Legend vs Zavala

Legend brings notes, documents, tasks, email, files, outlines, and projects into one productivity interface. Users organize work in Boards made up of Panes, which provide separate work areas and context switching. Panes can show Outline, grouped, List, or Calendar views, and filters can use prefixes, item contents, words, or tags. Writing features include Markdown, formatting hotkeys, backlinks, and mirrors that connect notes with tasks. The Agenda view sorts tasks by priority and date. Legend says it syncs in real time across devices and collaborators, works offline, and resolves changes after devices reconnect. Its privacy policy describes client-side encryption before item data syncs to Firebase, with optional password encryption. The Free plan costs nothing and includes 10 Panes, one plugin sync account, and unlimited documents and items. Basic costs $5 a month billed annually; Pro costs $9 a month billed annually. The Browser Pane is not available in the mobile app, though saved links can open in a browser.

Zavala is a free, open-source outliner for arranging information in related hierarchical rows. Its outlines support note taking, task lists, brainstorming, project planning, project management, and documentation. The app works offline and can sync through iCloud, which requires iCloud Drive setup; outlines can also be shared through iCloud for real-time collaboration with other Zavala users. It imports and exports OPML, Markdown, and HTML, can print outlines, and lists PDF among its export formats. A share extension downloads a web page and attempts to convert it into an editable outline, with results depending on that page’s structure. Apple Shortcuts actions support creating, finding, editing, exporting, and manipulating outlines and rows. Locked outlines encrypt rows and images on disk and during iCloud sync with AES-GCM and a 256-bit key, but titles, tags, and some metadata are not encrypted. Zavala runs on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS; current listings require version 26 or later.