Compare

Curio vs. Craft

Two beautifully made note apps with very different shapes. Craft builds polished, page-based documents you can share and publish. Curio spreads your work out on a freeform canvas with real project management. Here’s the honest comparison.

What is Curio?

Curio is a native Mac notebook built around freeform idea spaces — canvases where notes, mind maps, lists, tables, kanban boards, images, and documents all live side by side. Your projects are files on your Mac, not pages in someone else’s cloud.

What is Craft?

Craft is a document and note app known for its polished design and block-based editing. You write beautiful, structured pages with nested blocks, daily notes, and easy sharing or web publishing. It runs on Mac, iOS, iPadOS, Windows, Android, and the web, syncing through Craft’s cloud, with an option to store documents in iCloud Drive.

Choose Curio if…

  • You think spatially — you want a freeform canvas to arrange ideas anywhere, not a linear stack of blocks on a page.
  • You want visual brainstorming tools built in: mind maps, kanban boards, lists, and tables as figures you drag around.
  • You manage real projects: tasks with dates, checklists, statuses, and a built-in Organizer to see it all.
  • You want everything for a project in one place — PDFs, images, and web links dropped in as figures.
  • You want local .curio project files — private, offline-ready, and yours, with no account required.
  • You want a CLI and MCP support, so AI agents can work alongside you.

Choose Craft if…

  • You mostly write documents and want them to look beautiful with minimal effort.
  • You share or publish polished pages to the web for others to read.
  • You want tight iOS and iPadOS parity, not a Mac-only app.
  • You like a daily-notes workflow and a tidy nested page hierarchy.
  • You collaborate with a team in shared spaces.

At a glance

Curio Craft
Platform Native macOS app Mac, iOS, Windows, Android, web
Where your work lives Local files on your Mac Craft’s cloud (or iCloud Drive)
Freeform canvas ✓ —
Built-in mind maps ✓ —
Kanban boards ✓ —
Bi-directional links & backlinks ✓ plus typed references (Agree, Evidence, …) ✓
Web publishing & sharing — ✓
Real-time team collaboration — ✓
Rich text & Markdown Both native, with wikilinks & table formulas Blocks with Markdown shortcuts
Works offline Always Yes
AI agent access CLI + MCP server —
Pricing Free 2-week trial, then one-time license or subscription Free tier, then per-user monthly plans

See your ideas, not just your notes

Curio has helped Mac users brainstorm, organize, and manage projects visually for over 25 years. Take the tour, or just try it — every feature is unlocked for 2 weeks.

Learn More About Curio or download the free 2-week trial
A Curio idea space with markdown notes, a mind map, images, and a kanban board arranged on a freeform canvas.

Craft is a trademark of Craft Docs Limited, Inc. Zengobi is not affiliated with or endorsed by Craft Docs Limited, Inc. This comparison reflects our honest understanding as of July 2026 — see craft.do for their current features and pricing. Spot something out of date? Let us know.