Best Day One alternatives in 2026
The best Day One alternatives right now are Apple Journal if you want free and simple, Diarium if you want a one-time purchase, Journey if you want guided templates, and Natus if what you actually want is a journal that understands how you operate instead of just storing entries. Most people leaving Day One are leaving over price, lost entries, or features moved behind a bigger paywall, so the right pick depends on which of those pushed you out.
What Day One users say in their own reviews
Verbatim from public 1 and 2 star App Store reviews. Day One is rated 4.8 on the App Store overall, so plenty of people are happy. These are the ones who were not.
Too expensive1 star review
$75 for a digital journal??? And....deleted.
But whyyyy?2 star review
So I haven't journaled in a really long time and decided I would open up this app to start back only to be met with a screen asking for $50 or a yearly subscription. I had a free subscription and I am no longer able to access my earlier entries.
Deleted my information1 star review
The app deleted years of journaling with an update. I'm beyond furious that I've lost my written thoughts and memories upon the birth of my daughter.
They took away features that I paid for1 star review
I've been a paying user of Day One for years and have hundreds of entries in this app. I already thought the subscription was expensive.
Time to move on2 star review
Paid user from the beginning, they had no grandfathering when they went to the annoying and oh so tired subscription model and now every time I do anything, it's a prompt for a subscription.
The options
Day One
Best for: people who want the fullest feature set and will pay for it
Still the most complete traditional journal: photos, locations, multiple journals, strong export. But the reviews above are the story of 2025 and 2026: a subscription wall around old entries and features moving to pricier tiers. If you stay, export regularly.
Apple Journal
Best for: a free, private, built-in option
Free and already on your iPhone. But its 1 star reviews are dominated by entries vanishing and no iPad or Mac version, so treat it as a casual journal, not an archive.
Diarium
Best for: a one-time purchase with no subscription
The pick if subscriptions are what pushed you out. Solid sync across devices, strong import options, and you pay once instead of renting your own journal.
Natus(this is us)
Best for: understanding why you keep doing what you do
Natus is a different bet. It is not trying to be a bigger archive. It starts with a First Reading built from your name and birth details, then reads your journal back to you each Sunday in your own words. If the point of journaling for you was never storage, this is the one to try.
If the subscription is the problem
Most Day One complaints are not about the writing. They are about opening the app and finding a paywall between you and your own past entries, or watching features you paid for move to a pricier tier. If that is your reason, look at Diarium or Apple Journal first. Both cost less and neither holds your archive behind a monthly fee.
If you lost entries
Several reviews describe years of entries gone after an update or a phone change. Whatever you switch to, export your Day One archive first. Then pick an app whose job is continuity, not just storage.
If the journal was never the point
A lot of people kept a journal to understand themselves and ended up with a storage bill. Natus is built for that second job. It already knows how you operate before you write a word, so the journal turns into recognition instead of a pile of entries you never reread.
Common questions
- Is there a free alternative to Day One?
- Apple Journal is free and preinstalled on iPhone. Natus has a free tier that includes your First Reading, a five-page Preview, a private journal, and your first Sunday letter. Diarium is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription.
- Can I move my Day One entries to another app?
- Day One supports export, and several reviewers recommend exporting before switching because entries and sync issues are a common complaint. Diarium and Journey both have import tools. Check the export format before you delete anything.
- Why are so many people leaving Day One?
- Reading the 1 and 2 star reviews, three reasons repeat: the subscription price, features moving behind more expensive tiers, and entries lost during updates or sync. The app itself is still well regarded. The business model around it is what people are leaving.