Cupola vs DodoDeck
Two Productivity products side by side.
| Cupola | DodoDeck | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Apple Calendar, Reminders and Notes in your Mac's notch | Task cards, notes and a focus timer docked on your desktop |
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Categories | Productivity | Productivity |
| Tags | macOS, Privacy-first, Local-first, Scheduling, Notes | Windows, Local-first, Privacy-first, Notes |
| Score | 50%8 votes | 100%2 votes · not ranked yet |
| Website | trycupola.com | dododeck.app |
| Founder | Not listed | Not listed |
| Listed | Oct 3, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Which should you pick?
- Both are listed as paid with a free trial, so price alone will not settle it.
- DodoDeck does not have enough votes yet to compare.
- Only Cupola is tagged macOS and Scheduling.
- Only DodoDeck is tagged Windows.
Positioning is from each listing, not an endorsement.
About Cupola
Cupola is a native Mac app that puts Apple Calendar, Reminders and Notes together in one place. Hover over the MacBook notch to open a panel with four tabs: your week's calendar, reminders you can tick off, your real Apple Notes with checklists, and a focus timer you set by dragging a dial. Click "View all" to open the full app, which has day, week, month and agenda views, reminder lists and tags, and a home screen showing today's events, reminders and recent notes. On Macs or displays without a notch, a small pill at the top of the screen opens the same panel.
You can type entries in plain language, like "dentist next tuesday 4pm", and Cupola works out the date and time and adds the item to Calendar or Reminders. It reads from and writes to Apple's own apps, so there's nothing to import and no account to create. Changes made in either place show up in the other, and on your iPhone through iCloud. Your calendars, notes and reminders are never uploaded. The app only goes online to check for updates, verify your license and send crash reports, which you can turn off.
Cupola isn't on the Mac App Store. You install it with a one-line Terminal command. It needs Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. There's a 7-day free trial with no card required, then a $20 one-time lifetime license with a 14-day refund window.
About DodoDeck
DodoDeck is a small Windows app that keeps your tasks and notes visible on the desktop, so you don't have to open another app. You get three task cards with checklists. Click any line and start typing, and it saves as you go. Flip a card over to reach its Rough Page, a blank page for free-form notes, screenshots, links or video.
You can dock the deck above the Windows taskbar and bring it back with one click. Card, Focus and Media Docks are included, and the Focus Dock holds the focus timer. You can share cards as images, or export and import them as .dododeck files.
Cards, notes, attachments and the archive are stored on your device and are not synced to the cloud. There's no account, and the app works offline apart from purchase and license activation. You get 14 days free with every feature. After that, a one-time $5 purchase covers up to two of your own devices. Without a license, your cards become read-only and nothing is deleted. It runs on 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, and a macOS version is waiting on App Store review.