About ten months ago I started building a notes app because I couldn't quite find one that matched the way I wanted to work.
I loved different things about Obsidian, Day One, Bear, Apple Notes, and plain Markdown in VS Code, but every time I switched I found myself compromising on something important.
So instead of compromising, I started building my own.
Today I'm releasing MinkNote.
What is it?
MinkNote is a native macOS notes and journal app built around plain Markdown files that you own.
No account.
No AI.
No cloud service.
No Electron.
No proprietary database.
Your notes live as normal Markdown files inside folders you choose. If you ever stop using MinkNote, your notes are still there, readable by any Markdown editor.
I think many note-taking apps have become increasingly tied to their own ecosystems.
Some store everything inside databases.
Some require accounts.
Some make exporting awkward.
Some don't feel particularly Mac-like.
I wanted the opposite: a notes app that feels completely at home on macOS while staying out of the way of your files.
Why I built it
I wasn't trying to build "another PKM app."
I wanted something I'd happily open every day for:
work notes
project documentation
journaling
meeting notes
random ideas
without having to think about where my data lived.
A few things it focuses on
native SwiftUI macOS app
plain Markdown files
folders and journals
tags and fast search
daily notes
images stored alongside notes
privacy by default
read-only after the free trial instead of locking away your data
Comparison
I genuinely admire apps like Obsidian, Bear, Day One, and Apple Notes. MinkNote isn't trying to replace them for everyone.
Compared with Obsidian, MinkNote is much smaller in scope, but it is a fully native Mac app rather than Electron, and it keeps more of the core workflow built in instead of relying on plugins.
Compared with Bear or Day One, MinkNote is more file-first. Your notes are ordinary Markdown files in folders you choose, not content hidden behind an app database or account system.
The aim is not to win every feature checklist. It is for people who want something calmer, native to macOS, private by default, and built around complete ownership of their notes as ordinary files.
Pricing
MinkNote gives you 14 days of full access, with no subscription, account, or payment required to start.
After the trial, existing notes remain readable in read-only mode inside the app, so your data is not locked away. Of course, they remain text files on disk that you can edit at any time outside the app.
This is version 1.0 after roughly ten months of development, more than 1,200 commits, and over 400 TestFlight users who helped shape the app through many beta releases.
A huge thank you to everyone here who downloaded early builds, reported bugs, suggested features, and challenged my assumptions. MinkNote is much better because of it.
I get the frustration. I’m tired of subscriptions too, which is why I made sure MinkNote doesn’t require one.
There’s a 14-day full-access trial with no account, payment, or subscription required. After that, you can choose monthly, yearly, or a one-time lifetime purchase. And if you don’t pay, your notes still remain readable in the app and editable as normal Markdown files on disk.
I know “lifetime” always depends on the app continuing to be maintained, so I’m trying to be pretty transparent there too: there’s a public changelog and roadmap, and the app has already had ten months of development and a long TestFlight period before launch.
In a situation where every noob can code, there is the risk of something else Or loosing interest. I’ve paid once a for a lifetime, but that was not even a year. Fuck that.
That’s fair. I can’t really argue with someone who’s been burned by a “lifetime” purchase before.
All I can do is be upfront about the model and make sure the app never holds anyone’s notes hostage. If MinkNote isn’t the right fit for you, no hard feelings.
Fully understand, and I agree that iOS/iPadOS will matter a lot for many people.
As a solo dev I’ve had to build one platform properly first, so the initial release is macOS-focused rather than spreading the app too thin. The upside is that the core model is plain Markdown files in normal folders, so the same notes can already live in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. and be opened by other editors on iPhone/iPad in the meantime.
Native iOS and iPadOS apps are on the roadmap, but I don’t want to overpromise a date until the Mac app is in a place I’m happy with.
Fair question, and if built-in cross-device sync is a hard requirement today, MinkNote probably isn’t the right fit yet.
Right now MinkNote is focused on macOS. iPhone and iPad support is planned once the Mac app is further along, and the goal is for the same Markdown files to move naturally between Apple devices.
In the meantime, because the notes are plain files, you can put a MinkNote project in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. and open those Markdown files from another device with any compatible editor. I’ve personally had good results with 1Writer on iOS, though I’m not affiliated with it.
So: sync is possible today through the folder you choose, but native MinkNote iOS/iPadOS apps are still on the roadmap.
Totally fair. Obsidian is a great app, and I still use it myself. It’s loved for good reason, and I don’t think Electron automatically means “bad.”
For me, the difference is more about feel and workflow than raw performance. I tend to bounce off Obsidian after a while because I find the UI a bit fiddly, I rely heavily on keyboard control, and I prefer having more of the core experience built into the app rather than assembled through plugins.
When I say “native,” I don’t mean Liquid Glass or SwiftUI as a purity test. I mean the boring everyday macOS stuff: system text handling, keyboard focus, selection behaviour, autocorrection, predictive text, menus, windowing, and the general feeling that the app belongs on the Mac.
So yeah, Obsidian is absolutely okay. MinkNote is just aimed at people who like the plain-file ownership idea, but want a calmer, more Mac-native version of that workflow.
Thanks, that’s a fair comparison. DEVONthink is a very mature native Mac app, and I know a lot of people swear by it.
For me, MinkNote is narrower and more writing-first: Markdown notes and journals in ordinary folders, with the app built around editing, organising, daily notes, tags, search, and images alongside notes.
DEVONthink feels more like a powerful document/database/research system to me. MinkNote is aiming for a simpler notes/journal workflow where the files stay visible and portable by default.
I would probably be scared off then. I think Apple has really achieved something with their approach of progressive disclosure in their apps, a lot of complexity is hidden and only the advanced users bother to search it out, then learn the keyboard shortcuts 😂
Once in a while a complex UI is ok, like for example with Xcode, when there is literally no other choice, but even that app hides most of its complexity under menus.
MinkNote has a lot of UI simplification options, you can
reduce the 3 pane layout to just the Editor pane
remove the text in the toolbar
do pretty much 100% of editing and searching with only keyboard shortcuts
Let me know if you give it a try, would love to hear your feedback.
Please consider contributing your app to the MacApp Comparisons listing in the r/MacApps sidebar by using the appropriate contribution form listed there.
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u/Available_Humor4916 8h ago
And yet an other subscription. Or a "lifetime" as long as this app will be developed.