# Octarine vs NotePlan

Notes and project tasks vs a calendar-first planner

Last reviewed: 2026-11-04
Web page: https://octarine.app/compare/noteplan

NotePlan and Octarine both keep notes and tasks as markdown files. The difference is how they organize your work: NotePlan by day, Octarine by project.

NotePlan is built around your calendar. Events, scheduled tasks, and daily and weekly notes sit side by side, so you can plan the day, time-block it, and write in the same place. It runs on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and the web, with built-in AI that includes voice transcription.

Octarine is built around writing and connected notes, with Tasks for project work: projects with their own task IDs, a list or board, subtasks, optional cycles, and saved filters. A checkbox in a note can become a task, and tasks link back to notes. It runs on Windows and Linux too, and costs $79 once instead of $99 a year. If your day runs from the calendar, NotePlan does that well, and Octarine doesn't try to.

- Moving from NotePlan: https://octarine.app/docs/importing/noteplan

## Comparison

"Yes", "No", and "Partly" are the status shown on the web page; any text after the colon is the note shown with it.

### Files

| Feature | Octarine | NotePlan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Plain-text markdown files | Yes | Yes |

### Planning

| Feature | Octarine | NotePlan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Daily and weekly notes | Yes: Natural-language dates | Yes |
| Calendar events beside notes | No | Yes |
| Project-based tasks | Yes: Projects, list or board, cycles (Pro) | Tasks live in project notes; group by note, heading, or tag |
| Kanban board for tasks | Yes: By status or bucket | Yes: By note, heading, or tag |
| Tasks scheduled onto days, with rollover | No: Due dates and cycles instead | Yes |
| Time blocking | No | Yes |

- Project-based tasks: Tasks groups work into projects with statuses, priorities, labels, due dates, subtasks, saved filters, and optional cycles. Each task is a Markdown file in your workspace, and a checkbox in a note can become a task.

### Writing and organization

| Feature | Octarine | NotePlan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Wiki-links and backlinks | Yes | Yes |
| Graph view | Yes | No |
| Views | Yes: Tables, Kanban, and graphs (Pro) | Task views |
| Plugins | No: Features are built in | Yes |

- Views: Views show notes and their properties as filtered tables, Kanban boards, or graphs.

### AI

| Feature | Octarine | NotePlan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Built-in AI | Yes: Your own key or a local model (Pro) | Yes: OpenAI, with voice transcription |

- Built-in AI: Ask Octarine searches, reads, and follows links across your notes to answer questions. The Writing Assistant edits inline. Indexing stays on your device.

### Platforms

| Feature | Octarine | NotePlan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Desktop | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS |
| iPhone and iPad | Partly: TestFlight for Pro users | Yes |
| Web app | No | Yes |

### Plans

| Feature | Octarine | NotePlan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | Yes: Core features, no time limit | No |
| Paid | Pro $79 one-time | $99 / year or $12 / month |

## Sources

Compared against NotePlan's pricing page and help center, and Octarine 0.56 for Tasks. Both apps store notes as markdown, so the comparison centers on planning features, platforms, and price.

- [NotePlan pricing](https://noteplan.co/pricing)
- [NotePlan AI features](https://help.noteplan.co/article/210-ai-features)
- [NotePlan import and export](https://help.noteplan.co/article/70-how-to-import-export-notes)
- [NotePlan Tasks Kanban (v3.17)](https://noteplan.co/changelog/v3.17)
- [Octarine Tasks](https://octarine.app/features/tasks)

Product names belong to their owners; no affiliation or endorsement is implied. Corrections: https://octarine.app/compare/noteplan has a "Suggest a correction" link.