Almost every journaling app I tried before building Cozy charged a subscription. $5 a month here, $50 a year there. Software you keep paying rent on to read writing you already did.
Cozy is the other thing. You pay for it once. You own that version. You keep using it.
The price
- Cozy: $35 once. Every Mac and Windows PC you own, with the iPhone and iPad app included.
- iPhone and iPad. In an open beta on TestFlight, free to join while it runs. It'll be $19.99 on its own once it reaches the App Store, and a Cozy key unlocks it either way.
- No subscription. No tiers to renew. No account.
- A year of updates. Cozy includes one year. After that your version keeps working forever, and another year of updates is there if you want one later.
- Students and educators: 40% off. Verify your school email and the code comes straight back to it. Prices are adjusted for your country automatically at checkout.
Why this is possible
Subscription pricing makes sense when the company has to keep something running for you, servers, sync, an account system. Cozy doesn't have any of that. Your journal is a folder of files on your own computer. Nothing on my side has to be up at 3 a.m. for your journal to work.
Because the costs are mostly one-time (build the app, ship the app), the price can be one-time too.
What five years costs
A monthly price hides the total. Here's the same five years, priced the way you'd actually pay it.
| App | Price | Five years |
|---|---|---|
| Cozy | $35 once | $35 |
| Day One Premium | $49.99 a year | $249.95 |
| Journey Membership | $6.99 a month, or $49.99 a year | $249.95 A $199 lifetime option exists, and a $17.99 one-time Premium unlock that leaves out sync. |
| Diarium | around $9.99 once, per platform | $19.98 Two platforms. An optional Premium subscription covers some features and cross-device sync. |
| Apple Journal | free | $0.00 Apple devices only. No Windows version, and no web version. |
Competitor prices checked September 2026. Cozy's own year of updates is included in the $35; a further year is an optional $17, so five years of staying current costs $103 at the very most, and the app keeps working whether you renew or not.
What you actually own
When you buy Cozy, you get an application that opens, writes, and reads files in a folder you choose, on your computer, and on your phone. The folder is your journal. Both the app and the folder live on your own devices.
If I get hit by a bus, the app you have keeps working. If you stop paying, you don't stop paying, there's nothing to stop. The journal is yours.
For people tired of the subscription model
A journal is the last place I want a monthly bill. You keep it for years, ideally decades. Paying rent on something you intend to keep forever has always felt backwards to me. Cozy is the version where you don't.
Related reading: a private journaling app, an offline journaling app, a journal in plain files, and a Day One alternative without a subscription.
“After using Day One for 15 years, I've made the jump to another journaling app… The never ending push to upgrade, AI inclusion and lack of quality updates is just too much. I've moved to Cozy and I'm really enjoying it. Cozy is lightweight, actively being worked on… I had some issues with the import feature and the developer was very responsive, even releasing a fix that same day.”
u/akalanaya