Drafts alternative Capture fast. Then give every note a home.

Drafts is made for catching text and sending it on. Varlig captures quickly too, from widgets, Control Center and Shortcuts, then keeps your notes with their pictures, tags, links and calculations, synced through your own iCloud for free.

Join the beta Varlig and Drafts, side by side

Why people switch from Drafts

Pictures and files too
Drafts holds text only. A Varlig note keeps photos, sketches and files beside your words.
A library, not an inbox
Nested tags, [[links]] with backlinks, pins and search keep every note easy to find long after you wrote it.
Answers as you type
Add a calc block and every line is worked out, with units, currencies and dates. No action or script needed.

What comes with you

Every draft, as a Markdown note
Tags
When each draft was created and last edited
Flagged drafts, pinned

Move in three steps

In Drafts, export the drafts you want as JSON, or find a backup in iCloud Drive › Drafts › Backups.
In Varlig on your Mac, choose File › Import Notes… and choose the file. On iPhone and iPad, use Import Notes… in a note list’s … menu.
Choose Keep original dates, check the review and import. Drafts stays as it was.

A backup can include drafts from the trash, which arrive as ordinary notes. Workspaces and actions stay in Drafts.

Import, export and backups

Varlig and Drafts, side by side

Feature	Varlig	Drafts
Price	Free; Varlig Pro from $2.99 a month	Free; Drafts Pro $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year
Sync between your devices	Free, through your own iCloud	Free, through iCloud
Pictures and attachments	In any note	Text only
Calculator in your notes	Built in, with units, currencies and dates	Not built in
Automation	Shortcuts and URL actions	Actions and scripts; making your own needs Drafts Pro
Where it runs	Mac, iPhone and iPad	Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch

Checked October 2026. Prices in US dollars, as each app lists them; they may change.

When Drafts may suit you better

You capture on Apple Watch.
You send text on to other apps with Drafts’ actions and scripts.

Questions about switching from Drafts

Does importing change Drafts?

No. Varlig reads the exported file and makes its own copies, so Drafts stays as it was.

Which file do I import?

A JSON export of the drafts you choose, or a .draftsExport backup, which Drafts saves in iCloud Drive › Drafts › Backups. Each file can be up to 100 MB.

Can I capture as quickly as in Drafts?

Close to it. Start a note from a widget, Control Center or a shortcut on iPhone and iPad, or with quick capture on your Mac.

Do my actions come across?

No, actions belong to Drafts. Varlig works with Shortcuts, and with Varlig Pro, its own text transformations reshape a note in place.

Is it Markdown, like Drafts?

Yes. Every Varlig note is Markdown, shown with its formatting as you type, and exports as plain Markdown files any time.

Is Varlig free?

Yes: unlimited notes, iCloud sync, shared notes and every calculation are free. Varlig Pro adds extras such as themes, text transformations and Word export.

Write the plan.
Varlig does the sums.

Join the beta

Import, iCloud sync and shared notes are free in Varlig. Varlig Pro adds power tools when you want them.