Day One is a well-known, polished journaling app for Apple devices. EK Diary is free, browser-based, and built around Indian languages and habit/goal tracking. Here's an honest look at the real differences.
Day One is a long-established, well-designed journaling app, best known on iPhone and Mac. EK Diary is a free, browser-based alternative built for a different priority: Indian-language writing (Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Punjabi, and more with voice dictation), plus habit, goal, and mood tracking in the same app as your diary.
Day One has years of polish behind it — native apps that feel fast and integrated with the Apple ecosystem, strong support for photos and rich media in entries, and end-to-end encryption for premium users. If you're fully in the Apple ecosystem and want a native, offline-first app with deep media support, Day One is a solid, mature choice.
EK Diary is the better fit if you want to write in Hindi or another Indian language with proper voice dictation, if you don't want to pay a subscription to sync across your phone, tablet, and laptop, or if you'd rather have your habit tracker, goal tracker, and day planner in the same app as your diary instead of three separate subscriptions.
EK Diary doesn't yet have native iOS/Android apps — it runs as a web app in your browser, which works well but isn't quite the same as a dedicated native app for offline use or home-screen widgets. If that matters more to you than free, unlimited-device access and Indian-language support, Day One's native apps may suit you better.
If you journal exclusively on an iPhone or Mac, want deep photo/media support in entries, and don't mind paying for multi-device sync, Day One is a mature, well-built choice. If you write in Hindi or another Indian language, use both Android and a laptop, or want habit, goal, and mood tracking without stitching together three separate apps, EK Diary is built for exactly that case — and it costs nothing to try, since there's no subscription tier to unlock the core features.
There's no automated import tool yet — entries would need to be copied over manually. If you're just starting to journal, this isn't a concern.
You can browse and search past entries by date, though a dedicated "on this day" surfacing feature isn't built in yet.
The core diary, habit tracker, goal tracker, mood tracker, and day planner are free with no subscription required. Optional premium themes and sections exist for people who want to support the app.
See the full picture in our FAQ, or compare against EK Diary vs Journey if you're weighing multiple options.