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Hillnote Review: Local-First Markdown Notes With On-Device AI

·6 min readBy Hans Kuepper · Founder of PromptQuorum · Discovery engine for open-weight & open-source AI

Hillnote (desktop version 0.43.15, released on 30 October 2026) is a Markdown notes workspace for Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android that keeps your files on your own disk and adds local and cloud AI. The free plan covers the editor and local AI; paid yearly plans add synced storage, publishing, routines and heavier cloud-model use. Every statement here comes from the maker's site, its policy pages, GitHub and the store listings.

Key Takeaways

  • Maintenance: desktop version 0.43.15 was released on 30 October 2026 and the iPhone and Android apps were updated on 29 October 2026, so no stale-project warning applies.
  • Cost: a free plan plus two paid yearly plans; the figures are in the Get It table.
  • AI: local models through Ollama and Apple Intelligence, a built-in offline model on iPhone, and optional cloud models.
  • Source: no licence is stated and the GitHub repository holds only a README and release downloads.
  • Maker: an individual developer listed as the App Store seller; the site footer links to a company, Colloqi, without explaining the relationship.

📍 In One Sentence

Hillnote is a local-first Markdown notes workspace for Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android with on-device AI, optional cloud models and optional sync.

💬 In Plain Terms

Your notes are ordinary text files on your own disk; an AI assistant can read and edit them, either with a model on your machine or with a cloud model you choose.

📌Note: This review is based on hillnote.com, its privacy policy, the GitHub releases and the store listings, checked on 1 November 2026. PromptQuorum has not installed, run or benchmarked the app, so speed, note quality and answer quality are not assessed.

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Hillnote is a notes workspace for Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android that stores your work as plain Markdown files on your own device and adds AI on top: local models through Ollama and Apple Intelligence, optional cloud models and optional sync. The App Store lists Rajath Bail as the seller. This review is based on the download page, the pricing page, the privacy policy, the GitHub releases and the store listings, checked on 1 November 2026; PromptQuorum has not tested the app hands-on.

Hillnote Review: Local-First Markdown Notes With On-Device AI

What Is Hillnote?

Hillnote is a workspace app for writing, planning and collecting ideas, built on plain Markdown files that stay on your device. The App Store lists it as "HillNote" in the Productivity category from the seller Rajath Bail, and the first iPhone release dates from 16 June 2026; the site and the apps write the name "Hillnote".

The maker describes it as made for builders, makers, writers and small teams: a Markdown editor, quick notes, built-in chat that reads and edits your files, small HTML tools you can pin as widgets, and a free sync tier across phone and desktop.

Get It

Hillnote is free to download on Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android; the desktop installers are hosted on GitHub, not on the maker's own server.

Option
How to get it
MacHillnote on GitHub Releases, Apple-silicon .dmg or .zip
WindowsHillnote on GitHub Releases, Setup .exe
iPhone and iPadHillnote on the App Store, free with in-app purchases
AndroidHillnote on Google Play
PlansFree $0; Plus $20 per year; Pro $200 per year (US dollars on the maker's site)
Add-ons110,000 extra credits $10 once; 1 GB extra synced storage $10 per year
Websitehillnote.com
Privacy policyhillnote.com/privacy
Source codeNo source code found; the GitHub repository holds a README only

Version reviewed: desktop 0.43.15 (30 October 2026, GitHub). The App Store lists 0.33.46 (29 October 2026) and Google Play shows 0.33.47 (29 October 2026); phone and desktop use separate version numbers, and the Mac download is an Apple-silicon build. The website quotes prices in US dollars only, and in-app prices on individual store storefronts were not checked.

Requirements

The App Store lists iOS or iPadOS 16.0 as the minimum; the sources name no minimum for Mac or Windows.

Desktop

What the sources say:
Mac: Apple-silicon .dmg or .zip; Windows: Setup .exe

iPhone and iPad

What the sources say:
iOS or iPadOS 16.0 or later, per the App Store

Offline models on iPhone

What the sources say:
Gemma 3 or Qwen3 downloads need iOS 26 or later; an in-app check tests memory, storage and speed

Local AI on desktop

What the sources say:
A local Ollama install or Apple Intelligence, per the pricing page

Account

What the sources say:
Not needed for local use, per the maker; sync collects an email address for sign-in

No RAM, VRAM or disk figures are given for local models on the desktop.

How to Get Started

The steps follow the maker's own description; PromptQuorum has not run them.

  1. 1
    Install the app
    Why it matters: Download the Mac or Windows installer from GitHub Releases, or the phone app from the App Store or Google Play.
  2. 2
    Open the onboarding workspace
    Why it matters: The maker's docs say the app creates an onboarding workspace that takes about two minutes to work through.
  3. 3
    Choose where AI runs
    Why it matters: Use a local model through Ollama or Apple Intelligence, let the automatic mode hand harder tasks to a cloud model, or add your own API key on Plus and Pro.
  4. 4
    Decide on sync
    Why it matters: Sync is off by default; switch it on per workspace if you want the same notes on every device.

