---
title: "The Sealed Journal vs Diarium"
description: "Diarium is the best of the buy-once diary apps — features included. The Sealed Journal is buy-once with the features removed. An honest comparison."
canonical: "https://sealedjournal.com/j/vs-diarium"
updatedAt: "2026-08-11"
category: "Comparisons"
---

# The Sealed Journal vs Diarium.

_Two one-time purchases. Two ideas of what a journal is._

Let's say the kind thing first: Diarium may be the app we'd point you to if we didn't exist and you wanted features. Buy once per platform, no account, no subscription, sync through your own cloud if you choose. It even pulls in your calendar, your fitness data, your social feeds, so the day documents itself.

That last sentence is where we part ways. The Sealed Journal doesn't pull in anything. No feeds, no ratings, no integrations, no map view — the day does not document itself, because the point is what happens when you have to.

Diarium documents the day. The Sealed Journal empties the head. Both of us refuse the subscription model; the kinship ends at the feature list.

## The facts, side by side

| | Diarium | The Sealed Journal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing model | One-time purchase, per platform | One-time purchase |
| Current price | Windows (incl. Pro): $9.99 once · macOS (in-app purchase): $9.99 once · iOS / Android (in-app purchase): ~$4.99 once | One purchase: $24 (rising to $29) once |
| Free tier | Free tier on non-Windows platforms | No — a live demo, then one price |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Any modern browser, any operating system |
| Account required | No — No account required | No — no account, ever |
| Cloud sync | Optional — Optional sync through your own cloud (OneDrive, Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, WebDAV) | No sync, no server — a single offline HTML file |
| Encryption | Not a client-side passphrase model | AES-256-GCM client-side, PBKDF2 at 600,000 iterations |

Diarium prices verified 11 August 2026. Source: https://diariumapp.com

## Questions

### Which one should I actually buy?

If you want a record of what happened — where you went, what you did, synced across platforms — buy Diarium; it's excellent at that. If you want a place to think that asks nothing of you, that's what we make.

### Diarium syncs through my own cloud. Isn't that private enough?

It's a reasonable arrangement — your data, your cloud account. It is still a copy of your diary resting on someone's servers. Ours never syncs; the only copies are ciphertext exports you place yourself.

### How do the licenses differ?

Diarium is purchased per platform. The Sealed Journal is one purchase covering up to three of your personal devices, because it's one file, not four apps.

## Price

The Sealed Journal is a one-time purchase of $24 (introductory price, rising to $29). No subscription, no account, lifetime updates, 30-day refund. Buy at https://sealedjournal.com/#pricing

## Elsewhere

- Hub: Comparisons — https://sealedjournal.com/journals/comparisons
- All journals — https://sealedjournal.com/journals
- HTML version of this page — https://sealedjournal.com/j/vs-diarium