Comparison

WIP Notes vs Antinote: which local Mac notes app fits your work?

Let's start with what we agree on, because it's the important part: both apps believe your notes belong on your Mac. No cloud, no account, no subscription. If you're comparing these two, you've already rejected the Evernotes of the world — good call.

The real difference is what kind of notes you take.

Antinote is a scratchpad. WIP Notes is a workspace.

Antinote is built for fast, disposable capture — the note you need for the next ten minutes. At its price, it's one of the best-value Mac utilities you can buy, and we mean that without irony. WIP Notes is built for work in progress — notes that live for days or weeks while a project is active, and need structure to stay useful: multiple Note Pads, note groups, color labels, rich text, tables, image attachments.

Side by side

 WIP NotesAntinote
Price$27 one-time (5 Macs)~$5 one-time
ModelPerpetual license, 30-day full trialOne-time purchase
StorageLocal SQLite databaseLocal
Cloud / accountNone — zero network requestsNone
Built forStructured work-in-progress notesQuick disposable capture
OrganizationNote Pads, groups, color labelsMinimal by design
Rich text, tables, imagesYesText-focused
ExportMarkdown, PDFText-focused
AI integrationBuilt-in MCP server — Claude/Gemini/ChatGPT read notes locallyNone
PlatformmacOS 14+, Apple Silicon + IntelmacOS

Which one is right for you?

Choose WIP Notes if…

  • Your notes are projects: they accumulate, reference images and tables, and need grouping to stay sane
  • You want the same local-first ethos with room to organize — five times the structure, still one purchase
  • You want your AI assistant to actually know what's in your notes, without anything uploaded

Choose Antinote if…

  • Your notes rarely outlive the hour you wrote them
  • You want the fastest possible capture and nothing else
  • $5 is the right amount to spend on this problem

Or honestly: buy both. They're a combined ~$32, once, forever. Antinote for the next ten minutes; WIP Notes for the next ten days. This is what one-time pricing makes possible — nobody's optimizing your lock-in.

Start the 30-day WIP Notes trial — no card, no account

FAQ

Is WIP Notes a subscription?

No. $27 once, perpetual license, five Macs, free updates. There's no server behind the app, so there's nothing to charge rent for.

Do either of these apps sync to the cloud?

No — that's the point. Both are local-only. WIP Notes makes zero network requests; your notes live in a SQLite database on your Mac, covered by your own backups.

What is the MCP integration?

WIP Notes includes a local MCP server that lets AI assistants you already run — Claude Desktop, Gemini CLI, ChatGPT Desktop — search and read your notes without anything leaving your Mac. See the AI setup guide.

Can I try WIP Notes before buying?

Yes — 30-day full-featured trial, no card or account required.