Features Confirmed by the Sources

Every item below comes from the maker's site, the store listings or the privacy policy; none has been independently tested.

  • Markdown on disk. Notes are standard Markdown files in a folder you choose, with links between documents, a document registry and side-by-side previews of web pages and PDFs.
  • Local and cloud AI. Inline edits and quick tasks use Ollama or Apple Intelligence on the device; an automatic mode hands harder tasks to Claude, GPT and other frontier models.
  • Chat with your files. Built-in chat reads your own files, edits them and creates new ones, according to the App Store description.
  • Connections to other AI tools. Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor and others connect through local or cloud MCP.
  • Paid extras. Publishing a workspace (Plus: one, Pro: up to six, with custom domains on Pro), routines (Plus: up to three, Pro: up to five) and bring-your-own API keys.

Data Flow and Privacy

The privacy policy says local data is not collected: documents, edit history and settings stay on your disk until you turn on a feature that sends them. With sync off, the policy states that Hillnote does not collect your document content or editing behaviour at all. With sync on, it lists your email address for sign-in, an optional display name, sync and activity metadata, collaboration roles, published content and billing status.

Synced workspaces are stored on AWS. Notes without a password are readable by the service, which is what makes search, AI, routines and publishing possible; password-protected notes are encrypted on your device and the policy says the key never reaches Hillnote's servers. Premium AI use is optional: the policy says queries and content go to the model provider's servers (OpenAI, Claude or Gemini), and those providers may use them under their own policies. The website uses Google Analytics, the policy names no advertising SDKs, and crash logs are analysed only with opt-in consent.

📌Note: These are the maker's declarations, not audit results, and the app's source code is not published. PromptQuorum has not inspected network traffic. The policy names no postal address and is governed by Indian law, with disputes before the courts in Bangalore.

Who Should Use It

  • Markdown note-takers who want files they can open in any editor and keep on their own disk.
  • Ollama users who want an assistant that edits their notes with a model already on their computer.
  • People who work with Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and want those tools to read and edit the same notes.

What We Could Not Verify

  • Performance. Speed, memory use, battery drain and the quality of local-model answers are untested.
  • Licence and source. No licence is stated, and the GitHub repository holds a README and release downloads, not source code.
  • Mobile versus desktop. The phone apps and the desktop app use separate version numbers, and the sources do not say whether their features match.
  • Offline scope. Which AI features work with no internet beyond the local-model path is not documented.
  • Company. The relationship to the Colloqi link in the site footer, and the legal entity behind the app, are not explained.

Competitors and Alternatives

Logseq

Platforms:
Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android, web
Price / license:
Free / AGPL-3.0
Key difference:
Open-source outliner; AI only through an optional MCP server
Articles about Logseq (7)

Also mentioned in:

+1 more not shown

Tolaria

Platforms:
Mac, Windows, Linux
Price / license:
Free / AGPL-3.0-or-later
Key difference:
Markdown files in a Git-backed vault
Articles about Tolaria (1)

SiYuan

Platforms:
Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android
Price / license:
Free + paid sync / AGPL-3.0
Key difference:
Self-hosted, block-level references, built-in AI agent
Articles about SiYuan (1)

Also mentioned in:

Confirm each app's current price, license and platforms on its own page before choosing.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a Linux or Intel Mac version of Hillnote?

The download page title mentions Linux, but it links only to the GitHub release (an Apple-silicon Mac build and a Windows installer) and the two phone stores. No Linux or Intel Mac file was found.

Which local models does Hillnote use?

The pricing page names Ollama and Apple Intelligence for inline edits and quick tasks. The App Store notes add a built-in offline model on iPhone plus downloadable Gemma 3 or Qwen3 on iOS 26 or later; no model list is given for the desktop.

How do premium model credits work?

Free and Plus include 10,000 credits a month and Pro 50,000 a week; a pack of 110,000 extra credits costs $10 once. The pricing page does not say how many credits one request uses.

Which version does the GitHub README describe?

The README says "Currently: v0.40.9", but the latest release is 0.43.15, so the README is out of date; this review uses the release.

Verdict

Hillnote offers plain Markdown notes on your own disk, local AI through Ollama and Apple Intelligence, optional cloud models and sync, and it shipped five releases between 22 and 30 October 2026. Against that, no licence is stated, the GitHub repository publishes no source code, the App Store seller is an individual with an unexplained company link, and speed and answer quality are untested. It suits people who want Markdown files with optional AI and can start on the free plan; anyone who needs audited privacy claims should treat the policy as a declaration, not proof.

Sources

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