Does the job, stays out of the way
No plugins to research. No templates to set up. Just a private place to capture thoughts while you work, with search that actually finds what you're looking for.
| Feature | Diff | Obsidian | Notion | Apple Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design | Small floating window, built for focus | Full-screen app that demands context switching | Heavy workspace designed for teams | Standard window, requires window management |
| Storage | Fully local | Local, with optional paid cloud sync | Cloud-based | Local, synced free up to 5GB |
| Setup | Ready in 60 seconds | Hours spent finding the right plugins | Encourages diving into productivity rabbit holes | Works well out of the box, but limited in scope |
| Search | Finds what you meant, not what you typed | Keyword only without plugins | Keyword; AI search costs $20/month | Keyword only |
| Formatting | Markdown, optimised for dev notes | Markdown | Markdown + proprietary blocks | No Markdown support |
| Integrations | GitHub, Linear, Slack built-in | Risks breaking your setup when community plugin stops working | Some (eg. no Github support) | None |
| Cost | £20 (one-time payment) | Free, $4-18/month for sync | Free, but $10-20/month for useful features | Free, but limited to 5GB |
Design
Storage
Setup
Search
Formatting
Integrations
Cost
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens after the free trial?+
After your 7-day trial ends, your access to Diff will pause. We will not charge you automatically. You'll have to purchase the lifetime license to continue using Diff.
Is this really a lifetime license?+
Yes! Pay once, own software forever. You'll get all future updates and features at no additional cost.
What platforms do you support?+
Diff is built only for MacOS, and we are not planning to support other platforms at present.
Where is my data stored?+
All your notes are store locally, and never sent outside your machine (unless using external AI providers).
Do you support Ollama?+
Yes! You can use Ollama to keep your notes 100% private. However, currently no Ollama models provide multimodal support, so you won't be able to search through images.
Stay in flow, when the world says go
Join developers who spend time building great things, not configuring their plugins.
Download for Mac