Penzu alternative
A Penzu alternative you keep the file of.
Both are journals you write in a browser, and both are private by intent. The difference is where the writing ends up: Penzu keeps it on Penzu's servers, and Daybook keeps it in one plain file you own, in your own Google Drive on Daybook Lifetime.
Open in your browserStart writingFree on one device. No account, no sign-up, nothing to agree to.
If you only read one paragraph
The short answer
Daybook is a journalling app you buy once for $29, with no account at all, where the whole journal is a single plain file kept on your device and, on Daybook Lifetime, in your own Google Drive. Penzu is a free web journal with a Pro subscription at $19.99 a year and a higher Pro+ tier, and your entries live in a Penzu account on Penzu's servers. Choose Penzu if you want an account you can reach from any borrowed computer. Choose Daybook if you want the file itself.
Side by side
What is actually different
| Daybook | Penzu | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | $29 once, for life. Free on one device. | Free tier, then Pro at $4.99 a month or $19.99 a year, with a higher Pro+ tier. |
| Five years of writing | $29 | $99.95 on Pro, at today's price |
| Where your entries live | One plain file, daybook.json, on your device, and in your own Google Drive on Daybook Lifetime. | In a Penzu account, on Penzu's servers. |
| Account required | None. You sign in to your own Drive only if you want more than one device. | Yes. The account is how you reach your journal at all. |
| Reading it without the app | Open the file in any text editor. | Export first, then open the export. |
| If the company stops | The file is already yours, on your device and, on Lifetime, in your Drive. | Whatever you exported before it did. |
| Locking a single entry | No. The journal is one file, and your device's own lock is the lock. | Yes, with per-entry passwords, and stronger encryption on the paid tiers. |
| Works offline | Yes, installed to the home screen, with no signal at all. | Limited. It is a hosted journal and expects a connection. |
| Streaks, reminders, badges | None of them, ever. | Reminders by email, if you want them. |
| Where it runs | Any current browser: iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux. | Web, iPhone and Android. |
Said plainly
Where Penzu is the better app
An account you can reach from any machine is a real feature, not a compromise. Sit at a borrowed computer, sign in, and your journal is there, with no file to carry and no device to have brought with you. Penzu also locks individual entries behind their own passwords, which Daybook does not do at all, and it has been doing this since 2008.
If what you want is a journal that lives in an account rather than on a device, Penzu is built for exactly that and Daybook is built against it.
Also said plainly
Where Daybook is
Nothing you write reaches us, because there is nowhere for it to go. It is one plain file on your device, and on Daybook Lifetime the same file in your own Google Drive, under the narrowest access Google grants. No accounts, no analytics, no tracking. It also writes with no signal, which a hosted journal cannot.
And it is bought once. Five years of Penzu Pro is $99.95 at today's price; Daybook is $29 and then nothing, and what you are left holding at the end of it is a file rather than a login.
Before you move anything
What switching actually involves
Daybook does not import a Penzu archive. Export from Penzu first and keep that export, it is yours, and it opens without either app. Then start Daybook on today. If your Penzu entries are locked individually, unlock what you want to keep before exporting, because a locked entry exports as something you will need Penzu to read.
Bought once, not rented
$29, and then nothing
Daybook Local is free on one device, with no time limit and nothing held back for a trial. Daybook Lifetime is $29 once, for every device you own, and adds sync and automatic backup into your own Google Drive. Thirty days to change your mind, refunded in full, no reason asked.
Asked by people leaving a hosted journal
Questions
Is there a free Penzu alternative?
Daybook Local is free on one device, with no time limit and no feature held back except sync between devices. Penzu's free tier is also genuinely usable. The difference is not the price of the free tier but where the entries sit: yours on your device, or yours in a Penzu account.
Does Penzu store my journal on its servers?
Yes. Penzu is a hosted journal: the account is what you sign in to, and the entries are held for you so that you can reach them from any machine. Daybook has no account and no journal server: the file is on your device, and on Daybook Lifetime in your own Google Drive.
Which one works without a connection?
Daybook. Install it to your home screen and it writes on a plane, in a tunnel, or with the signal off entirely, because nothing it needs to open today's page is on a network. A hosted journal expects a connection by design.
Can I lock a single entry, like Penzu does?
No, and that is a real gap. Penzu locks individual entries behind their own passwords. Daybook has one journal in one file, and the lock on it is the lock on your device and your Google account. If per-entry passwords are what you came for, Penzu has them and Daybook does not.
Can I keep my old Penzu entries?
Yes, but not inside Daybook. Export them from Penzu and keep the export; unlock any locked entries first, or you will need Penzu to read them later. Daybook has no importer for that archive and starts you on today's page.
What about Day One or Journey?
Day One is a subscription at $49.99 a year with a $74.99 AI tier. Journey is $49.99 a year with a $199 lifetime. Both are set out row by row on their own pages: the Day One comparison and the Journey comparison. Diarium, the other app here that is bought once rather than rented, has its own page too.
Today is already open.
No account neededOpen today's pageFree on one device, forever. The whole of what Daybook is.