Comparison
Flyout vs Drafts
Drafts is where text starts — that is its own tagline, and it is accurate. It is a capture box wired to an enormous automation system: write something, then fire it at Obsidian, Things, Reminders, an email, a script. It is explicitly “a plain text editor”. Flyout is not a pipeline; it is a place the note stays. If you want the note to leave, use Drafts. If you want it to sit beside your work with a screenshot in it, keep reading.
| Feature | Drafts | Flyout |
|---|---|---|
| The editor | Plain text, with syntax highlighting — not rich text | A full editor: headings, task lists, code, colour, images |
| Images in a note | None — media is transcribed into text | Paste, drag in, resize |
| Reminders | Sent out to Apple Reminders through an action — not attached to the note | On the note itself, or on one selected line, with repeats |
| Organisation | Tags, flags and workspaces (workspaces need Pro) | Folders and tabs |
| Opening it | A capture window on ⇧⌘2, or the menu bar | Screen edge or hotkey — and it slides away on its own |
| Price | Free tier; Drafts Pro is $19.99 per year — there is no one-time option | $18 once, on two Macs — no subscription |
Where Drafts wins
Drafts is on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch (and runs on Vision Pro as an iPad app), its sync is free rather than Pro-gated, and its action system — JavaScript, Shortcuts, AppleScript, an action directory, even a developer-published MCP server — is in a different league from anything Flyout will ever ship. It transcribes audio and images for free, and it runs on older macOS than we do. It won MacStories’ App of the Year for 2025. If your notes are raw material headed somewhere else, Drafts is the better tool and the subscription is fair. Flyout is for the note that is the destination.
Checked against each app’s own documentation in July 2026. These apps ship often — if you spot something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
Is Flyout right for you?
If you live in the keyboard — writing code, tracking tasks, keeping notes next to your editor — Flyout keeps up. Try it free for 7 days; no account, everything stays on your Mac.