Notes you buy once, and keep
Almost every notes app now rents you access to your own writing. Bear charges for sync. Notion charges per seat. NotePlan is $99 a year. TaskForge is free to use, and if you want the premium parts it's $49.99 one time. Your notes are markdown files on your device either way, so nothing is hostage to a lapsed payment.
- Notes and the markdown editor: free, no time limit
- Premium: $49.99 once, or $19.99 a year if you prefer
- No account, no server, nothing to cancel
The question nobody puts on a pricing page
With a subscription notes app, a lapsed payment usually means read-only access, or an export button and a folder of files in a shape only that app understood. With TaskForge there is nothing to lapse. Notes and the markdown editor are free with no expiry, and if a premium purchase somehow vanished tomorrow, every note and every task would still be a plain .md file in the folder you chose, readable in any text editor on earth.
The last line is the one that matters.
What free actually covers
The whole notes app
The file tree, the block editor, raw source view with editable frontmatter, daily notes with templates, wikilink resolution, the broken-link scan, folder and file management with trash. None of it is behind a paywall on any platform.
Task management
Due dates, scheduled and start dates, priorities, recurrence, subtasks, dependencies, custom statuses, notifications, and search. The everyday app is the free app.
Seeing your calendar
Day, week, and month views, and your device's calendar events shown alongside your tasks, are free. This is worth stating because our own copy used to get it wrong: viewing was never premium.
What premium adds
Custom lists and spaces with AND/OR filtering, and creating, editing, or dragging calendar events. That is the whole list. $49.99 once covers it for good, on iPhone, iPad, and Mac together, and there's a one-week trial.
No account to make
There is no sign-up, no email, no password reset. The app has never had a login screen because there is no server for it to log in to.
A subscription if you actually want one
Some people would rather spread the cost or try a longer run before committing, so $19.99 a year and $1.99 a month exist. They unlock exactly the same features. Most people should take the one-time purchase.
The arithmetic, over five years
TaskForge premium is $49.99 and then nothing. Bear Pro is about $30 a year, so roughly $150. NotePlan is $99 a year, so roughly $495. Notion is billed per person per month above its free tier. Prices move and these are approximations, but the shape does not change: a subscription's second year is where the gap starts, and it never closes again.
Free is a tier, not a countdown
Nothing on the free tier expires, degrades, or starts nagging. There is no note limit, no device limit, and no read-only mode waiting at the end of a trial. The separate one-week premium trial exists so you can test custom lists and calendar editing before deciding; it does not touch anything else.
What you are actually buying
Two things: custom lists and spaces with AND/OR filtering, and creating or editing calendar events. If neither is something you want, the honest answer is that you should not buy it, and the app keeps working.
Where a subscription app has the edge
One-time pricing is a real trade, not a free lunch.
No hosted sync included
Subscriptions pay for servers, and a subscription app usually gives you sync that just works. TaskForge has none, so syncing is your iCloud Drive, Obsidian Sync, or whatever else moves that folder between devices. That's cheaper and more private, and it is one more thing you set up yourself.
No web access and no collaboration
Running no servers also means no browser version and no sharing a note with someone. If you need either, a subscription product is the honest answer.
Development is funded differently
A one-time purchase means new users fund new work, so features arrive when they arrive. A subscription buys a more predictable roadmap. Worth knowing which you're choosing.
Pricing questions
Is the free version a trial?
No. It has no time limit and no nag screen. Notes, the markdown editor, daily notes, task management, and calendar viewing stay free. There's a separate one-week trial if you want to test the premium features.
What exactly is premium?
Custom lists and spaces, and creating or editing calendar events. Everything else in the app is free.
Does the one-time purchase cover all my devices?
One purchase covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac together through Apple's universal purchase. Android and Windows are purchased on their own stores.
What happens to my notes if I never pay?
Nothing. They're .md files in a folder you chose, and the app reads and writes them the same either way.
Will you switch to a subscription later?
A one-time purchase already made stays honored. That's the point of selling one.
How does this compare to Bear, Notion, or NotePlan?
Bear is about $30 a year for sync, Notion is priced per seat, and NotePlan is $99 a year. TaskForge is $49.99 once, so the comparison depends mostly on how long you plan to keep using it.
Do I need an account to use the free tier?
No. There is no account at any tier. The app has never had a sign-up screen because there is no server behind it.
If I buy it and then reinstall, do I pay again?
No. Restore the purchase through your store account the way you would with any other app. There is a customer center in Settings if a restore does not go through.
Is the Android or Windows purchase separate?
Yes. Apple's universal purchase covers iPhone, iPad, and Mac together; Google Play and the Windows build are bought on their own stores.
Buy it once, or don't buy it at all.
Free to download and free to use. No account, and nothing that renews.